Phonsaly! Two days of long, slow and bumpy and at times scary bus travel, pumping out loud Lao music. This is one of the remotest parts of Lao, sitting on a ridge top at 1400m, a welcome cool change. This is not a tourist place as we only saw 3 other Westerners in town. No baguettes here but we did enjoy Chinese food, pointing to what we wanted then the young girls would cook us up a good feed. After wandering up and down steep hills no hotels ticked our boxes. We ended up in what was the old Chinese embassy now the 'best hotel in town' with commanding views over town but sadly lacking in all other ways. Never mind we were where we wanted to be. The old Yunan town was lovely with an old world feel with cobblestones and mud brick shop houses. People regarded us with either indifference (compared to the friendly Lao we are use to) or a smile. Anyway we still sing out our sabaidees. The area is known for tea production and we enjoyed visiting a plantation. The village chief made us a cup of tea with leaves from the 400 year old trees. It was refreshing, delicious green tea and a highlight.
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