We met a lovely French couple also cycling everywhere and enjoyed talking to them over lunch. When they told us that they had camped at Phu Chi Fa, I saw Trevor's eyes light up...
It was a big day getting there, 65 km, we arrived about 5pm very thankful for the sticky rice with sesame and bananas that the delightful young girl gave us as we left our accommodation that morning. We stayed at a basic guesthouse the first night. Next day we had a relaxing morning then headed up the steep 2 km hill to the popular lookout which is right on the Thailand/Laos border complete with signs showing each country.
There is a small village below in Laos and the Mekong river is just visible. (Photo)
Not many people around but apparently in early January there were 27000 plus people per day at the lookout, hard to imagine!
We watched the sun set over the Thai valley then after dark we put up our tent, heated up the dinner we had brought earlier and were asleep very early. Very peaceful and quite isolated.
We heard voices about 5 am as people were making their way up the hill to see the fog roll in from the river and to see the sunrise. It was really cold. But again a stunning sight. A hundred plus people at the viewpoint.
The Hmong hill tribe people dress the young children (2 to 5 year olds) up in their costumes so people can get a photo taken with them and pay for the privilege... Or just donate. They were there at 5 am and most of the day. In NZ it would be called exploitation but here it seems to be accepted as just something they do. I personally found it quite hard to watch.
We packed up and headed down to the village for a late breakkie, a family size urn of rice soup, then had a good ride down to a town around 60 km away.
Next day we went another 70 km to Chiang Rai, highlight of the day was the awesome jug of iced coffee. Back to civilization.
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