Gas station

[The_Traveler]

 

[pgriz]

I'll assume this is not self-serve.

Fascinating as always. Where and when, Lew?

 

[tirediron]

Love the Roman Columns mounted on top of barrel pumps; so typical.

 

[bribrius]

that sure don't look like a citgo.....

 

[dannylightning]

nice shot. very interesting, never saw a gas station like that before

 

[binga63]

very nice....those pumps are fairly ancient

 

[PropilotBW]

Wow, Looks pretty 3rd world there, wherever it is

 

[Rick58]

Went back to the photo 3 times. Perfect exposure. High interest (at least for me). A+

 

[The_Traveler]

This was in Nong Khiaw, Laos when I was there last in 2007. Nong Khiaw travel guide - Wikitravel
Beautiful small town on both sides of the Ou river.
Wrote about the town in Lew Lorton Photography | Adventures on the Road in Northern Laos

This is the river valley from the bridge over the Nam Ou.
On the right is where I stayed at the Nong Khiaw Riverside, owned by a Danish man and his Lao wife.

The view from my balcony

I wanted to visit the caves and my destination was one just below the tree line.
It was not an easy climb; the hillside has little dirt but lots of large, angular, hard limestone boulders.

These were my 'guides' who were upset that I scraped my arm and insisted on chewing up leaves for a poultice.
Although the guide 'fee' was one dollar US, I gave them each a dollar and they were so elated that they showed up the next morning to carry my bag to the boat and wouldn't take anything.

We detoured on the way back and they showed me a hillside covered with nest of funnel spiders.

These are the karst cliffs along the river going up to Muang Sing, a village reachable only by water.

 

[The_Traveler]

This is a long distance boat that can carry about 16 passengers and goods.
These will travel all the way from Phongsali in the North to Luang Prabang (except that new dams have interrupted the longer stretches.

And smaller boats for local travel and fishing

I have never met a group of people as nice and honest as the Lao.

 

[Trever1t]

Love your travel photography, almost as nice as being there without having to deal with the 15+ hour flight. In Saigon I saw guys selling gas in glass bottles.

 

[The_Traveler]

And to prove I was there, here am I with the hostess, and a waitress (with her 't-shrit' ) and a young man who handled routine chores around the place.

Casings from dud bombs serves a planters and fireplaces.

 

[Designer]

In Saigon I saw guys selling gas in glass bottles.

I hear you can get those in Paris, too, with wicks stuck into the necks.

 

[The_Traveler]

Yes, all over.
Evidently the color determines the origin and the cost.

 

[The_Traveler]

I hope that these pictures give the sense of just how overwhelming to the senses a trip like this.
From waking to sleeping, every minute is filled sights, sounds and smells that have no equivalent in my ordinary life.

My plan is to take prints of recognizable faces from the smaller towns, like Nong Khiaw, and hope to find them when we return to give them the prints.