Backstreets Luang Namtha

[The_Traveler]

Luang Nam Tha - I think Luang means village in Lao, Nam means river and there is a Tha river running nearby so the town name is Village near the River Tha.
Back in 2007 I was told that there was a CIA post and airport here during the Vietnam War and there was indeed the remains of a long asphalt runway right adjacent to the old bus station..
In 2015 those remains have gone, there is a huge, ugly pink hotel on the site of the old bus station and the town has grown enormously in that direction, obliterating the old entry road.
A surprisingly wide and barely trafficked street traces the route of the old runway remains.
What you see is the Lao version of paving, a layer of crushed rock with some tar poured over it. On heavily traveled roads, the surface becomes relatively smooth and the loose gravel disappears. That lasts until the surface begins to break up from the impact of heavy trucks.
On lightly raveled roads, the loose gravel seems to stay indefinitely, the motorbikes don't have enough weight either to compact it or break it up.

 

[luckychucky]

Nice exploring


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[Rick50]

Interesting.