The far north - The Rough Guide to Laos - page 263

Hat Sa
The scruffy village of HATSA consists of barely sixty homes, most of which are constructed
from the ubiquitous bamboo and palm thatch, although concrete construction has reached
even this remote outpost. Most travellers bypass Hat Sa, since they're either in a hurry to start
downriver or to press on to Phongsali, 20km away, but Hat Sa and the villages further up the
Nam Ou are about as far off the beaten track as you can get and are worth exploring, espe-
cially if you find Nong Khiaw and Muang Ngoi too touristy and are looking for something a
little bit different. Amazing Lao Travel in Phongsali can offer advice.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: HAT SA
By boat Hat Sa is reached in 8-9hr by passenger boat from Muang Khoua, via the dam at
Muang Samphan. Regular passenger boats only really go this far, though if you're interested
in exploring the Nam Ou further north it's worth enquiring here; alternatively you can book
a tour from Phongsali.
By sawngthaew The boat from Muang Samphan arrives too late for passengers to catch
the public sawngthaew (noon) to Phongsali (1hr), so you'll need to charter one. This costs
15000K per person if full; otherwise you'll need to negotiate (as a guide, 40,000K per person
for six people travelling).
Phongsali and around
Perched just below the peak of Phou Fa (“Sky Mountain”), PHONGSALI looks and feels
every bit the principal town of Laos's northernmost province - though in fact it no longer has
provincial capital status, having lost that honour to comparatively insignificant Boun Neua .
The altitude gained becomes apparent once the sun drops below the horizon and the chill sets
in; on clear nights, as soon as the lights go out, the view of the heavens is unparalleled. The
crisp air seems to amplify the stellar glow and the Milky Way is splashed across the sky like
a giant, luminescent cloud.
Phongsali's prosperous air, which owes much to the town's proximity to China, comes as
quite a change of scene if you've travelled upstream along the Nam Ou. Despite being a large
town, tourism remains in its infancy here. Though at first you may wonder where you've
ended up, soon enough the cool mountain air and stunning surrounding countryside will work
their charm on you. With the trekking scene still fairly low-key, the town is a great place to
do an overnight trip to the province's fascinating hill-tribe villages. It's also a useful stop-
ping point for intrepid travellers en route to the Chinese border crossing at Lan Tui, opened
to foreigners in 2013.
A wide slice of terrain wedged between China's Yunnan and Vietnam's Lai Chau provinces,
Phongsali province would surely indeed be a part of China today were it not for the covetous
nineteenth-century French. During the Second Indochina War, Phongsali came under heavy
Chinese influence, a fact evident in the fortress-like former Chinese consulate, now the Phou