Trekking in Vieng Phoukka

  Vieng Phoukka, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Sunday, February 22, 2009

akha boy

At noon next day I carried on to Vieng Phoukka with Mark, an Englishman who seemed to follow the same route as me since Phonsavan. We took the public bus to avoid sickness from serpentine road. 3 hour ride was eternity for me as my stomach did not deal with a whole pack of biscuits very well and my urge for toilet was stronger every kilometer we passed. Luckily the bus dropped us off in front of a restaurant, which turned out to be the only one in Vieng Phoukka village, and my problem got resolved pretty quickly.
We got accommodated a bit away from the "downtown", in a cute family-run GH, with wooden, basic, but clean rooms. For the first time I felt off the beaten track in Laos. There tend to be only up to 10 visitors a day to this village because the vast majority skip this lovely place and head directly to more famous Luang Nam Tha.
We arrived in the late afternoon and managed to pull together a small squad of five to go trekking. The next day, Mark, Sophie and Jan (Belgium couple), Andrew from Canada and me, along with two guides set off for a 2-day adventure nearby Nam Ha NPA.

trek 2

First day we visited a La-hu village, had lunch at a waterfall and looked around an Akha village, where we also stayed overnight. We were explained that an Akha man who could not find a wife among his tribe was sent into forest to look for her. There he found a spirit girl he married. However the other spirits wanted her back. Therefore Akha people place by every entrance to their village a wooden gate frame on which usually a dog is sacrificed. People aren't allowed to go through this gate. It is devoted to spirits who thus cannot enter the village and cause any harm. After dinner we tried Akha whisky and local kids came to our dwelling to look at strange visitors. Some of us had a leg massage conducted by local girls.

akha village 6

Next day after breakfast we carried on hiking through Lao rain forest finishing over trip in a Hmong village, where 14-year old girls have to build up a simple small shelter where they move until they find a husband. Then they can return back to multi-family home dwelling.
The trek was a great introduction to native hill tribes, which still seem to be separated from the outside world. Trek programs are well organized and around a half of profit is targeted back to the tribes. These people really don't get to see many tourists. They often appear very shy, even afraid of strangers. We did 5-6 hours of hiking a day in Lao forest, where, unfortunately, wasn't any wildlife, as all animals end up as food for the locals.