The third and final stop on my northern Laos traverse is Luang Namtha, known for jungle and hill-tribe trekking. En route, my minibus suffered 2 flat tires, and during the 3 hours of waiting by the roadside with the 4 other Laotians on the bus, another minibus pulled up to help, and I met Noy. This encounter would shape the adventure to come!
Arriving late in Luang Namtha, I had reached a Zen state about the whole trip: "I'll get there when I get there. Ohm." I ran into Noy, who had booked the cheapest 3-day trek in town, and I decided to join.
The next day, I set off with Noy and 3 other Israelis recently finished with their mandatory military service, Gal, Ofer, and Gabbie, Abbie from Australia, Georgina (UK), and Crembo, our hilarious guide. We hiked through some pretty jungle where Crembo showed us how to make cups from bamboo. After not much hiking at all, we reached our "jungle camp" for the night, consisting of literally banana leaves on the ground under a banana-leaf roof that seriously challenged my sense of adventure. I was disappointed to find no leave-no-trace practices, as toilet paper was strewn about and the "bathroom" was mere feet from the stream. Thanks to our budget rice-with-more-rice meal plan, however, I think no one had to seriously use the toilet anyway.
The night was cold and painful, as we slept on the ground with only a thin fleece blanket and our bodies huddled together for warmth. This could have been a low light, but the good spirits of our posse overcame, and we played cards and singing games late into the evening, wearing pants on our heads for warmth and finding every reason to laugh at our plight.
The next day we hiked a few hours when suddenly the jungle vanished to deforestation, and I knew the village was near. The village was of the Akha tribe, and as we walked through we saw topless women with beaded head dresses, little girls with lips stained by beetle, a tobacco product that is chewed, and a myriad of youth who instantly bonded with Abbie, posing for photos and dancing her down the street. Abbie proceeded to teach the kids paddy cake and thumb war, which became wildly popular, and after drinking lao lao with Crembo, she became Akha Abbie!
But I get ahead of myself, that happened after the shower, where we bathed at the town spigot in our swim suits while half the town showed up to watch: Only later did we realize that the town had women's and men's separate spigots, so perhaps we were quite the spectacle! The hilarity continued with the massage, where the teenage girls of the town rubbed and sat on us for a half hour while the small kids played with our toes. The women tried teaching us to count in Akha, and offered us handmade bracelets as gifts.
Spending time in the tribal village was interesting. While Crembo tried to communicate with the kids it became clear they didn't speak much Laos, as their schooling is mostly done in Akha. This alone makes it hard for the villagers to seek work in town. Also, I learned that the girls marry at 14 or 15, seemingly to immediately pop out 5 kids as the town was overrun! The teenage boys, before marriage, sleep alone in a chicken-coop-like thing, supposedly because they can't control themselves or similar, as translated by Crembo. That night as we tried to sleep and they paraded around town with a radio until the wee hours (btw, the walls are all bamboo, so no sound proofing!), I became seriously annoyed at the apparent lack of discipline or sense of courtesy and wondered if they can't control themselves, or culturally aren't asked to. I'm an outsider looking in for a night, though, and I know this.
The whole marriage at 14 thing, though, did strike a chord with respect to women's empowerment, which I've learned in my MOOC is a component of sustainable development. In the town it felt like the role for a little girl was defined: that she will grow up to be married and have children young, and I found myself secretly thankful to be from my own culture, lest I now be a grandmother.
After our evening in the village, we walked out easily through more jungle (though jungle void of monkeys etc as is all of SE Asia, perhaps due to the lack of wildlife corridors linking jungle, and tribal hunting) and back to town, where celebratory anything-but-rice awaited.
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