Luang Namtha - August 18thish

Luang Namtha was the last stop in Laos before China. We decided to go on a kayak and trekking trip for two days. After the kayak trip, of which I have no photos except during a brief stop to visit a village and another to have lunch, due to me not taking my waterproof camera, nor risking taking my dslr from the drysack (thank you JP). It is a bit of a trekking town, many operators sell their services and while we were told of many things to see around the town I had some stomach issues and stayed put except for the 2 day kayak and trek.

A little friend, poisonous and creepy, we didn't touch it.

During the dry season when the rain isn't as constant and the water level lower, kids use a zip line to fall into the water, the raft collects them. They wouldn't let me try.

They were dying food using material collected in the forest.

Like many tribal villages the livestock lives among the people. Most villages have dogs as well but they seem to know better than to bother the masters food. They do eat dogs in Laos but while they'll eat the neighboring villagers dogs they won't eat their own.

This sow was pregnant...

really pregnant.

Our guide for the two days. Knowledgeable and informative his opinion of the Chinese influence in this region was not positive.

The Chinese have invested a lot of money in Laos, so you find many rubber tree plantations which are leased for 25 years or so. They have an adverse effect on the local population as many still live in tribal communities and rely on the forest for much of their food, medicine and livelihood. Thus, often they have to travel further to collect anything of need while before it was closer to hand.

The first photo below is a log taken from the National Protected Area for the purpose of rendering into a type of oil.

Below you have a shaving machine which takes logs collected in the National Protected Area (NPA), turns them into shavings which are then burned and the oil is collected via a distillery of sorts. The tribes living along the boarder of the NPA are allowed to go a certain distance into the forest and it seems the Chinese have learned to exploit their rights to their own advantage.

The furnace where the shaving are burned.

The collection drums. There is water on top of the substance collected. I say oil as that is what they called it but I thought oil always collected at the surface of water. They said it would burn if it was on your skin for any length of time and after showing us the product the man in charge washed his hands throughly. There is a Chinese man who rented one of the huts and is in charge of the operation. Beneath his hut are dozens of 50 gallon drums of this stuff.

On the left is the NPC and on the right are the rubber plantations.

Kids will play with anything. It reminds me of when I used to make war paint from rock and spit.

Not self-conscience in the least, at first I thought she was brushing the hair from her face then, upon looking at the photo, I realized she was picking her ear. It is wonderful to see people not posing for photos, wondering which side is their best, etc... I remember reading once that you have to go back in time to find un-self-conscience photos, you don't, you just have to travel.

I can't even remember what they found so funny... maybe it was me. I enjoy being the butt of others jokes, I really do, laughing at yourself, or having others laugh at you, puts yourself in perspective.

Our dinner being cooked.

A traditional instrument made from rattan and bamboo.

This is the chief's brother or co-chief. They are elected every 4-5 years which is their tradition... democracy may not have started in Athens after all.

The second day of the trip was a jungle trek.

The mushroom was collected en-route to our stopping place for lunch. As the guide took us through the forest he was constantly stopping to show us various foods and medicines that they still use. At one point he said the local people never go to doctors, instead they just go for a walk in the jungle and cure themselves.

The only critter we had to deal with were leaches and this one was the only one we saw.

A thick bamboo pole cut to 2-3 feet and placed in the fire made the cooking pot.

Smaller bamboo was the fuel.

Water buffalo with a bamboo cutting board.

The chief's daughter was the su-chief.

Bamboo pot, bamboo fuel and bamboo stir stick.

A bamboo serving plate upon banana leafs. The leafs were also folded into spoons and held in form by, you guessed it, bamboo picks.