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Published: February 1st 2008
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Luang Namtha - haven't got time to write about this one just at the mo as we're gonna go get a bus sooooooooo.....here're the photos of our trek into the national park in Luang Namtha. Enjoy. 😊 xxxx
Right, LUANG NAMTHA..... is basically a big area of North Western Laos which is protected from mass tourism. It is mountains and rivers and lakes, and jungles and all sorts but protected as it is one of the last places where the Hill Tribes (people who live in the hills) still maintain their authentic lifestyle.
So we arrived in LN and I felt terrible (all bus ride really) and to top it of there had been a powercut - apparently a common occurrence as this part of Laos still buys its electric from China and there are frequent problems. No worries though a nice herbal tea and a good kip sorted me out. We signed up for one of the treks and went back that evening at 4pm when loads of people turned up. They only run treks if there are enough people going, not enough you don't go, too many and the extras can't come, the more you
get to go though the cheaper it works out.
We were lucky, we'd met some really cool people and they all wanted to do the same as us, two days one night trekking into the protected area. So we met up really early the next morning. I know it looks cold but it really wasn't, just the mist as we are so high up. After the obligatory trip to a local market (you seem to get one thrown in with any trip) we set off. Hard going at first, all uphill but a great way to get to know everyone.
We stopped for lunch in a hastily built shelter and our guides produced a feast. They spread out some banana leaves on the floor and then began pouring out all of the various curries and tasty food stuffs. Then everyone was given chunks of sticky rice and we all dug in. Very good stuff.
The afternoon was a trek downhill towards the tribe village where we would be staying (I think they were Karen - but i'd have to check my diary on that one). We were shown to a large hut where we would be spending
the night and quickly jumped into the river and got cleaned up.
The early evening was quite disturbing for me. We were pretty much free to wander the village and chat to any of the people we met. One of our guides took most of our group off to see the village school (it was quite a rich village) but I was distracted by a squealing piglet. I seriously wish I hadn't been. I'm not much of a farm boy and when I walked around the corner I was quite shocked. A villager and his son had trapped all of their male piglets and were systematically administering "THE" operation. This consisted of grabbing the piggy by its hind legs and then dangling it over a stake in the ground. The poor piggy's testes were the only thing keeping him from slipping down the pole. A very sharp knife made one vertical slit, then...... well imagine sliding a pound out of an envelope, now smear with some mashed up herb paste followed by two gigantic stitches and the animal was left to go about it's day.
The pictures didn't do this justice, so I thought it best to document
the moment with a video - just before I was asked if I would like to try, and I was almost violently sick.
More village life was shown to us and the day ended with a huge meal (which I had watched being slaughtered, plucked, pulped, chopped and drowned earlier) sat around a table with the village chief. He told us all some more about what it was like to be a Karen Tribesman and the 'rules' of vilage life. He answered all of our questions and even asked us about where we came from and what the mountains were like there. We were also all obliged to consume a whole bottle of the homemade rice whisky (it's very rude not to), and those that smoked were given locally grown tobacco cigarettes, rolled in the leaves we had seen them drying ealier that day. Apparently they pack quite a punch.
We sat around our campfire fairly late into the evening until it was time for bed.
After a hearty breakfast in the morning we said a fond farewell to the villagers and moved on. We came upon a local "school" where a maths lesson was being taught to
6 and 7 year olds. They only have one classroom so they put blackboards at each end of the room and face the different ages different directions then one teacher takes both classes at the same time.
Later on there were more sights but more of the nature variety, rivers, views, a cricket the size of your hand, leeches all sorts. The trek today was a lot harder and had a lot more uphill. We made it to our second village where I changed tee-shirts and donated (forgot) my tee to the village. After fields of rice we started back uphill again. Seriously hard going. Through jungle at first and then it thinned out as we neared the top. It reminded me of Sheffield.
We met a group of women (they do all the hard work in the tribes) on our way down. They had been out to chop wood and were taking it back down to their village. Archie decided to give them a hand, he got maybe 150m before he had to take a breather. Our guide (and Archie) said the full sack would be around 80kg (thats about 12 stone) and the women carry them
every day. They were about 4 foot tall and looked like a breeze would blow them over, we were all overwhelmed. They followed us down after that singing and talking all the way carrying their heavy sacks - amazing.
So it was back to LN town where thankfully the power was back on again 😊
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