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Published: February 25th 2007
Lunch forest style
Wonderful food served on bananna leavesWe left Chang Mai and caught a mini bus to the border so we could cross into Laos at Huang Xai. It all went fine, despite us making the mistake of letting someone else organise our visas for us. Basically they took our passports, drove down to the border, got the visa for us, drove back up, then charged us $12 each for the privilege of them doing something we could easily have done ourselves. How to rip off a tourist in one easy step... Live and learn...
We stayed the night in Huang Xai drinking beer with a great German girl called Sandra, the only German teacher in the capital of Mongolia, and responsible for running their German programme! Woken up by roosters crowing, blissfully unaware that it was only 5am, and obviously never having read the story books that roosters are only meant to crow at dawn!
Next morning we caught another bus to Luang Nam Tha in the north of Laos. 7 hours to cover 180km's in a bus travelling along partially paved and under-construction roads with lung filling red dust everywhere. We were very glad we turned up early enough to get a proper seat,
River crossing
Cath using a log to cross the river. because the overflow were either put on plastic seats in the isle, or stood for the 7 hours! Having the wheel bump at our feet did restrict our ability to stretch out.
We were looking to do some trecking in the Nam Ha Protected Area, which for the most part turned out to be an amazing experience. The Nam Ha is a model example of ecotourism in practice with local people benefiting through payments directly to villages for cooking and accommodation, and a transparent breakdown of how the money is split between guides, villages, the national park and tour operator.
We had met 4 people on the bus from Huang Xai (Miguel, Innes, Nester & Aurelie) who were also looking to trek, so the 6 of us got together and, along with two others (Cat & Patrice) we had persuaded to join us, (one of whom - Cat - is still with us now) set off on a 3 day trek organised by Green Discovery, with an overnight stay in the forest and at a Akha villa. Or so we thought!
The first day we started at a Khmu village to pick up our local cook and
Cartman by waterfall
After a day trekking Cartman couldn't wait to take a wash. his two helpers (his daughter and the son of another family). Each family in the village takes turns to support the treks and in turn they all share the income paid to the village. They brought our food, including a live chicken that was unceremoniously stuffed in to a carrier bag for the journey. The walk was a melodic 7km trek besides a meandering river through beautiful, slightly parched, forest. Our guides Xay ('Si') and 'Mr' Souk knew their stuff and showed us food and wild medicine to cure such ailments as malaria and diahorrea (neither of which we suffered from thankfully!). Lunch was served on the path using banana leaves as table and chairs on the forest floor - all biodegradable and eco-friendly. Lunch wasn't the chicken, so 'Soup', as she was named, was safe for a few more hours. Food is served spicy in the forest, and everything comes with sticky rice, so we were happy, but our 4 friends from the bus were less than impressed as they found it very hard to eat the food with chilli.
The first night we stayed in a forest camp. A nearby cave provided entertainment in the form of
Burnt out Akha village
For some reason Green Discovery thought this was what we wanted when we said we would like to stay in an Akha village! vines which we cut and used as an impromptu rope swing (see the 'Tarzan' video) and settled down under the sparkling glitter of a moonless night. Cat, Cath & I wandered off into the forest, turned out torches off, then freaked ourselves out thinking that every leaf falling was a tiger about to eat us ("what was that!!??... "Oh sorry, it was my stomach" - Cat) All was well with the happy trekkers, until a few questions to the guide about the following day raised a major concern amongst us all. We understood that the next evening would be spent in an Akha village. Unfortunately, and contrary to the information we had read and understood, the villagers had been moved 4 km away to the edge of the park near the road. To say we were feeling totally peeved and annoyed was an understatement. We had been misinformed, at worse mislead, by the sales man at Green Discovery. The information leaflet was ambiguous and sales rep knew we were looking for a forest trek and to stay at a village to have a brief insight in to the Akha people and their cultue. He'd failed, deliberately or unintentionaly I am
Burnt out Akha village II
Discarded personal items remind you that this was once a lively, bustling village. not sure, to mention that said village was empty. We were paying to stay in a ghost town, not my idea of value for money, or fun! We apparently hadn't asked the right questions, but an assumption that a village contains villagers is possibly not an unreasonable assumption to make...
Xai was totally understanding as he had not been involved in the sale of the trip and realised that we had different expectations of what the trip involved. We considered our options, including abandoning the trip and walking back the way we had come and demanding the money back from Green Discovery. After a few hours of discussion we reached a compromise to combine the second and third days trekking in to one long day and try to reach the 'new' village in one day.
Our multinational team of eight (Portugal, France, Australia, Spain, UK and Germany) spent the night bedded down on the floor of a hut pretty much shoulder to shoulder. The night was fairly uneventful apart from the woman snoring in my ear. No not Cath, but Cat a lovely German lady we had met the night before who had traveled down from China with
The real Akha village
Complete with houses and kids! Patrice.
Day two of trekking took us through more forest, bamboo forest and across abandonded paddy fields. At lunch we feasted on bamboo flower and rattan soup cooked in a bamboo pot (all freshly collected and cooked that day) and accompanied by greens, chilly paste and the Laos staple of sticky rice. The carnivores also had Soup the chicken.
Around early afternoon, we reach the half way point of the abandoned village. On arrival, my heart sank as the sight that met us was apocolyptic - a village of skeletal, burnt out huts. Walking around and seeing the discarded household implements, it didn't take much imagination to see that this was once a bustling village that people called home.
The history of National Parks shows that time and again conservation policies often involve the relocation of people who have lived in the area and who have happily, and without major disruption, managed the landscape for decades, if not hundreds of year. Forced removal is often at the detriment to their culture and in most cases to the environment of the park as customary rules and management of the forest are undermined. The official line in this case
The paddy dance
We found walking this way saved energy! is that the village moved because the younger people wanted to be nearer to the road.
I was happy to leave the deserted village, as the skeptic in me felt there may have been more of a stick than a carrot used here. I also felt very sad that we had paid to see this and even more angry that Green Discovery thought this was something people wanted to see as a trekking tour. It disturbed both Cath & I to see the village remains in such a state, and why Green Discovery would think that anyone would want to stay in such a depressing environment was beyond us.
We reached the relocated Akha village by early evening and were greeted by screaming, enquisative kids, and people returning from tending their fields or logging in the forest. The Chief and the village very kindly accomodated us, which we were very grateful for, imagine 8 treckers just turning up on your doorstep! We had dinner with the Chief and his family, washed down with Laos Laos (moonshine whisky). Our home for the night was an empty house in the centre of the village which was overrun with kids who
Laos vs Europe
Those flying kicks just weren't happening. A landslide victory to Laos. thought we were a walking playground and amusement park. As we all laid down to go to sleep, there was a feeling of contentment amongst the team as we had got what we expected - to stay the night in an Akha village, plus more that we hadn't expected, dinner and stories with the Chief, massages for those interested, and a huge welcome.
We were woken in the morning 4 times in succession by, firstly, a child having a tantrum, pigs under the hut, chickens under the hut, and lastly someone clearing their nose with great enthusiasm (something they do an awful lot of in Thailand and Laos). It would have been five times if the children had their way, but Xai stood guard by the door to our house to keep them out!
Day 3 wasn't much in the way of trekking, more of a slow saunter through paddy fields and a two more villages to the main road. The afternoon was spent sitting by a river and the guys took on the Laos at a game of Rattan. Even with the sun in their eyes, Laos firmly beat Europe. The village brought out their textiles (all hand woven) and Cath indulged in the first of many purchases...
Back to Laung Nam Tha in the evening for a hot shower, the removal of our body weight in red dust, ready for the next days travel towards the Elephant Festival at Hongsa
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carmen
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Awesome pics
I loved your pics! You guys look like your having a great expierence. Naming the chicken "soup" was too funny!!