Hill tribe trek - Luang Namtha

Given that Luang Namtha (far Northern Laos, close to China border) is a center for trekking in Laos, we expected to find the town to be more of a traveller's mecca, however it is a very functional town with little charm. However, we were here for one thing: Hill Tribe Trekking. After much shopping around, we found ourselves taking the last two spaces on a 2 day trip with a great company called Green Discovery which is a very professional eco-tourism outfit.

Day one - we met our fellow trekkers and headed off in the van for about 20 minutes before setting off on the track. The first village we came to was closed off as it was Taboo - this means that the village Chief or Shamen had announced that the village needed to be closed to keep out bad spirits for a few days. Many Lao tribal villages believe in Animism - which is a belief in the spirits, so they leave offerings to those spirits. We trekked for a few hours through the jungle up a very steep hillside until we reached the top for lunch. Our guides lay out banana leaves on the ground to serve up our food which we eat Lao style (seated on the ground eating with our hands). After lunch ,we hiked for another sweaty few hours before reaching our village for the night. The Village was lovely and our homestay bamboo house shared by the whole group was right on the river. We relaxed in the afternoon watching our guides and hosts chop fresh vegetables and meat preparing our evening meal of bamboo soup, tofu (for Her as she is sticking to vegetarian due to more stomach problems), more green beans, water buffalo. Yet again, we had to endure shots of Lau Lau (Happy Wine - as they call it), before settling into a long night of deep sleep, only occasionally interupted by the need to turn due to numbness from the hard bamboo floor.

Day 2 - we all awoke around 8am to coffee and freshly prepared fried rice with vegetables. Might sound an odd breakfast, but the Laos have no real distinction between breakfast, lunch and dinner, and frankly, it was delicious! We hiked through along the river several villages this morning, meeting villages and buying their handicrafts. Lunch was Lao style again - this time Rattan soup (who knew you could make things other than furniture out of this plant?) and more green beans (must be in season). The afternoon held more hiking up and down through jungle hills - exhausting and very sweaty. We arrived at the last village at 4pm - quite pleased to see more fresh water!