Arriving in Pak Tha on a very hot afternoon after a day and a half on a boat from Luang Nam Tha, I wondered what on Earth there was in Pak Tha except for the boat landing, police checkpoint, small guesthouse, three tiny shops and about 20 houses. It took a little walking around to realise that Pak Tha was actually about half a km further down the Mekong on the opposite side of the junction with the Nam Tha river.
The following morning, as the boat me and the French couple wanted to catch to Pakbeng didn't pass until around 1pm, we took a wooden canoe across the Nam tha to Pak Tha village. Down on the banks of the Mekong, there was so much activity that morning. No wonder the village itself was so quiet! There were people bathing, kids playing but the principal activity was fishing; circular nets hurled into the water from boats on the river; from the banks with rod and line and many women were catching tiny fish using a net at the bottom of a bamboo pyramid frame that they dipped in and out of the water. All three of us took a lot of photos and all this activity was back dropped by the mist slowly clearing to reveal the green mountains on the opposite bank. The people were very friendly and didn't seem to mind us taking pictures and it was well worth the overnight stop in Pak Tha.