Then trekked on to the Khmu Village - which is only accessible by boat during the rainy season or by 5 hour trek during the dry. The people here live virtually self sufficiently and make a few quid on the treks that come through. Once we arrived we washed in the river with the locals, which was refreshing! We explored and met people, played with the kids, ate food (sticky rice and water buffalo etc) prepared by some of the Village people, drank some LaoLao (sticky rice whisky), then sat by the fire. The 10 of us then retired to a village hut, made from bamboo with a thatched roof. It was pretty cold and pretty hard, but we all slept well enough thanks to a little help from the LaoLao.
Woke early the next morning, ate MORE sticky rice for breakfast with some delicious omlette, then headed off for another 6 hours, up some heavy hills and down some slippery tracks through amazing wilderness. We had a stop for lunch on the river for a swim and more home cooked yummy lao food set out on banana leaves (sticky rice etc). We also spent some time in a Lanten Village
When we headed off again, I (Amelia) also tripped up a hill and scratched my knee, which wasn’t very painful. But the tour guide saw some blood and went to clean it up, then everyone gathered around and poked at a strange bump I also had on my knee. A group decision was made that something was indeed lodged inside and it must be removed. Then 2 medical students, Dave and the Lao tour guide proceeded to poke, slice and dice at the lump until 3 pieces of wood to my horror were painfully removed!
Overall it was an amazing experience being able to trek through the Laos jungle and meet people who to us live so uniquely (for example they had caught a Bamboo Rat in excess of 2kg - the size of a beaver for dinner that night which was a great treat as meat is uncommon). Recommend it!
Dave with Pon Sek our Guide.
A stop on the way
Preparing bamboo shoots for dinner
Exploring the Khmu village
Khmu kids
The Nam Ha River steaming in the morning
Our Sleeping quarters.
The river swim on the way home
Some food for lunch - Lao style
Forest landscape through the Nam Ha valley
Our lift across the river at the end of the trek from local village boys..
3 comments:
lots of sticky situations wooden ya know. Very interesting though some bits were a tad laosy.
Jez you are still dry as ever, ha ha ha
just love the pachyderms and the flying monkeys. That'll be handy to pop on your C.V. WHEN YOU GET HOME (bloody caps lock)darls. . . elephant trainer.
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