Things did not look good as we descended through the mountains. The mountains themselves were beautiful-- sometimes the sharp limestone vertical peaks soared, other times more rounded mountains filled the landscape. The villages were picturesque as well-- with bamboo woven walls, animals wandering, children playing, and women sitting and talking. The houses lined the highway-- many with large satellite dishes in front. However, we soon started passing huge swatches of burnt land and the air became filled with smoke. I wondered how people could calmly go about their daily business with so much smoke in the air. I hoped when we got to Luang Prabang a wind from the Mekong would disperse the smoke. Instead, as we descended into the river valley, the smoke got worse-- so bad the mountains disappeared behind the haze.