Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
galows in a gorgeous setting overlooking paddy fields. The grass-roofed restaurant makes an
ideal lunchtime destination on a bike ride,
but boo
k ahead. There are Akha and Yao villages
nearby, accessible on (self-guided) walks.
60,000K
Chanthimmeng
East of the main road 030 511 0834.
A smart, modern guesthouse, with
cool, high-ceilinged rooms and hot showers that are actually hot. Ask for a room that looks
out over the paddy fields at the ba
ck. If op
en, its rustic pavilion restaurant is a lovely place to
soak up the views with a Beerlao.
70,000K
Phou Iu II
Down a dirt track, west off the main road 020 5598 5557,
muangsingtravel.com
.
Muang Sing's most upmarket accommodation, with a variety of
bamboo-thatch bungalows set around a delightful garden compound, though they're pricey
for what you get. The cheapest have hard beds and concrete pillows; much more comfy are
the brighter, carpeted mid-range rooms ($31). The $56 bungalows are incredibly o
verpriced
.
Treks can be booked at the
agency
here, and there's a restaurant and bikes for rent.
140,000K
SingChaLern
West of the main road, opposite Phou Iu II 020 2883 4884.
Rather institu-
tional hotel, modern yet already looking worn, catering mainly
to Chine
se customers, though
the new Chinese restaurant facing the main street is promising.
60,000K
Taï Lu
Main road 020 5503 8844.
A rather picturesque wooden building built in the Tai
Leu style, the town's original hotel was on the point of moving at the time of writing, the
owner planning to move both rooms (around 50,000K) and restaurant to the (similarly attract-
ive) building opposite. The cheery restaurant, its tables dressed with lacy tablecloths, will
probably look much the same, with a promising menu full of
jeows
and local specialities,
most of which are usually unavailable. Banana-flower soup 30,000K.
Daily 7am-9pm.
The Akha Road: Muang Sing to Xieng Kok
The road that stretches west of Muang Sing towards the Burmese frontier passes through one
of Laos's least-visited regions. While the peaceful, largely agricultural scenery belies it, the
history of this region is tied to the production of illicit drugs: opium, heroin and, more re-
cently, methamphetamine. It is believed that most meth, known locally as
ya ba
or
ya máa
(“crazy medicine”), is produced in labs across the border in Myanmar (Burma), but smug-
glers use routes through Laos on their way south to Bangkok, a principal market and distribu-
tion point for the drug, which finds its way to nightclubs all over Southeast Asia. Travellers
are unlikely, to see any indication of this activity from the road, however, except for the oc-
casional conspicuously large mansion built with profiteering money. Indeed, the landscape
in this remote corner of Laos has changed significantly in recent years, forest cover giving
way increasingly to vast plantations of banana, sugar cane and long broom grass, for export
to China.
