Laos forum

Graciela

The (usual) border crossing is Chiang Khong / Huay Xai. By bus, it takes about 5 hours from Huay Xia to Luang Nam Tha . From Luang Nam Tha to Muang Sing one either finds one's own transport or takes a tuk-tuk (or similar). On a 100cc motorbike, I rode from Luang Nam Tha to Muang Sing in about two hours.

The ride between Luang Nam Tha and Muang Sing traverses the Luang Nam Tha NPA and is very enjoyable.

I found Muang Sing to be one of the better places I experienced in nthn Laos. It is a real 'frontier' town. It wasn't destroyed in the 1970's war, and retains many French colonial buildings.

There are 2 markets. One is 'official' and not used. The other is where everyone attends. Its probably no different to the Luang Nam Tha market.

Muang Sing is only a 10 minute bike ride from the China border. There are many ethnic communities in the region.

The eradication of opium from nthn Laos means there is no longer any 'open' market for drugs. That said, it's not hard to find. Nevertheless, drug use by westerners is fraught with problems.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

as somsai said, two bus stations in Luang Namtha.
Luang Namtha > Muang Sing : 2h by songthaew/bus (not tuktuk!), departs from the older bus station across from Luang Namtha market (bottom left of this map).

newer bus station is a couple of KMs south of town, closer to airport & Boat Landing GH. are you coming from/heading towards Huay Xai?

Is it an interesting place?

depends on what interests you? some like it for trekking, some like it for the Boun That Xieng Tung festival, some go there simply cos it's 'in the guidebook', i like it for being my intro to Tai Lue culture in Laos, & also liked the little museum.

What about the markets?

again as somsai said, has moved to northwest part of town:
http://laomeow.blogspot.com/2007/04/201206-muang-sing-market.html
(Luang Namtha market for comparison)

for an idea of what Muang Sing town is like:
http://laomeow.blogspot.com/search/label/muang%20sing
(info almost 3 years old, Wat Sing Jai has been renovated, prob many other changes too)

On the opium cultivation note, when I was in Muang La, (admitedly a few years back now -- maybe '96-97, not sure) we did a trek out to some caves, a river source and other stuff -- basically wandered off with a totally incompetent guide, got lost and got attacked by vicious plants and stuff... anyway I digress...

From one hilltop vantage point we looked north and an entire side of a far more elevated peak glistened with poppy. It was a massive crop. MASSIVE.

The guide said that crop diversification people had been through and in his words "they want them to grow cabbage - no wayyyyy man"... So there was some attempts at eradication/diversification, but were none too successful at the time.

Agree it is a pretty area -- especially the section of road BruceMoon mentions above -- very pretty.
Sidenote I deleted the funny stuff at the top.

biggest fattest fields of opium poppies i've seen was in Tasmania. any crop eradication plans for that area? ;)

"songthaew/bus (not tuktuk!). It's just my lack of recognition to details for scheduled people carrier versus purchased people carrier.

song (two) thaew (row) = 2 long benches, 4 wheels (modified pick-up truck), can take cargo on roof, people can hang off the back, larger capacity, longer distances.

tuktuk aka. sam (three) lor (wheel) = 3 wheels, too unstable for cargo on roof, people can hang off the back in Thai action movies :P

though q often in Laos i hear locals referring to songthaews as tuktuks when talking to foreigners, my Lao friends say that's cos they don't know of an alternative term that foreigners will understand. & tuktuk drivers in Vientiane will call out 'tuktuk?' to foreigners walking by, but 'samlor?' to locals.

purchased people carrier

brings to mind that anti-human trafficking 'billboard' in the centre of Oudomxay!

photos titled 'children' & 'young girls' are the same Akha subgroup as the couple in the second last photo in this post. Thai Akha friend met people from this subgroup during his trip to Laos, they told him they are Akha Puli.