Trekking again
Trip Start
May 08, 2008
1
17
25
Trip End
Ongoing
Luang Nam Tha,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Friday, July 4, 2008
Anyway our ride into town was a little surreal with 10 of us in the back and everyone debating what the Lonely Planet had said about getting in to town. Was it 10000 kip per person as we were asked for or was it 8000 like the book said. Was this the new bus station (outside town) or the old one (town centre) so rip off or not.... On and on like tools. Seriously I wonder sometimes how people manage to put one foot in front of the other. Its a guide book....its not the definitive be all and end all. Then the debate started about where to stay. Nobody seemed to like our suggestion to just get there and look around until you find a guesthouse you like at the right price. Again the debate about which the Lonely Planet said was best began. As Mr T would say "I pity the fool that relies that much on the guide book!". We detached ourselves from the crowd on arrival and confirmed our booking with Green Discovery, delighted to learn that we had a group of 8 lowering our cost frmo $70 each to only $44, before walking up the street and finding a (non Lonely Planet) guesthouse for about $5 a night. It was slightly gratifying to meet and English couple who had got out at a place about 2km outside town because the book said it was around $5-7 only to discover that hte owners had extended and upgraded and prices were now over $20.
Did I sound like a little bitch there? Maybe but I really think some of these people need their parents along to burp them and change their nappies for them too. Did you brush your teeth little Jimmy?
So to the trekking! Our group comprised us, another Irish couple (Brian & Grainne) travelling south from China, and Englishman (Andy) and three Austrians (Dominic, Jorge and Mike) who had only met for the first time in Vang VIeng the previous week. It all went swimmingly really with the group getting along very well. The Irish had spent 4 months working in Beijing, we were almost 5 months into our epic, Andy was 2 weeks into a 3 month trip and the Austrians were all at various stages of round the world trips. So there was a great variation of experiences to share and discuss. Our first day on the trail was fine, for the uphill bit anyway. Nothing too strenous and the light rain was no problem. We stopped for lunch, served on banana leaves and eaten with plant stem chopsticks and hands. Very delicious, lots of bamboo involved. Then the downhill arrived and suddenly the fun stopped for an hour or so as we focused hard on not falling all the way down. It was so slippy and muddy but eventually we made it and reached our over night location at around 4.30. The day had been interesting, trekking through the jungle which was very thick, although there was little or no signs of wildlife. It was quite a contrast with our trekking in Sapa where it was all through and around rice fields.
We were spending the night on the edge of an Akha village. The Akha minority are one of several who occupy this part of northern Laos and also live in parts of northern Thailand. Its real back to basics, living in small huts, growing rice and rearing a few animals. This village has been relocated by the government about 5 years ago so that the people could have better access to modern life, including healthcare and government liaisons. They're now about 2 hours walking frmo Luang Nam Tha which is hte provincial HQ whereas their old location was about 5 hours away. Even though they have more contact with modernity they are still very old school. There are only a couple of motorbikes around, there is no running water or electricity (other than a couple of solar panels) and very little mechanisation. The school is a hut about 30 ft by 15ft with slatted sides and logs for benches. There are dogs everywhere and some of the fattest pigs you can imagine, running around the streetless village. ANd the children! They're everywhere, seemingly with nobody controlling or restricting them in any way. In a way they're almost a pure version of childhood, no possession, no toys (other than farm tools or rocks) but an incredible sense of fun and energy. All of them mad to have their photo taken, half of them naked.
We stayed on the outskirts of the village, past the gates and only strolled with our guide for about an hour before dark. Its a very busy time for hte village as hte rice planting season was going on. It was fascinating to see them all labouring in the fields, ploughing, leveling, edging the fields and finally transplanting the rice seedlings into the prepared fileds. Its seriously labour intensive work at this stage but for the next 4 months there is very little to do but sit back and watch it grow, maybe have a drink of lao lao (rice whiskey) which they apparently do very much! They have some interesting customs such as the erection of gates on either side of the village each year where 2 pigs are sacrificed in order to repel the bad spirits. If anyone touches the gate, two more pigs must be sacrificed to restore the order. They also have a custom of killing twins which are born, as they can also upset the balance. The village we visited have become a little more enlightened and now nerely send away the twins, but more remote villages still kill them!
Anyway we had a great dinner again, followed by the seemingly ubiquitous lao lao and after some chatting in the dark headed for bed. Day two was similar to the first but without the treacherous downhill. We had a descent but much more gradual and without the treacherous footing. Unfortunately the last hour was in heavy rain but we were very pleased to be returning to a hotel for a hot shower. Overall the trek was excellent and while not overly demanding physically we saw plenty and had a right laugh with the group. One negative was the presence of leeches which were horrible little beggars but other than a nice bite Maria picked up on her foot we were okay. They had a nasty habit of actually climbing down inside the socks to find flesh and unfortunately even tucking in the ends of the trousers worked.
We spent our third day in Luang Nam Tha cycling hired bikes down some country lanes, once again getting soaked in the last hour as the rains arrived again. Like on the trekking it was amazing to see the work in the fields of the nearby villages. Everybody was just working like crazy to plant as much as possible. It was lovely to see them all waving as we passed and shouting greetings. Its times like these that make you wish you could way more than hello and thank you in Lao.
All that over we met Brian & Grainne from the trek. Grainne was sick so Brian was trying to find enough people to hire a minivan instead of taking the bus to Luang Prabang. It was more expensive but reasonable if we had 8-10 people. Fair play to him he did it and so we travelled in more comfort for our return journey. even if it still took 9 hours.
