Laos on Foot

Luang Prabang is surrounded by countryside and mountains. Except for the steepest slopes, all land is farmed. Slash and burn farming is the way of life in Laos…and we’d arrived in the middle of burning season. Some days the air was smoke-filled and ash would actually drop from the sky. This was the only unfortunate part of our trip, but it was also a reminder that we were in a pretty primitive place.

Despite the smoke that was billowing on the mountainsides, we wanted to get a closer look at the areas beyond the city and off the “paved” path. To do this, we signed up for a 3-hour long trek (hike) that would take us through the farms and jungle to some waterfalls.

When we arrived to meet our guide, we met several other couples (no kids!) that were going on hikes or kayak rides. The tour company checked off the names on the list, we could see that we weren’t on it. However, in perfect Lao form, they never said there was a problem. Rather they just smiled and said that they’d be taking us to their office outside the city to meet up with our guide. We were sure someone somewhere was making frantic calls to get a guide arranged, but all outward appearances were that absolutely nothing was wrong. We were given cold drinks at their office and after a while our guide showed up on his mini-bike. Not a word was ever spoken about the error. I would ordinarily be put off or annoyed by something like this, but I guess the calmness in their approach made it seem like no big deal. There’s a lesson to be learned in this!

When things did get back on track, our streak of getting really great tour guides continued with La (yes, his name was La – he assured us that his full name was much too long for us). He had a lot of energy, a fantastic sense of humor, and patience to answer our zillion questions. He was Hmong, one of the 47 main ethnic groups in Laos (all of which have their own languages!). He said that Hmong are very hard working people, but they aren’t as good of cooks as other ethnic groups. La informed us that one way to tell the ethnic groups apart is the kind of baskets people carry. He showed us a woven basket and said it was the type that all Hmong carry. He noted that one of the other ethnic groups put a strap around their heads to carry their baskets (you could tell he thought that was kind of silly).

La grew up with 10 siblings in rural Northern Laos and his dad had two wives (to which he said “I bet you think that’s crazy! Two wives!! It’s not allowed in Laos anymore…but that doesn’t stop some people from doing it.”) While on the subject of marriage, I asked if different people from different ethnic groups can marry. La said “It’s not a good idea. Since some ethnic groups require the maternal parents to live with the couple and others require the paternal parents to live with the couple, it would be very complicated. There are too many differences. It’s just easier to marry in your own ethnic group.”

La asked me if I knew any people from Laos in America. I said that I didn’t, but one of my brother’s friends growing up was from Laos. At that point, La became very excited asked “Really? Did you know him? Was he Hmong people?” I responded (without thinking) “I don’t know – I never saw his basket.” Once it was out of my mouth, I’d hoped I hadn’t insulted La – but he began to laugh heartily and said “you know a good joke.”

Okay, so about the trek. We booked through an “eco-tourism” organization called Tiger Trails. A portion of the proceeds from our fees would be donated to a village that we would visit to help purchase things that help the community – like clean water. The fees also paid for a local villager to guide us through the jungle portion of the walk.

Here is the local villager, carrying a Hmong basket:

While we were told to wear “sturdy shoes”, the village guide wore just 1 1/2 flip flops (the entire back of one of them was missing!) to walk through the rugged terrain!

Meanwhile, La made his own fashion statement – with a floppy hat, dress jacket, ripped jeans rolled up to his knees, flip flops, with a bamboo walking stick. From the back, he reminded us of Johnny Appleseed:

We visited a local school – kids were having a great time playing some games outside:

We had a run in with the village security forces:

Then we visited the home of a local village couple.We learned that thatch roofs have to be replaced every two years; otherwise they leak. The home had dirt floors and three rooms with scant furniture. Most of the space in one room was taken up by huge rice bags. Despite what seemed like a massive quantity of rice, La said that Lao people usually don’t produce enough rice for their own families to survive on between harvests. Here's the kitchen:

The stove/oven:

This is one of our hosts:

We made our way through the exotic jungle:

We watched farmers up on the mountainsides clearing space for the next crop of rice. It looked like incredibly hard and dirty work. Here's evidence of slash and burn:

We also came across women with machetes – very disconcerting at first, but we learned that they were searching the jungle for bamboo shoots. Still, we didn't think it would be smart to take photos!

We stopped for a short break in the middle of the jungle where there was a tree swing. So much fun!

While the trek, and spending time with La, was fascinating the great reward of the hot day was the majestic waterfalls at the end. The color of the water was beautiful, but surreal – a milky turquoise, yet it was clear.

We may be far from home, but we never forget where we came from. K-S-U:

The water was really chilly, but that didn’t stop Dave and Lydia from getting in. Many people were jumping from the sides of some waterfalls into the pool of water; others were swinging from a rope on a tree into the pool. Dave took part in the rope swinging. If I can get it to work, I’ll post the video!