beautiful sights and parasites: Laos Act 1: Falang in the North

After a brief stop in Vientienne (Lao capital city) we took a flight up north to Luang Nam Tha. Our plan: to organize a eco-trek to some of the local tribes. As is our habit, our first order of business was to eat, and sitting down we were approached by a friendly British couple, Hannah and Ritchie, who had done the work for us and were looking for 4 more for a 3-day trek the following day. That's Hannah on the far left below. We were also accompanied by Andres, a Spanish man, who was quickly nicknamed "Papa" by our guides, as he was the eldest of our crew. Papa had mixed feelings about the name, and Lindsay translated a few of his muttering rants for us later.

We had 2 guides for the trek, Bien and Air. They balanced each other out nicely; Air was on the quiet side while Bien was completely out of his mind. None of us have met someone with quite so much energy and flair. He immediately started calling us Falang (Lao for white people) and accused our Falang asses of breaking everything from a fallen tree to the banana leaf we were seated on at lunch time. Both Bien and Air are studying to become English teachers and trekking is their part time job. Below is a picture of Bien with Chris and Lindsay and one of all of us enjoying an amazing meal of sticky rice, bamboo, morning glory (a kind of leafy green vegetable) and pumpkin curry on our banana leaf table... in the middle of the jungle.

After hiking all day we finally reached our first stop, a Black Thai village. This area of Laos has over 130 different ethnic minority groups, and many are still scattered as cultural bubbles in the jungle.

After washing ourselves in a small stream (the same stream the livestock drank from), we retired to the chief's house and were treated to a delicious meal of Duck. We witnessed every step in the production of this meal and now know that a duck will keep twitching long after it has been drained of its blood through a hole in the back of its head. The Black Thai were very hospitable but were timid about interacting. We were surprised the children weren't more eager to interact. Some glanced at us as though we frightened them. Perhaps tourists are rare in these parts. Below is a picture of Mark and I outside the chief's house (the animals live below, along with whatever else needs protection from the rain).

On day 2 we trekked up and down through thick jungle and arrived at last at another village, this one part of the Akha tribe. Our reception here couldn't have been more different, and we quickly made friends with a group of 9 girls ages 3-12.
Here they are giving us a post dinner concert. Before that, mark, chris and ritchie played a rattan ball game with some of the Akha boys and men, a mixture of soccer and volleyball. See pic below.

Me playing a clapping game with some of the girls and Chris hanging out with Apa.

One thing that really impressed us about Lao is how resourceful people are when it comes to finding food. Not only do they have an incredibly wide array of fruits and vegetables but we counted at least 12 protein sources in the villages, including dogs (which aren't treated and hence do not behave like pets) and this bowl of bamboo grubs, which the locals eat in their morning bowls of rice. We didn't try grubs but we ate a wasp larvae the day before--not too bad except for the texture of underdeveloped wings in your mouth that never quite dissolve.

After our trek, the 6 of us got on a bus to Nong Kwai. It was a long, bumpy, dusty trip, but the second we arrived and saw the views...

Nong Kwai is located on the Nam Ou river. It's a sleepy town but its location between karst rock formations and green jungle is stunning. We went on a fishing trip the next day, assuming we'd be given fishing poles but instead were taught how to fish the traditional Lao way, with nets. Our instructor is the one with no pants. Lindsay proved to be a great fisherwomen. She frequently threw her net into deep waters that required her to fully submerge herself in order to retrieve it (the Mekong may or may not have contained crocs here). Fishing with a net is not easy, and we only caught what amounted to minnows, but eaten with sticky rice and Lao Lao (local Lao rice whiskey in the plastic bottle below) they tasted just fine.
The next day we took a boat about an hour and a half up river to Muang Sing. Like Nong Kwai, Muang Sing is a beautiful river town, and even more remote, with only 3 hours of electricity a day from generators, and connected to the outside world only by riverway.

Unfortunately, everyone came down with a really nasty stomach bug at this point. I was the only one spared (maybe my previous parasite, Elvira, granted immunity?) and so was in charge of near constant runs to the store for water and tp. Despite their illnesses everyone managed to hike to a nearby cave with a river flowing from it, and there we went swimming in the dark.

After Muang Sing we said farewell to Hannah & Ritchie and took a boat with to Luang Prabang. 6 bathroom-less hours but it was an amazing way to experience the Nam Ou and Mekong rivers.

Satellights in canoes were not an uncommon sight-- evidence of the changing times. We arrived in Luang Prabang late in the day and spent the next four days there. Luang Prabang is a wealthy city compared to where we'd come from, and spending time there was quite a culture shock. Now, thinking back, it's hard to imagine the day-to-day in the Akha and Black Thai villages.

One of the highlights in LP was visiting the night market. Lindsay and I went shopping. Chris and Mark put up with our consumption, for a while anyway. During our time in Lao Mark was consuming between 2 and 3 banana shakes each day.