Trekking - Nam Ha Valley in Luang Nam Tha

Starting at 9am we drove to our starting point and then hiked for approx 4.5 hours up and down some very steep hills through beautiful forest. We then stopped for lunch and ate Lao food (Sticky rice etc) prepared by the guides and set out on banana leaves, which was delicious.

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..

Luang Nam Tha - hard to leave

Luang Nam Tha is a sleepy town, with a few markets and lots of guesthouses. Our Guesthouse called Zuela was a large teak structure with cosy clean rooms. A lovely place to zonk out and relax, so much so that I tried to find reasons to twart out plans to leave. From Luang Nam Tha there are lots of treks on offer, but the difference is that these tour groups give back to the villages they stay in and to the conservation of the National Forest. So we booked and over night through the Nam Ha Valley, but we had 2 days to kill till it started.

So we hired bikes and meandered around town, but we could only see so much. To solve that problem Dave hired a Chinese Cruiser Motorcycle to the delight of the Laos man who had it on offer and the local kids Dave drove by, waving and beeping. A motorbike is special, a cruiser even more so -  that day we did not do so well at blending it, but it was fun and much more comfortable ride than previous scooters.

 

Our accommodation in Luang Nam Tha

A WAT and some sort of water reservior we discovered while on the bike.

 Dave on his Cruiser...