I have spent the last week in the most remote places of Laos yet. I cannot find a map that shows the roads I have been on last week. It was truly an amazing trip. My reason for being there was purely work but I did bring a fishing pole in case there was any spare time.
We visited 9 villages that we help out at, some of which have no electricity, running water, or roads to yet. There is not enough time for me to share it all but here is a taste of my adventure.
I started my drive to Luang Prabang and made a stop at my favorite Mahseer spot for a couple hours.
The Nam Ou River is a fish factory for the locals.
This country is mostly vertical.
We had to cross rivers with my Landcruiser since bridges were torn down.
This furthest village was only 15 km from the Veit Nam border. Besides crossing rivers, I buried the front end of the SUV in mud once. The people seemed surprised to see white faces in their village.
Some of these houses are the size of my bedroom and a whole family lives in them. Underneath the house is where they keep their pigs.
Two of the villages required a boat ride up the Nam Ou to access them.
Here is a typical school room in these villages. Notice the dirt floor.
I did get out fishing a little bit but nothing big was caught. I did, however, have a local show me his deep freezer full of big fish and new species I have yet to catch. I was druelling.
Here is a rare Cobra Snakehead from his freezer.
I then found this Mahseer (different species of Mahseer than the earlier one) at a roadside stall.
I was able to bank fish at the confluence of the Nam Ou with the Mekong.
Back in Luang Prabang again and I like to visit the local markets to see the area fish being caught. Here is a giant Mekong River Barb.
And also a big Labeo species. I would love to have one of these on the end of my line.
I did however manage a new lifelister Rose Danio.
And this little fish, I have no idea what it is.
On my way back home I wanted to try for the Mahseer again but the rains the night before turned that river into chocolate milk and I just didn’t have any confidence to try it. But I did find another spot where I caught a personal best Striped Snakehead.
What a memorable trip this has been. I would love to spend more time fishing those beautiful areas.
