About to be Luang Prabanged

The Mekong river...

Christine, walking through Ban Bayway, an Akha Village
One of our guides, betel stained teeth and all...


Night time in the village, w Lao Akha, chinese beer and lots to look at...


















Well, I had written a nice long blog and, just as I was about to post it, the power went out. I would say that such is life here in Northern Laos, but it happened to us in Chang Mai Thailand just as we were going to board the bus as well, hence our lack of posts in the last week or so.





So, in brief, a re-hash of my last post, now lost to the void...





The last week has been incredible, a week of firsts - first sight of the mae kong river, first steps inside a communist country, first time trying "lao lao" (Laos's infamous home made liquor), first time, in fact, trying a whole range of odd foods, first time so near to China (which does, in fact, actually glow red), first time seeing opium (though I didn't try it), first time having someone understand something, however basic, that we said in Lao...





But, first, we left Thailand about 5 days ago now after spending two days 50 km north of Chang Mai with Washington friend Jen Zawacki. She is working at a permaculture start-up owned by a group of foreigners, and we enjoyed seeing her place and her passion for what they are up to. Rigth next door to that land is Pun Pun farm where, I learned, my sister Abi had spent some time about 3 years ago. The owner (Po Ji I think...) remembered her!





The trip from Chang Mai to Muang Sing, a small town in Northern Laos, was amazing. We travelled by bus to the beautiful Mae Kong riverside town of Chang Kong, took a long-tail boat across the river, and then boarded a SomLaew to Luang Nam Tha. A SomLaew is the form of public transport in Northern Laos. Its a truck. Our 6 hour trip included 16 adults, 2 kids, the driver, 3 bags of rice, a bicycle, all of our assorted luggange and bags and a sapling orange tree all crammed into something that looked like a Ford Ranger. The road was half-paved, half-not, and if we weren't flying at high speeds through the paved section we were being covered in clouds of dust or having our spleens re-arranged by the hard wood seats lining the back of the vehicle.





From Luang Nam Tha it was another 2 hour truck ride to Muang Sing, a very small agriculture town just a few miles from China, where we went specifically for the reputation of the government trekking office there. We joined a group of 7 other travellers, all europeans, for a 3 day walk into the hills above town. There, we spent our nights in Akha villages and, by day, walked through high hills of dry scrub forest or, in many cases, what used to be dry scrub forest now in various stages of being slashed and burned to grow rice or sugar cane. We can't even begin to describe in the space of this post the flood of new sights, sounds, smells and tastes that inhabited us during these days. On the one side we had the very interesting experience of being able to share life with a group of travellers from a great variety of Europe's great nations (spain, france, italy, poland, germany, england). On the other side we experienced some small slice of hill life in Northern Laos - small villages of thatch and bamboo, teeth stained with betel, the sting of "lao akha" is it goes down, shared squat-style meals, eaten with fingers only (all the while thinking of all of those germs gleefully sliding down our gullets...), the constant wide-eyed stares of children in the villages, night time swapping laughs by candle-light...





We emerge now back to "civilization" in Luang Nam Tha, with plans to catch the bus tomorrow to Luang Prabang, one of Laos' most famous cities. We are looking forward to it!





A short plug. Laos is very poor. We are leeches, just passig through and collecting photos, and leaving a few of our dollars behind. But there are people that have come here and stayed and are using their good fortune in life to do real and hard work to benefit others. On the truck ride down to Luang Nam Tha from Muang Sing today we met a doctor from the U.S. that came here 5 years ago for a one year sabbatical to volunteer as a pediatrician. Leila Srour and her husband Bryan Watt haven't left yet. They work out of Muang Sing with anyone that needs it, and also are working to educated and train Laos' next generation of health care providers. They pay for their work out of their own pockets, and use donations to cover expenses for sending people to Vientiane for advanced care. I include this here should anyone wish to make a donation for their project. The husband, bryan, is a photographer and also provides info about thier work and their fund at www.bryanwatt.com





Ian