Louang Namtha-Vieng Phouka

Total Distance:62.21km
Total Time:4h05m23s
Average Speed:15.2km/h
Maximum Speed:53.0km/h
Total Distance So Far:7695.02km

After a couple of days spent in Louang Namtha grieving over the loss of my wallet, I decided to cut my losses and move on. After all, there's no use crying over spilt milk. Louang Namtha did provide for some good Rn'R, but after seeing the waterfall, the temple and the golden stupa, there wasn't much left to do. It was time to start making my way back to Thailand. The journey to the Thai border from Louang Namtha is just over 180km. Unfortunately, the positioning of guesthouses does not break up the trip very nicely. The first and, to the best of my knowledge, only guesthouse along the way is in Vieng Phouka, an easy 60km away. However this leaves another 120km jaunt through the mountains until reaching the border. It's a long way, but there's not a lot that can be done about it.
The ride to Vieng Phouka was a nice one. The road there leads you through Nam Ha National Protected area. There's nothing nicer than a morning ride through one of the more pristine parts of Laos. The road was nicely paved and relatively flat to boot. Always an added bonus. I stopped for a light lunch I had brought with me in Nam Ha to enjoy what would be one of my last days in Laos. It was a nice way to end a nice visit.
On a trip trip that has seen it's fair share of one horse towns, Vieng Phouka was no exception. To my surprise, there was actually two other travellers there. They had taken the bus up from Louang Namtha in order to do some trekking in the area. I guess the tourist office was just as surprised as I was. They seemed completely unprepared for visitors. The young couple seemed disappointed to find out they would have to wait for more people to join the group before they could go out on a trek. The likelihood of this happening was pretty slim. They ended up staying the night and heading back to Louang Namtha the next morning.
I knew the next day would be a hard one, so I decided to get a good nights sleep. God knows I was going to need it.