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Published: July 13th 2008
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Bathing Waters...!!!
Two Village kids making the most of the sun shine outside Luang Nam Tha, Laos. During our 3 days of travel to Laos from Thailand (6 hours on a bus followed by 2 days on a very slow overpacked boat )we got a taste of the undoubtably slow pace of travel and the laid back lifestyle that the lovely country of Laos has to offer. We reached the pretty city of Luang Prabang which lies along the Mekong River and found a nice guesthouse by the river. Luang Prabang has many good cafes and restaurants housed in colourful french colonial buildings but after the 11.30pm curfew is enforced it quietens down and the only place you can get a drink is in the local bowling alley! There is a great night market selling loads of tempting local handicrafts at good prices and there are lots of things to do outside the city itself. We went to see a really beautfiul waterfall where we took an ice cold dip and another day we took a boat trip down the Mekong River to see the Pak Ou Caves home to over 4,000 budda images.
After a few days of chilling out we were itching for some activity and decided to go further up North to Luang Nam
Tha to do some trekking. Getting there was an experience, 12 of us squashed into a small mini bus for 8 hours over pot holed roads but we made it and signed up for a 3 day trek. The trek itself was tough going as its rainy season here so the trail through the jungle was very muddy and the daily monsoon rain ensured it stayed that way. On the second day it was mainly down hill on water buffalo treks. Everyone in our group fell in the muck at some point. I ended the day head to toe covered in muck and resorted to "showering" like the locals in the nearby stream. The only time Peter fell was when he was tried to help me get up. We both sat in the mud me in tears of laughter...Peter, well he wasn't laughing!We ate lots of laos food on our trip like buffalo meat, overdosed on sticky rice, bamboo and eggplant during the day served on bamboo leaves right in the middle of the forest and at night stayed in bamboo huts. We got to visit the Khamu tribes people and on the last day we arrived in the Akka
Time to Reflect
Two Pondering Monks in Luang Prabang Laos tribes village. The Akka people have a very fascinating belief system centered around spirit worship. Every village has a spirt gate house and to keep the bad spirts away and no one is allowed to touch this except during the New Year cermony. We were warned if we touched this they would be very upset and would have to sacrifice an animal to harmonise the spirits.
When a boy reaches 18 he picks a potenial wife and builds a house for them to live in. She has 5 years to give birth to a child and when she does they then get married over a 3 day celebration. If she is unlucky and cant have children she is not considered marriage material. If a woman has twins the Akka people believe this is bad luck and so they kill both babies and the parents are banished to the forest for 3 years. The Akka people wear really interesting and ornate tradional clothes but these are mainly worn only on cermonious occasions as it takes them a full year to make an Akka's womans clothes. Our trip to the Akka villlage was a great insight into their culture and our trek
ended with lunch with the village Chief. The villagers elect a Chief every 5 years. We had a great laugh with him and we didnt get to leave until we had devoured a big bottle of Lao Lao (local rice whiskey...70% alc!).
After the trek we went to another town off the beaten track nearby called Muang Sing. We rose early in the morning to get to the local market and it was here we witnessed the ethnic diversity of Northern Laos. Numerous tribes such as the Akka, LoLo, Khamu and the Yao come here to trade their local produce which makes for some colourful people scenery. When we arrived at 7.00am the market was a frenzy of activity with all sorts of goods being sold. We even spotted a cows head and other body parts that we weren't keen to establish. It was the most authentic markets we have seen on all our travels. It was here that you could really see the traditonal garb of the many different ethnic minorities, most of whom who had done their business by the time our sleepy heads arrived and were heading for the hills again. We finished our time in
Muang Sing by cycling the 12 km to the Chinese border taking in some great views of the surrounding hills and locals working in the rice paddy fields. We are really enjoying our time in Laos and it was hard to meet a single Laos person who did not have a Sabqaidii (Hello) and a big smile.
Maire x
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