You Say It's Your Birthday
Trip Start
Feb 05, 2008
1
21
70
Trip End
Ongoing
Luang Namtha,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
The village stops are pretty surreal, like stepping into a National Geographic documentary
Akha Tribe Children
. The kids are amazing, smiling and beautiful. They love to have their picture taken and then see it on the screen. But you feel a bit weird doing it. The adults are cynical, but not cold. The places are dirty. Their clothes are dirty. Homes are bamboo huts, usually on stilts. Some are supported by a foundation of beerlao bottles overturned and partially burried to control turmites. Chickens and pigs and dogs roam about freely. Things are seemingly in a state of complete disarray. Later we hit the trail. These guide outfitters are very 'eco' friendly and the trek is oriented accordingly. I half think they want us to see firsthand the carnage and go away to our countries and talk about it. But then again, it all has to do with livelihood of many of these people. Slash and burn agriculture is alive and well here. Entire hills, small mountains really, have been denuded. Most of the time the timber isn't even harvested. They don't have the roads or machinery necessary to do so. The views are stunning and where there is virgin forest, it's gorgeous. It goes something like this. They clearcut large tracts, let it dry for a season or two and then burn it. Then they plant sugarcane for about three years. It is exported to China and the refined sugar is sold back to Laos (ring any bells?). After three or so years of sugarcane growing, the tracts of land are tiered and converted to rubber tree plantations
So cute
. It's not pretty. But when you walk through virgin forest, it's something else. During lunch we start talking about our vital statistics and I reveal that it is my birthday tomorrow. Keou promises a few shots of lao lao, the infamous Laos whiskey.
We arrive at our destination, Sop Ea Mai Village. Our host family and their fellow villagers are very hospitable. I don't see any sick chickens and everybody looks healthy, although some of the men and a few of the women have rotting teeth with red crap all over them and their lips. This comes from chewing something called 'bitterleaf' (?). Upon arrival we snap a few photos, mostly of the kids and spend a little time chilling with the villagers which basically entails just looking at each other. The village has are 25 homes and about 200 people live here, along with countless chickens, pigs and dogs. There are few old people and children under 10 must comprise more than half of the population. Posters about malaria prevention, how parasites spread through shitting in the ground and avian flu adorn the odd building.
It's our lucky day! Today one of the residents is going to slaughter a pig
Akha kids
. You can't just kill it and carry on. The taking of any life requires a ceremony and an offering to the spirits. We have the opportunity to witness it. A couple of the men are holding down the pig, who seems be aware of its fate. Two small boys watch. Another younger man is helping the elder who is performing the ritual. Before them is a bamboo pole that protrudes vertically from the ground, standing about a meter high. Near its top is a small opening. It's hollow inside. The assistant hands the elder a small chick. He snaps its neck and says a few words before sticking part of the it in the opening of the pole. He adds a couple of shots of a clear liquid, lao lao I'm guessing. After a few more words the pig starts to squeel and struggles in vain to free itself. The elder then peels a hard-boiled egg and puts some of the shell into the pole. He says a few more words and the assistant slashes the pig's throat, presumably killing it in as humanely a way as is possible. The thing seems to take forever to die. Tradition dictates that whenever this happens, the people of the village dine together in the hut of the family who has slaughtered the animal. We are invited to join them. The men dine first. We sit on the floor and dine from one of about five small bamboo tables that are covered with large green leaves. The stirfried pork, squash and bowls of soup are place directly on the table tops
The lone wolf
. We are given chopsticks and a spoon. We eat from the same bowls of soup and the same piles of stirfry as the others around our table. God I hope none of these guys has bird flu. Maybe the lao lao they're handing me will help. The stuff is powerful enough to remove paint. In fact, it smells like paint thinner. Maybe it tastes like paint thinner too. Even the locals let out a growl after the take a shot. When in Rome... The food is alright. Later we return to our host family's hut and eat the dinner Keou has prepared, in the same manner. It was good too and featured 'baby bamboo'. After dinner we were treated to an Akha massage. It's a good idea to go to bed early because the goddamn roosters start going at around three or four in the morning. And that sets off the rest of the wildlife.
Happy birthday Gordo! I woke up to big birthday hugs and kisses on the cheak from Ruth and Mariana and I cracked open a celebratory can of Coke that I had stashed in my pack. After a liesurely morning and a nice breakfast of overcooked scrambled eggs and sticky rice and some other shit that didn't taste too good, we headed off. Wading across the river was tricky and fun. We all agreed that we didn't need to see anymore villages--we were supposed to hit three more on the way back to Muang Sing--and had an early lunch
In traditional wear
. We got back to town early enough to have a couple of beers make the 2:30 bus to Luang Namtha. I had a quiet dinner, an omelet and homecut fries, and made travel arrangments for the next day. Oddly, the bus terminal is located about 4 kms away from the centre. You can take a 20,000 kip return tuk-tuk ride (nearly half the price of tomorrow's bus all the way to Oudomxai), to the terminal to buy a ticket or make arrangements through a travel agent. I decided on the later and bought a 50,000 kip ticket to Oudomxai where I would change buses to Nong Khiaw for more adventure. Later on it was birthday beers with Ruth and Mariana. And that was my most unusual birthday.
And I know this much. There won't be no containing the bird flu when it finally does break. Forget about it.
