It has been so long since I've posted anything, sorry about that. We took the incredibly twisted road from Chiang Kong to Luang Namtha where we signed up on 2 treks- one day we went to a Sida village and had our first taste of Lao-Lao. Stumbled upon an natural dye studio downtown Luang Namtha behind a textiles store- the people were wonderful and we couldn.t help but purchase 2 indigo-dyed shirts. The textiles in Laos are beautiful. The second hike was supposed to last 2 days, but after the incredible introduction to the Khmu village Ban Nalan we chose to stay another night. Upon arrival we saw some chicks and a chicken devouring something out of a clay pot-the chicks had even jumped inside the container to get to the stuff. Turns out this was a recently emptied pot of Lao-Li, a rice wine fermented in a pot and drunk with little rubber straws. We were invited to a hut-warming (I swear they built the entire structure in one day!) and we partied with the Khmus. They had a gong that some drunk young person would beat when it was drinking time. So we were sharing shot glasses, drinking from the communal Lao-Li hoses and everybody and their dog tried my melodica. Germ city. But I didn't get sick to date and we had the best time. The next day we had a picnic down the river and ate fresh fish roasted over a fire. Fun stuff. Great hike too, some beautiful old growth forest-I dig jungles. After the hike we rented a scooter and drove out to Muang Sing, a small town beside the Lao-Chinese border surrounded by hill tribes. We went for a hike and were surprised to hear the children asking us for bon-bons, monnaie and crayons (in French) We were advised not to bring candies and gifts to the kids as it encouraged them to beg. It is a strange balance-you are a visitor in their town, but you aren't allowed to impact the culture with your presence. For example, the Akha villages have these wooden structures called spirit gates, and no foreigner must touch them, doing so might lead to dire consequences such as needing to sacrifice an animal to appease the tribes spirits from bringing bad luck or illness to it's people. The variety of tribes was impressive, but we were saddened when we entered this one village and were swarmed my dirty little kids who wanted to see what was in our pockets and angered that we hadn't brought them candy. One little boy was swinging a machete around following us out of the village repeating boon-bons? Monnaie? Couteau? The image of child soldiers comes to mind- when they know far too much for such a young age. Laos are not as used to tourists as Thais in general. Women have a very strict dress code and you get very dirty looks if you wear a shirt above the knees or a sleeveless or v-neck top. Another thing I have seen is women will bathe in the river wearing a sarong- even a t-shirt and shorts is apparently taboo for women who are desiring to go in the water. We had a great time in Luang Namtha (lots of spontaneous drinking of Lao-Lao whiskey and Beerlao (the famous Lao beer with a Czech recipe) with the generous locals), but got very cold up there so we decided to go south.
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