Luang Namtha, Laos

  Luang Namtha, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Wednesday, July 23, 2008

We arrived in Luang Namtha on Sunday afternoon found a really nice guesthouse and went out for a walk round the town. There's not much to do here at all but it was the place we decided would be best to do some trekking, stay with a local family and meet local people. We went to the Green Discovery trekking agency who we had read good things about and booked our two day trek to leave the following morning. We had dinner and a couple of drinks and then I sat in the internet cafe listening to RTE Radio 1, Micheal O'Muirchearthaigh, the Dubs thrashing Wexford and Padraig Harrington win his second Claret Jug in a row! When I got back to the hotel it was after midnight and I was locked out. Had to jump over a really high fence to get in and ended up cutting my arm and leg - ah well, it was worth it!
We went off on Monday morning on our trek and were joined by a Belgian couple who we met on the bus from Huay Xai and our two local guides - Pet and Pon. The trekking company really care about the local tribes and rotate which village they stay in each time and which family gets to host the tourists. The give a lot of the money we pay for the trek to the local villages. They only take a certain number of tourists to each village every year and we knew from the very beginning that this would be nothing like the trekking we did in Sapa or even in Nepal, no guesthouses, teahouses, beggars, sellers - nothing - just locals going about their business who were genuinely happy (or frightened in the case of some children) to see the foreigners coming into their villages. 

Visiting a Khmu Village

Us on Trek

The majority of the trek was really tough, trekking through lush green rain-forest and really muddy, soggy ground. We were delighted when we got to our home for the night and peeled of our sweaty clothes and washed in the river. The village we stayed in was a traditional Lanten village (local people of ancient Chinese origin). There was no electricity, no running water and nothing put on. They did manage to pull a bucket of beers from somewhere though and we drank them outside sitting by the river while the host family and our guides lit a fire and prepared dinner.
The house we stayed in was a typical one-room house and the smoke from the open fire filled the room. Our guide had been picking things in the jungle all day like wild ginger and these things all made their way into the dinner which was absolutely delicious. After dinner the father of our host family pulled out a bottle of Lao-Lao (a local whiskey brewed from fermented rice with alcohol content of 45%) so we polished that off and were all asleep by 9:30pm!

Typical House

Visiting a Khmu Village

More tough trekking the next day, lots of uphills and downhills. The downhills were worse than the uphills as the mud was so slippy. Lydia had a bit of a nasty fall at one stage and hurt herself. I had a few slips myself but nothing serious. The worst thing about day two was the leeches, there were loads of them. Pet got a couple of bites and lost a lot of blood and Stijn (one of the Belgians) got one too. Myself and Lydia were lucky and we didn't get any. The second day of trekking came to an end at the Nam Tha River. Stijn went for a swim, I went for a sit in the water (still can't swim!) and Lydia & Inge (the other Belgian) went for a paddle. The locals swarmed around us looking at our white skin and one of them brought us a huge clay pot full of Lao-Lao whiskey. It was much nicer whiskey than the night before so we all lashed into that and the guide filled a litre bottle, made a shot glass from a piece of bamboo and brought it for us to drink in the tuk-tuk on the way back to the town.
We can't say enough good things about the trek or the Laos people. They really are the friendliest people we've come across always smiling and genuinely happy to see foreigners while never trying to rip you off or beg (Indian people could really learn a lot from the Laotians).

Scenery from Trek

Lydia drinking Lao Lao

We were both in bits after the trek and didn't do much last night. This morning it was raining so we spent some time online uploading photos and researching our next few destinations. In the afternoon we decided we wanted to do a good deed. We had seen and met so many really nice Laotians but they really have nothing, they are so poor. So we went to a school supplies shop and bought 2 packs of colouring pencils, 24 normal pencils, 20 copy books and we picked up 7 toothbrushes and 12 tubes of toothpaste - all came to about 7 euro. We rented a motorbike and tried to drive to a village we had passed on the way back from the trek, we got about 3 metres up the dirt road, slipped in the mud and nearly came off the bike so we turned around and headed for a different village near where we had started our trek and after a while we found someone who spoke English, he was the son of the village teacher, an 18 year old and his brother who was 22. They welcomed us to their house, told us that the school was closed for the summer and their Dad, the teacher, was out working in the fields. After a while it seemed that every villager that wasn't working in the fields was standing around us while the two teachers sons gave us a good quizzing. The children were really afraid of the camera though so I don't really have any pictures. They really appreciated the presents we brought and we felt really good for doing it.

Local Girls

Karl Drinking Lao Lao

On the way back to the town we got a puncture (so much for Karma) and I had to push the bike the guts of a kilometre before we stumbled upon a guy who said he was a french speaking trekking guide. He had some English and took us to a puncture repair guy. We sat with the trekking guide for about a half hour while the puncture was being repaired and chatted to him. When the puncture was fixed he wanted a mere 33 cent so we splashed out and gave him 66 cent! (We heard of tourists being charged 40 euro for a puncture repair in India)
When we got back to the town we arranged to get a bus to our next destination for tomorrow. I have a feeling we'll have some stories to tell about dodgy transport over the next couple of days!