"Off" the beaten track

Welcome to the Lao People's Democratic Republic, the only landlocked country from South East Asia, the most bombarded one by the US (we'll talk more about this on our next blog) and the one with the most relaxed lifestyle from Asia.

The normal backpaper route is after you cross the murky Mekong in the north of Thailand, you take the boat from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang but as you could tell from the video in our previous blog we are not that normal so we decided to discover the north and build our route to the south, our first stop: Luang Nam Tha.

It's amazing that by just crossing a river and a border that the people and the pace of life completly change. On board of a local bus, our 5 hours ride went by smoothly, but slow, very slow, multiple toilet stops were to blame, because whenever a passenger was in need a scream to the driver was enough to stop immediately. It is also worth to mention that because of the not so good state of the roads, some trips take a lot longer specially in this mountainous part of the country.

Around lunch time we arrive at Luang Nam Tha, a small town (one road with some side roads) that is good start for trekking trips and hilltribe visits. After walking around under the strong afternoon sun we were able to find a very nice, clean and cheap place, the Bounthavong Guesthouse, were we tried to communicate with the owner using our first words in Lao, but our horrible intonation and falang pronounciation made our goal impossible to achieve.

At night we visited the small night market were we ate delicious and spicy local specialties, together with a cold Beer Lao and had the pleasure to have a good chocolate pancake to put a bit of sweetness to our exhausting traveling day.

On our second day we rented mountain bikes to discover the surroundings of the place. We biked around dirt roads, and trough rice fields, we visited the That Phum Pluk, a stupa located on the top of a hill, that had been bombarded by the Americans on three different occasions. On the way back Jonny raced his bike with a group of school girls and had the prize of many smiles for winning the informal contest.

The nigth arrived and with it the temperature dropped remarkably, it is very strange how drastic the change from day to night is but for us this was a blessing, we just had to wear long pants and a fleece, and when going to bed we were happy because it was always a good temperature to have a good night sleep, even on a very hard mattress that would be the rule rather than the exception. Imagine concrete covered with a blanket.

We wanted to do a trekking and a visit to a hill tribe, and after reading some brochures and hearing the absurd prices of other companies we decided to book a two day trek with Into the wild a smaller trekking operator offering a good price package.

The journey started very early, we met our guide and also our trekking companions, Douglas, Marisa, and Ashia a family from New Zealand. Before starting our trekking experience we visited the morning market, were we saw all types of fresh vegetables, fruits, meat and fish being sold, and also had a taste of the local version of smoutebollekes (fried donut) filed with delicious peanuts.

After a short and cold drive on the back of a songthaew, we arrived at the starting point of our trek around the Nam Ha national protected area. We walked through green paths filled with bamboo trees and nice vegetation, we heard the birds singing and even some monkeys in the distance. Every once in a while our guide showed us different plants and talked about it's medicinal properties.

Around 12 we stopped for lunch, a delicious Lao style pic nic, were banana leaves were used as a placemats and dishes. A tasty menu composed by sticky rice, green beans, spicy meat and salad were the fuel we needed for the rest of the journey. Needless to say that making balls with the rice and eating with our hands just added more pleasure to the lunch break.

The trek continued and not so long after our break we were able to see in the distance the village, our sleeping place for the night. Around 4pm we arrived to the Akha village where 467 people live. Our arrival made all the kids come out of their houses and greet us with a smile and the sweet 'Sabaidiii abuma' (hello, how are you) coming out of their mouths.

From the top of the hill, were our shelter was located, we walked through the village, but the sweat and the dust were making us crave for a shower, and what better way to do it than the local way. Nowadays the village has a pipeline that brings water, but before they had to go to the river to have water for showering and cooking.

So we went to the communal shower and enjoyed a cold and refreshing experience. For the locals this was also great, many of them were looking and laughing at our clumsy way of doing it. Of course nudity is forbidden so the guys had to shower in their underwear and the girls had to wear a sarong to cover their bodies. The funniest part was seeing the laughter of an old lady while she was looking how Jonny was drying Angela's back after the public shower.

As the sun went down our dinner was served and once again the sticky rice, tasty meat and vegetables appeared. Candles were turned on, and there we were in the middle of the Lao mountains, having a candle light dinner and enjoying the stories of our guide and the chief of the tribe. As no social gathering is complete in this country without the presence of the mighty Lao Lao, the strong but delicious rice whiskey appeared on our table and delighted the guys palate, specially Jonny who was very enthusiastic about it.

Before bed time some Akha girls came to our shelter to give us a traditional massage but also the rest of the tribe youngsters came along and had fun looking at the girls squeezing the falang. After the massage the youngsters stayed around, while a illuminated transistor was playing the Lao hit of the moment. The lack of communication skills made us use the Point it dictionary (thanks Tina and Anton for the tip) which ended up being a great way to socialize and show maps from were we came from, and different images. Jonny's leatherman and our headlights were also a success and objects of amusement that night.

At 4.30 the next morning every single rooster from the village decided to simultaneously crow , and our last day in the tribe started, we saw the kids coming to school, saw them singing the national anthem, and also their teacher checking for their nails to be clean.

After breakfast (again with Lao Lao), and a small walk in the village it was time to leave the Akha village, once again the children came out to greet us and give us beautiful smiles. We really liked this experience because it gave us the opportunity to visit a tribe, while doing low impact tourism, meaning that our visit was intended to show us the life in a hill tribe village and support their local projects without imposing development.

Back to the city also meant back on the road. So early the next day, and together with our Kiwi family we left to Nong Khiaw. A tiny town located on th shores of the Nam Ou river, that had the most amazing sights we've seen so far.

The magical sigth of huge limestone mountains, surrounded by cristal clear waters, that our eyes couldn't believe, made us feel very lucky for being here. A basic bungalow just in front of the river (but behind some bamboo trees) was our home for two nights.

Here we woke up early and saw the fog eating the mountains, we walked around, close to the amazingly green rice paddies and smiling Laotians. Some kilometers outside the town we visited some caves, that during the war were used by the locals as shelters, hospitals and banks.

In Laos the lack of coastal areas is compensated by its beautiful rivers, the sandy banks can work as beaches and as playgrounds in the warm afternoons. So after a walk around the town and the lack of possibilities to rent a kayak we went to the white sand to catch some sun, while hearing the laughter of many kids playing in the water.

The sun set and we both had a craving for potatoes and the coincidence was once again to coincidental and we found an indian restaurant that not only had delicious potatoedishes but also creamy Mango Lassi and where Angela finished (in tears) the book that Alton gave her: A thousand splendid suns.

To change a bit the routine of traveling, we went to Le Cinema, a small house with many rooms, where people could choose from their movie collection and have their private movie, the chosen one was the Whale Rider about a young New Zealand girl coming of age.

Once again it was time to leave and to cross our fingers hoping there would be enough people to take the slow boat to our next destination, the famous Luang Prabang, but according to the guides, the boats did not leave every day but sure enough today it did.

We treated ourselves to a very nice breakfast, served at a cozy cafe run by European travelers, where we had a crunchy bagel with cream cheese, it was heavenly and a very good way to say goodbye to this magical place and continue our journey to Luang Prabang, former capital of Laos with old french colonial houses.