The new wing at Thoulasith Guesthouse
Mr and Mrs Thoulasith have built a brand new 3 story wing onto their iconic Luang namtha guesthouse ...
Accommodation
Accommodation
Local Foods Guide: Luang Namtha
If you’ve spent even one day in Luang Namtha you’ve probably discovered the excellent Night Market. You may have...
“Superstar” Ananda Everingham visits Bamboo Lounge
Thai film actor Ananda Everingham made multiple visits to Bamboo Lounge this week while filming his new movie...
Luang Namtha’s New Amandra Villa
Want to stay somewhere in Luang Namtha with a touch of class? The newly opened Amandra Villa could be...
An unusual trip to Boten!
How do you fancy some Belgian chocolate? What about a German beer or some French biscuits? Then Boten on...
Rice paddies at sunset
The iconic rice fields of Asia conjure some of the most beautiful imagery you can hope to experience during...
In search of the golden stupas
Luang Nathma is home to two beautiful golden stupas, That Luang Namtha and That Phum Phuk that should not...
First impressions of Luang Namtha
We’ve been here for over a week now and it has to be said, Luang Namtha is one of those...
Volunteering at Bamboo Lounge Training Restaurant
Volunteering at Bamboo Lounge Training Restaurant was an amazing experience, an unique way to get in touch with the...
While in town…
Luang Namtha is a region blessed with fantastic landscape, exuberant untouched nature, as well as an unique richness and...
Cycling visit to Nam Dee waterfall
Luang Namtha district is home to a number of hidden gems that can be easily accessed by short rides...
From Chiang Rai (Thailand) to Luang Namtha in one day road trip
We woke up in Chiang Rai a bit later than we had planned and rushed ourselves to the bus...
Bamboo Lounge Training Restaurant needs YOUR help!
All of the information you see here on Luang Namtha Guide is brought to you for free, by Bamboo...
Luang Namtha’s Nam Ha river
The most common river people kayak down in Luang Namtha is the Nam Tha river. This river has many...
Where to eat – Baw Pen Yang Art Gallery & Restaurant
I’d been in Luang Namtha almost two weeks before I stumbled upon Baw Pen Yang. A town with an...
The Road to Muang Sing
Although I would love to be able to tell you all about what I am sure is the beautifully...
Where to eat – Zuela Guesthouse and restaurant
The Zuela Guesthouse is rated number one in Luang Namtha on Tripadvisor but, quite understandably, most reviews focus almost...
Night Market Sessions – Auntie La’s Whiskey
Even at first glance it’s clear that the night market in Luang Namtha has a lot to offer. Once...
Luang Namtha’s Jungle Food Challenge
Masterchef in the jungle? Food in northern Laos gets serious… Recently Bamboo Lounge Training Restaurant was lucky enough to get...
15 Reasons Why Luang Namtha Province Is The Best Of Laos
After traveling all around Southeast Asia, Laos is definitely a highlight for many, but for us coming back to...
Dokchampa Hotel
Room rates: 60,000 kip – 160,000 kip Breakfast included: no Free wifi: yes Laundry service: yes How to...
Adounsiri Guesthouse
Adounsiri is a family run guesthouse in the centre of Luang Namtha. It is located on the street...
Tribute to the Yellow Moth
Exploration of local biodiversity starts even before you set off to one of the many tours available in...
Forest Retreat’s Bamboo Lounge Restaurant = real western food
It’s official; Luang Namtha now has its own wood-fired pizza oven, it is even painted green and is decorated...
The Luang Namtha Welcoming Party
Author: Ryan Crossett The Akha people are a large ethnic group with populations in Lao, Thailand, Burma and China. ...
Go for the real local culinary experience
Hang out at Luang Namtha’s night market and enjoy local food and drinks You cannot leave Luang Namtha without...
New Friendship Bridge Makes Travel From Northern Thailand To Nothern Laos A Breeze!
Want to get from Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai or Chiang Kong to scenic northern Laos as fast and comfortably...
Luang Namtha’s morning market
Run into some crazy stuff on your stroll through the morning market Visiting Luang Namtha’s morning market is one...
A Luang Namtha River Experience
You really should consider a kayaking trip on your South East Asia holiday to northern Laos. Here in Luang...
The Slow Boat vs. Northern Laos
There are 2 popular ways to get to Luang Prabang, Laos from Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai in northern...
Luang Namtha: Jungle Food Central
It’s a fact; Luang Namtha as well as being the most ethnically diverse province in Laos also has the...
Luang Namtha’s Valley Of Rice Is Very Nice
Most cities in the world have public parks with grass, a few ponds, maybe some ducks; all very landscaped...
How You Can Make Your Visit To Luang Namtha Count
Travellers who visit the jungled mountains of northern Laos usually aren’t your run-of-the-mill tourists whose idea of cultural immersion...
How To Get To Luang Namtha?
Naturally beautiful and ethnically diverse Luang Namtha province is situated at the northwest tip of Laos with Luang Namtha...
An Authentic Village Experience Like No Other
Many people who come to South East Asia seek to find that unique cultural experience of an idyllic little...
Rice Planting Season
May and June represent rice planting season here in Luang Namtha, and also marks the beginning of the most...
Rambo Fusion
I would like to present Rambo Fusion with two awards, for quirkiest name and best BBQ in Luang Namtha....
Mad Dash to Muang Sing
One day off me and Alex decided that between dawn and my 2pm start we could get to Muang...
How To Get The Most Out Of Your Luang Namtha Trekking Experience.
Luang Namtha now has a reputation as being one of South East Asia’s premier trekking destinations. Choosing from one...
Doing An Ethnic Minority Village Homestay In Luang Namtha
Doing a homestay at a local ethnic minority village is an experience not to be missed while you are...
Dry Season in Luang Namtha
The dry season, usually between November and April, is the busiest time of year in Luang Namtha. People mostly...
Things To Do In Luang Namtha When You Aren’t Out On A Tour…
It’s true that Luang Namtha is a trekking mecca and fast becoming one of the hottest trekking and cultural...
Sightseeing Around Luang Namtha Town On 2 Wheels
This blog post is inspired by one of our most common questions at Forest Retreat Laos from tourists to...
The Luang Namtha Fresh Market
So you think you have seen it all at produce markets in South East Asia? Wrong! You haven’t seen...
10 Reasons To Choose Luang Namtha
Laos is a very spread out country so, if you come to Laos for a holiday there are many...
Luang Namtha By Bike
Luang Namtha town is situated in a huge rice and river covered valley; surrounded on all sides by stunning...
Lai’s Place
Our friend Lai has a small restaurant in Luang Namtha simply called “Lai’s place”. Close to the main road...
Getting to Luang Namtha from Thailand
If you’re in northern Thailand, it’s really easy to get to Luang Namtha. The border at Chiang Khong (Thailand)...
Chantimieng Guesthouse
Chantimieng Guesthouse is in a fantastic location in Muang Sing, right in the centre of town but also off...
Luang Namtha’s World Famous Nam Ha NPA (National Protected Area)
The biggest natural allure of Luang Namtha province has got to be the Nam Ha NPA (also commonly misspelt...
Luang Namtha’s Amazing Ethnic Diversity
Luang Namtha is actually the most ethnically diverse area in all of South East Asia. So this means nowhere...
Luang Namtha Night Market
The night market is a seemingly never-ending source of many new foods. Most of the foods sold there come...
Rainy Season in Luang Namtha
Rainy season has well and truly arrived here in Luang Namtha, with the days generally being warm to hot,...
Spider eating Gecko
OK, just a really quick post today; just thought this was awesome! We were eating dinner and saw the...
Nam De Waterfall
About 5 minutes out of Luang Namtha town is a pretty waterfall named Nam De, meaning Good Water. It’s...
Dragon Boat Racing Festival
The tradition of racing Dragon Boats began when the day after the Buddhist Lent ceremony and Loi Krotung ceremony...
Buddhist Lent ending celebrations continue…
Wow, what an amazing evening we had letting off lantens, watching the ‘rocket’ fireworks and seeing the first boats...
1st morning of end of Buddhist Lent
We had a fantastic morning today for the celebrations of the end of Buddhist Lent. We got up at...
Boun Awk Phansa – The end of Buddhist Lent
Boun Awk Phansa is the last day of Buddhist lent. It happens each year in October, three lunar months...
Hmong tribe
In Laos there are many ‘minority’ tribes – so called because they are not ethnic Lao, however minority tribes...
Papaya Restaurant
** Update 2013 – Papaya Restaurant is now closed ** One of our favourite retaurants in Luang Namtha is...
Mountain Guesthouse, Vieng Poukha
We recently stayed in Vieng Poukha for a few nights and after looking in every guesthouse in town, decided...
Phagneung Phoukulom Waterfall
About and hour from Luang Namtha by road which winds through the beautiful National Protected Area is Phagneung Phoukulom...
Abundant Life in Luang Namtha
I am constantly amazed by Luang Namtha. Every direction you look in, life is abundant – spiders, butterflies, dragonflies,...
Kao Rao Cave
Kao Rao Cave is about an hour our of Luang Namtha, near a small town called Vieng Poukha. When...
Beautiful Luang Namtha
We love walking and biking around this area and the temple still never fails to impress us. We love...
Silk from Silkworms
Thong and Paet took us to visit Paet’s village (she is Black Tai tribe) where they had collected silkworms...
Attending our first ‘Baby Party’
Thong’s brother and his wife had their second baby girl 2 weeks ago and they named her Noi. We...
Welcome to Luang Namtha Guide
Hello!! Our names are Andrej and Karen Brummer. We have been in Luang Namtha now on and off for...
Last week in Luang Namtha for now
The following is a blog post we wrote before setting up Luang Namtha Guide, to share some of our...
One year in Asia
One year ago today, 10th June 2010, we landed in Bali and began our Asian Adventure. In the past...
Project Laos: Helping Luang Namtha
For a while now we have been making plans to help the people of Luang Namtha with their trekking...
Thong and Paet’s adventure outside Laos
We to Thailand to get supplies for Project Laos that we couldn’t buy in Laos. This consisted of food...
Chilling in Luang Namtha
We have spent a week or so riding around again, we decided we should try to see the old...
Ben and Lauren visit us
Our good friends Ben and Lauren from Sydney were our first official visitors to see us in Luang Namtha....
A Lao funeral
We were really sad when Thong phoned us only a few days after we arrived to inform us his...
In love with Luang Namtha
Within moments of arriving back in Laos we were reminded of our love for this country. We had been...
Our blessing ceremony
The past week we’ve had dinners with friends and celebrations pretty much every day. Firstly Shahu, our favourite Indian...
Motorbiking around Luang Namtha
We again decided to spend some time biking around Luang Namtha province. And even though we had decided we...
Kayaking in the Nam Ha NPA
Thong phoned us a couple of nights ago to invite us to go kayaking on the Nam Tha and...
Out and about in Luang Namtha
Our first couple of weeks in Luang Namtha have been really good. We have spent quite a bit of...
Awesome Laos
Our welcome back into Laos was awesome. Kids standing on the side of the road waving at us with...
Totally addicted to Laos
It would seem that we can’t stay away from Laos for too long. We have spent the past month...
Final thoughts leaving our beloved Luang Namtha
The last post was written before our final night in town. We were both so touched to receive gifts...
The ‘normality’ of northern Laos
We have had to laugh numerous times in the past couple of weeks at the things that seem so...
Market Madness
After a recent skype conversation with some good friends Nick and Amber, we promised Nick we would do a...
Muang Sing take #2
We decided to see Muang Sing the right way this time, and hired a motorbike for a few days...
Coming “home”
When we arrived back in Luang Namtha we instantly knew that it was the right decision to be here. ...
Back to Laos we go….
Our plans for the following couple of weeks have taken a slightly unexpected turn (again!) as we have to...
Vientiane
We arrived in Vientiane a day or two before our Lao visa’s ran out, so our first task was...
Vang Vieng
Our one or two planned nights in Vang Vieng turned into six nights when Karen got too sick to...
Kuang Si Waterfall
On our last day in Luang Prabang we quickly realised we had saved the best for last. We got...
Many monks and temples
We have been really lucky to see the monks collecting their alms a few times. We are staying within...
Luang Prabang – magic found
We did find the magic we were looking for in Luang Prabang. We are so glad that we decided...
Luang Prabang
When we arrived at our beautiful guesthouse just outside of Luang Prabang we were so pleased that we had...
Nam Ou and Mekong River Trip
The day before we were going on the river trip down the Nam Ou and Mekong rivers, we all...
Nong Kiau
The night before we left Luang Namtha we mentally prepared ourselves for what we had been told was one...
Back in Luang Namtha
We’ve had a really fun few days back in Luang Namtha. Our first day back we were the only...
Muang Sing
Next time you go to Asia, we really recommend you visit Muang Sing. No maybes. Just go. On Friday...
Luang Namtha
We started our first full day in Laos with a run up to the temple (Wat) we found the...
Our first time entering Laos
View our location map in Luang Namtha Yesterday we walked down to the Thai Border, got stamped out of...