(Daniel) Everyone woke up late this morning, the higher altitude meant that temperatures were comfortable, and sleeping in was therefore that much easier.  I hadn’t planned on trekking today anyway, as we would need a day to prepare.  Mum got up and knocked on the door.  Then I got up too and joined her and Nii at the Wolf.  The vehicle was fine, no-one had tried to steal anything in the night, despite the various noises that roused me from sleep several times.

The bank wasn’t open, but the Lonely planet told us that there was a functioning branch in Muang Sing.  We decided to leave the food and money thing until then and press on to drive the remaining 65 km to the Northern most district of Laos.   Muang Sing, when I visited last time, was a small town, just off the Chinese border.  The people there were mainly Chinese or of tribal origin, most of them still wearing traditional tribal dress and the women often wandering the streets with no top as is the style of dress with many of the different tribes in the area.

The road that I took before was unmade and took several hours to travel, now things had changed, and the road surface was tarmac, although this had been cracked or washed away in paces, occasionally I would turn a corner and find a pile of huge rocks, where a landslide had happened very recently.  The drive took us around an hour, and was very hard work form a concentration perspective.  When we arrived in town it was much as I remembered it, Chinese tractors drove around the streets delivering vegetables or collecting other goods.  The tribal people that I found so amazing were still apparent to, walking around in groups spitting red Betel nut juices everywhere and fanning their topless bodies, blackened by exposure to the sun. 

We pulled up outside the office where I had arranged my trekking six years ago, I described our guide to the man inside, and he soon pointed me in the direction of Somporn, the tycoon who had previously owned a restaurant and herbal massage sauna as well as being a guide for the trekking and a major part of the conservation effort around the area.  Apparently he was no longer a guide, but did take private jobs, he had extended his empire into houses and farming and could be found on his rubber farm just a few km's out of town.  We found him there, leading a group of local farmers and his workers around the field showing them the best methods of growing the trees as saplings in a field together, before taking them for planting across a much larger area.  I recognized Somporn immediately, he walked over to us smiling, we introduced ourselves and explained that we were looking to organise a trek, but something different involving the vehicle as well as trekking on foot.  Somporn didn’t even flinch at the idea, as if this was the kind of request he got every day.  He told us that he would make a few calls and meet us in town later that day.

On returning to Muang Sing, we found a guesthouse with a gated parking area, the rooms were only a few dollars, we checked in and opened up the trailer to check the contents after the long drive from Luang Prabang.  As soon as I opened the dry food locker I knew that something was wrong.  The smell of vinegar and something else like sawdust reminded me of fishing somehow.  I pulled out the drawer to find maggots and flies all over the drawer.  A jar had cracked in the drawer spilling pickled onions and gherkins all over the drawer.  In the high temperatures and with the humidity out here, maggots flies and mould had set in quickly.  Anything with a matt surface had a coating of blue mould, the small maggots were everywhere and the smell was pretty bad too!

Mum and Nii went into action then.  Not that I didn’t help of course, but the majority of cleaning itself seemed to be going on around me as I worked!  We scrubbed surfaces, threw away any old food or even risky ingredients.  A few items we kept aside for the trekking, the first of these being a can of Heinz baked beans, which I fancied would be a welcome breakfast in the jungle! When I locked up the trailer again it was clean and sterile again.  We disconnected it form the Wolf and secured it in the corner before heading into town for our meeting with Somporn and his friend. 

At Somporns restaurant we sat down together at a table with drinks.  I explained the Expedition with Somporn, who told me that the Muang Sing that I visited  half a decade ago has changed.  The influx of tourists has meant that all of the local villages have grown used to the tourists arriving.  The villagers either try to cash in by selling drinks or trinkets, or have no interest in seeing or talking to strange foreigners wandering around their home.  This was bad news, I had hoped that the long drive and bad roads would keep tourists away from the area, but even this remote area had been diluted.  Somporn went on to tell us that Muang Long, another 75 km's away on the Burmese border was still untouched and hard to reach due to the lack of good roads leading to the hill tribe region. I asked about the quality of these roads His reply was that in rainy season, we could have problems with mud and flooding, not to mention landslides and trees falling.  In other words the off roading element that I was looking for.  Just then, Somporns friend Mr Joy arrived, I was surprised to see that he was the same guide that had assisted on my previous trek in the area!  We sat down together to plan a route to some of the most remote villages, halfway in the vehicle and the rest on foot, circling round to return to the first village. He told us that using the tractor tracks that ran along the hillside farms, we should be able to reach a large Akha Village but further than that, we would have to travel on foot.  The walking tracks were not checked by any tourist associations as with Muang Sing, but were the tribal peoples paths, and could be extremely treacherous in the wet season.  The wet season being in full swing right now!

We agreed on a fee, Somporn was not able to come, as he had pressing work commitments.  But we would pick up a local guide in Muang Long and be five in total.  We arranged to meet at 10.30 tomorrow, with a deposit and our stuff ready to go.  Then left the two guides and returned to the hotel to arrange our equipment.  Once packed, everyone was hungry, so Mum, Nii and I went to dinner in the town.  Only one restaurant was open, they served a BBQ on the table with pork and beef, I think that it’s what the Chinese call a steamboat. Due to the soup that you make around the edge of the grill.  After eating several portions of the BBQ, and discussing the possible dangers and wonders of the next four days adventures, it was time for bed. We walked back through the silent town and had our last night in a bed for the next few days. 

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