We returned to Luang Namtha to chill out for a few days before catching a flight back to Vientiane and then on to Phonsavan, located in the Plain of Jars. We didn’t do much except bring the blog up to date and write a few postcards.
We rented a motorbike for a half day and rode around the area. We visited a waterfall near a local village that was not much to see this far into the dry season. We also visited a couple of Buddhist temples. One of these (That Phum Phuk) consists of a new stupa, built in 2003, and the ruins of an older one that was destroyed in a bombing raid during the “secret” war. We heard from a guide that during the war there was a Pathet Lao base on an adjacent hill, which was the likely reason that the area attracted the attention of the US bombers.
Stupas at That Phum Phuk. The older stupa, destroyed during the “secret” war, is in the foreground.
View of the area southwest of Luang Namtha from That Phum Phuk temple. Brown areas are rice fields that were harvested last fall (September-October) that will be replanted during the upcoming wet season.
