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Previously known as Lai Chau, Muong Lay is set in a peaceful valley that's absolutely stunning, and the atmosphere here is unique in what is already a region filled with diverse natural beauty.
The Da and the Nam Ha rivers both join forces here under swept back mountainsides and wide blue skies. A small village has turned into a barely-there town of wooden shacks strung with bare bulbs in the cleft of the valley. With the casual atmosphere of a town whose time will soon come, people here bare a relaxed attitude almost watered down to indifference. This is a place you can sit back and relax while taking in some river trips, a little trekking and some rides up into the hills.
It's useful to note that the people of the remote northwest of Vietnam are not particularly fond of having their pictures taken, and not used to foreigners. At one point, on our most recent visit, we approached a group of kids, who were assuming an absolutely frame-worthy pose, to ask if we could snap them, but before we could even ask, they dropped what they were holding and ran away in terror!
If you've just been to Sapa (or practically anywhere else in Vietnam) you may have gotten used ot Vietnamese people all-but begging to have their picture taken. But once you enter the remote regions, you may find yourself being treated like the boogie man.
The Dam Situation
There is much discussion when you're in Muong Lay about the impending, planned inundation of the Song Da river in the Muong Lay valley. While optimistic estimates put D-day sometime in 2010, most locals tell us that 2012 or later is a more realistic time-frame. It's true that much of the town centre, which amounts to little more than a strip of shops and shacks, along with many homes and farms, will be sacrificed in the flood. Lives will be uprooted, and it will be an unpleasant business. But to say that Muong Lay will no longer exist is untrue.
Here are some discussions off the Travelfish forum, perhaps related to Muong Lay. You can find the full forum here.
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