Jungle Trippin' in Laos
We arrived in Louang Namtha, a small town in Northern Laos, and straight away booked ourselves on a 2 day eco-tourism treck in the 'jungle' and including a stay in a Launtern (ethnic name) village. We set-off on our adventures the next day and fate again dealt us a spade edged diamond.
The first day started off pretty gentely but the small trail gradually got slippier, steeper and windier. Our local guides, Kip and Gan used their machettes to hewn some walking poles from bamboo, which prooved to be indispensible when we had to fight off a pack of hyenas... only kidding of course.
We plodded along the thin trails through streams and under thick canopies. To our horror when we sat down to eat we noticed that we had little leaches all over our trousers and shoes trying to get their little teeth into our juicy skin. As we tried to pick them off they attached themsleves to our fingers like an unwanted bogie and we soon learned, as with bogies, the swift finger flick motion works best.
After around 7 hours we arrived at the Launtern village and were friendly received by the local kids washing themselves in a leach free fresh water stream. We dropped off our bags in our shared sleeping hut and jumped in the stream. Later on our excellent guides prooved to also be excellent cooks. We had several really tasty dishes served on banana leaves.
Later on one of the Launtern fellas and his 15/16 year old son joined us and whipped out the Laos Laos rice wine. We all tried it and then had another glass and it soon became clear that the our host was intent on finishing the bottle with us. After finishing the last licourice drop of Laos Laos came the Laos beer and by 10 a'clock we were filthy drunk and toasting each other until in different languages the last drop of alc was gone.
Why are the poorest people, moneywise at least, always the most generous and welcoming?
The next day we, (that is the guides Kip and Gan, Me, Vicky, Maria from France and Alex and Melissa from Holland) were all feeling a bit stiff, tired and shakey from the Laos Laos and to make things worse we soon learned that it had rained all night and the local big river, the Nam ha, had flooded our route (as we learned later, also many homes and fields, including our guide's).
Kindley, our new Launtern friends equiped with football boots with studs offered to be our guides' guides to find an alternative route. After around 7 hours of hard trecking we arrived at the bridge over the river only to find that it the jeep from the eco-tourism project would not be able to pick us up as the road into town was also flooded.
We were nackered, soaking and stuck, fortunately after passing some Chinese rubber tappers running and skipping down a stream in their underpants, shouting "Ni Hao" we came across a group of Laos plantation workers who directed us to a mountain route through the rubber plantations. Darkness soon descended and we stopped caring about leaches, we were more concerned with not falling off the path down a steep slope or worse into a fast river. Our shitty yellow beamed torches were almost useless.
By hook and by crook, well, through the work of our excellent guides, we got back to the road at a point unaffected by the flooded river and were whisked back to our guest houses bruised and weathered but with a craking experience and a good story to tell...I hope. Enjoy the pics.
We arrived in Louang Namtha, a small town in Northern Laos, and straight away booked ourselves on a 2 day eco-tourism treck in the 'jungle' and including a stay in a Launtern (ethnic name) village. We set-off on our adventures the next day and fate again dealt us a spade edged diamond.
The first day started off pretty gentely but the small trail gradually got slippier, steeper and windier. Our local guides, Kip and Gan used their machettes to hewn some walking poles from bamboo, which prooved to be indispensible when we had to fight off a pack of hyenas... only kidding of course.
We plodded along the thin trails through streams and under thick canopies. To our horror when we sat down to eat we noticed that we had little leaches all over our trousers and shoes trying to get their little teeth into our juicy skin. As we tried to pick them off they attached themsleves to our fingers like an unwanted bogie and we soon learned, as with bogies, the swift finger flick motion works best.
After around 7 hours we arrived at the Launtern village and were friendly received by the local kids washing themselves in a leach free fresh water stream. We dropped off our bags in our shared sleeping hut and jumped in the stream. Later on our excellent guides prooved to also be excellent cooks. We had several really tasty dishes served on banana leaves.
Later on one of the Launtern fellas and his 15/16 year old son joined us and whipped out the Laos Laos rice wine. We all tried it and then had another glass and it soon became clear that the our host was intent on finishing the bottle with us. After finishing the last licourice drop of Laos Laos came the Laos beer and by 10 a'clock we were filthy drunk and toasting each other until in different languages the last drop of alc was gone.
Why are the poorest people, moneywise at least, always the most generous and welcoming?
The next day we, (that is the guides Kip and Gan, Me, Vicky, Maria from France and Alex and Melissa from Holland) were all feeling a bit stiff, tired and shakey from the Laos Laos and to make things worse we soon learned that it had rained all night and the local big river, the Nam ha, had flooded our route (as we learned later, also many homes and fields, including our guide's).
Kindley, our new Launtern friends equiped with football boots with studs offered to be our guides' guides to find an alternative route. After around 7 hours of hard trecking we arrived at the bridge over the river only to find that it the jeep from the eco-tourism project would not be able to pick us up as the road into town was also flooded.
We were nackered, soaking and stuck, fortunately after passing some Chinese rubber tappers running and skipping down a stream in their underpants, shouting "Ni Hao" we came across a group of Laos plantation workers who directed us to a mountain route through the rubber plantations. Darkness soon descended and we stopped caring about leaches, we were more concerned with not falling off the path down a steep slope or worse into a fast river. Our shitty yellow beamed torches were almost useless.
By hook and by crook, well, through the work of our excellent guides, we got back to the road at a point unaffected by the flooded river and were whisked back to our guest houses bruised and weathered but with a craking experience and a good story to tell...I hope. Enjoy the pics.
posted by Ian Caveney at 8:08 AM
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