Villages, Mountains, More Villages, More Mountains, Rivers and Dust Thrown In

January 19, 2011

Laos continues to impress me with its beauty and people. Since my last entry I have trekked (for some reason the word of choice here), tubed down a river, played hopscotch, seen new items for sale at the market, gotten to the Chinese border, done a back flip, tried lots of new food and gotten terribly dusty (inside and out) on an 18 hour bus ride. After all of this I decided I would have a chill day and catch up on my blog, laundry, yoga, reading and hammock time. My friend was ready to keep going so he’s off rock climbing.

After the swanky town of Luang Prabang, Ben and I headed north to Luang Nam Tha, which as a town doesn’t have tons to offer, but what it has it nice. The night market has some wonderful food and you can see my picture of some stuffed rice paper that was very good. Not sure of the spices in it and I’m guessing there was shredded pork, but whatever it was was good enough that went for seconds. They also had boiled peanuts – yum! There’s also a nice Buddhist stupa that offers nice views of the town and surrounding mountains. When you enter the stupa area you are greeted by some statues of women in different minority dress. You can see I posed with them.

This town is more a springboard for outdoor activities and I did a 2 day trek through the forest and several villages. There were eight of us on the trek and even though I was the oldest I was in better shape than most. A nice ego boost and reminder that age isn’t everything! During the hike we stopped for a leisurely lunch laid out on palm leaves. It was vegetarian fare of three dishes. One was a nice egg compilation and the light greens were also good. By mid-afternoon we arrived in a village for the night. Unfortunately, our guide, who was hung-over, didn’t introduce us or have anything planned (one other group spoke with the chief). We walked about on our own and tried not to be too intrusive. It must be hard for the villages because they desperately need money and they get a cut of our trekking fees, but I don’t know who much they want foreigners coming in. However, given they didn’t have things to specifically sell us I don’t think they get too many visitors. On our second day we stopped for lunch in a village and women came in throngs to sell us bracelets and bags (you can see the picture).

People were generally friendly though and some of the guys accepted an invitation to drink lao lao (a local whiskey). I played with some of the kids who were very eager to see us. No one in the village spoke English so it was all charades. I drew a hopscotch design in the dirt and jumped through it. The kids were intrigued watching me, but it took several minutes before any were willing to try it themselves. Then it just turned into a big group jumping game. One girl with a baby tied to her back went and made her own hopscotch board and jumped through a few times before having to get back to chores.

I noticed this village, like all of Laos it seems, had lots of children and baby animals. This country is quite fertile!!! But several of the dogs and pigs were too skinny. One starved dog was licked the menstruation blood from a water buffalo. Another new sight for me. Some of the villages we saw were more prosperous than others. And when clothing is too expensive some kids are naked while others just where shirts (I’m not sure why shirts and no pants rather than the reverse).

I went swimming in the cold river as my bath – a very quick bath! Brrr! The trekking group stayed in our own wooden room and the kitchen was next door. I witnessed dinner being prepared. The chicken was hung and the duck’s head was hit with a stick until he/she was dead. The ducks on the water were quite loud that night – maybe they were grieving. The two animals were then gutted and cleaned in the river. The dinner was actually very tasty, but it is difficult to be so close to the food source after being in a culture that hides it from you.

The evening was chilly so a fire was started and you can see we had some visitors. The pigs wanted to share in the warmth and pushed each other trying to get the prime location. I think a couple got some singed hairs and noses. The dogs largely stayed away – they are more skittish then the pigs here.

Before retiring to bed we found a monster size spider in the rafters. I tried to put that out of my mind and crawled beneath my mosquito net. After breakfast we hit the trail and walked through three more villages – well one village was an old one that was moved out of for lack of space. The villages were less active then where we stayed. The rice fields have been harvested and apparently they only get one harvest a year because there isn’t enough water. So now is their “free time.” They collect things in the woods and do other activities, but it is quieter. The village where we had lunch is made up of a people from south China. Some of the older members speak Chinese, but the younger no longer do. And it seems they’ve been in Laos awhile. The dress is distinct and not as colorful as some groups. The pants are short for women so they often wrap cloth around their legs as protection when going into the forest or rice fields. I could’ve used that at times – some branches are like razors. The village elects a chief. In this village only men can be chief so I'm not sure if that means women vote or not. The guide said some villages do allow female chiefs. With lunch over we trekked on and had the hardest section of the trip with steep climbs and some sweeping views. I felt quite out of shape, but made it and had a nice time. I am pleased to say I was not one of the three people who got leeches on the trek! So far I’ve outsmarted them, but who knows for how long.

The next day Ben and I headed out on a motor bike for a northerly town, Muang Sing. It was a chilly, but picturesque 1 ½ hour ride. You can see me with my “Kiddy Style” helmet – guess I have a really small head! Muang Sing is a very small town with a handful of tourists and few people who speak English. It was great! The town and many villages are located in a plain that’s surrounded by mountains. Rice fields are all about, but again most have been harvested so we missed out on the lush green color. From the town we rode 10k to the Chinese border. After passing one point we got lots of gestures and directions to turn around. We ate lunch at a family restaurant overlooking rice fields. You can see our curry and chicken with sweet and sour sauce – and of course the BeerLao.

We explored more of the surrounding villages and mountains. Each village has its own feel and take on tourists. Some ignore you while others wave and smile (though not all in a village will do this). After some harrowing motor biking up a small dirt path in the mountains, we came across some kids collecting grasses (you can see them in a couple of pics) and they were very friendly. I didn’t have pens or books to give them, but they quickly saw our candy in the basket of our motor bike. So we did what the books tell you not to and gave them each a piece. These grasses were being harvested everywhere and in Vietnam at least were used to make brooms. They must have additional purposes. We saw men, women and children along the road transporting huge amounts on their backs and eventually loading them onto trucks. These kids would have a long walk down the mountain to deliver the grasses.

In another village a young boy ran into our path after a toy and we narrowly missed hitting him! Luck was on our side. The Muang Sing market was also full of drama for me. I saw charred rats, bats and a dog for sale (I think it’s a dog). In the foreground of the market picture you can see the bats. Not sure what you do with things so charred?! We also came across some girls that had been pestering us at our guesthouse to buy bracelets. Ben agreed to buy some so when they saw us they pulled us over. So he bought 6 bracelets from the booth you see pictured here. The problem was it wasn’t the girls’ booth! That’s why the girl is looking so unhappy in the photo. Once I realized what happened I went and bought one bracelet from her and bargained on a traditional scarf, but she wouldn’t go low enough. Then Ben bought one more bracelet from the other girl. So they didn’t sell as much as they hoped, but we did get something. As we left the market as saw a woman on the outside wall walk to the side of the road and squat to go the bathroom. This is very common here, but I hadn’t witnessed it yet. Women have to wear modest clothing, but peeing in public is okay (to be fair they aren’t showing skin). I love how cultures evolve into various practices and am curious about this one.

As we made our way back to Luang Nam Tha we stopped at a nice waterfall – not as beautiful as some of the others – but still pretty. We made it in just before dark and checked back into our hotel. We then rode another 10km to the bus station only to find the ticket office was closed. So back at our hotel we bought tickets there and they were able to call and reserve us tickets. A nice setup where more money is gotten from the tourist’s pocket since we had to pay a service fee. This bus took us from Luang Nam Tha to where I am now, Vang Vieng. It was meant to be a 14 hour ride, but turned into 18 hours! It was miserable because of the dust that infiltrated everything. The front door was open, windows were open, there was no escaping it. My skin wouldn’t have passed a white glove test and my hair gained much volume and roughness. I wore my face mask from Vietnam, but still inhaled dust and could feel my lungs aching. And blowing my nose was just gross. I included a picture of Ben’s bag. His bag was worse than mine because he sat by a woman who kept her window open the whole time – maybe she was motion sick. My luggage on the roof covered with a tarp fared better than we did! The upside was there was no mass vomiting that I heard can happen. I just saw one woman sick during one of our stops. After 18 hours of this – most people still had at least 4 more hours on their trip – we arrived in Vang Vieng at 2:15am. We were the only two who stopped here and town is 2km away. There were no tuk-tuk trucks to take us and we ended up staying at a hotel next to the station. We had thought about walking to town (which we did the next morning), but the hot shower at the hotel sold us. It was the best shower I’ve had in months. Everything got multiple washings!

After waking up late, walking to town, eating breakfast and finding a hotel we were finally ready to embark on the tubing adventure, which is the main draw here. We hired tubes and were taken to the drop off point where you float, drink and swing. I felt like I was on spring break in college. Bars lined the river and they throw a rope with a plastic bottle of water at you trying to get you to their place. Whether you ask for it or not you will find a bottle sailing through the air and if you’re lucky it misses your head. We stopped at a few bars and happily discovered we can use their toys without having to buy drinks. So after Ben did his graceful flips off a 7m high dive, I mustered the courage to climb up there. I decided the key would be to jump fast rather than ponder the height. But my fear was escalated as I stepped on a rickety board. But with dozens of eyes on me I jumped and landed smoothly. Not the display Ben gave, but I came out unscathed. The next toy to tackle was a zip line and stupidly I was less nervous about this one. I, again, went after Ben did his acrobatics. I was having fun swinging and raising my legs up and down (bad idea). I lost track of where on the line I was so the stop point where you get thrown caught me unaware. Next thing I know I’m doing back flips (no idea if I did one or two) and landing in the water. To the viewers it looked intentional and not so bad, but it was anything but. And the painful part was that I landed on my upper back and neck. Fortunately, my neck is okay, but the muscle around my shoulder blade is still sore. That ended my antics, but we made a few more stops at ropes, zip lines and swings for Ben. He would jump and I’d warm myself by the fire. The whole area is a lot of fun.

By about 4pm we realized we needed to keep moving down the river. We had to return the tubes by 6pm or pay a penalty. And the sun is set by then so it gets cold and dark anyway. Now being the dry season the river is lower and not moving so swiftly, except in the little rapids, so we had to paddle. My arms got quite a workout and felt like they were going to fall off by the end of it. Along the way there are tuk-tuks to take you, but we both wanted to finish (and I wanted to avoid paying for the ride). I made it back to the store with 15 minutes to spare and the deposit back in my pocket! We still saw tuk-tuks coming in with people past 7pm – brrr!

I enjoyed another warm shower and a delicious Indian dinner – followed by a heavy sleep. That brings me to today. And tomorrow who knows. I’ll be getting a bus out of here, but not sure where I’m heading next.