I sitting in the comfy living room of my friend’s Xizhimen apartment in cold dessert that is Beijing in the winter.  I love hanging out in this city, I really really do.  However sitting here letting my mind wander as I relax after a day of subway riding, a enjoyable but exhausting experience, I’m reminded that I need to write of my time spent in northern Laos. 

I’m actually back in Huaihua trying to get a pile of posts to press, though it is cold here and I am thinking about all the pleasures of Laos.

In my last post on my trip to Laos we left off in Luang Prabang, the ancient capital of the Lao kingdom.  I stayed in Luang Prabang for about 4 days mostly just wandering and chilling with my friends from Hunan.  Once everyone left and it was just me eating quiche and walking from temple to temple I decided I should move on.  I booked an overpriced bus ticket and at dawn I left with some other backpackers for the north, the Golden Triangle.

Nine hours later I arrived in Luang Nam Tha.  This city, or rather town, is close to Laos’ border with China and until recently was poverty striken and the source of much of the opium coming out of Laos.  Then the government made Luangt Nam Tha the center of eco-tourism in northern Laos and opened up a national park next door.  Now there are internet cafes, musceli, and cocktails (little old ladies also still push opium but it’s not the profitable business it used to be).  The town is basically one street and closes down around 9:30 at night, but that’s not a problem since the attraction of Luang Nam Tha is getting out into the rain forest that surrounds the city.

On my bus ride to Luang Nam Tha I met an Australian from Perth traveling by himself and we ended up splitting a hotel room.  We also both wanted to go hiking in the forest so we went in together to get a guide from the great eco-tourism company Green Discovery.  The eco-tourism of Luang Nam Tha, my first experience with such a thing, is well thought out and expensive.  The money you pay for a guide to take you through the government protected national forest near Luang Nam Tha is split between the guide, villages you pass through, two local cooks who travel with you, and (somehow) protecting and maintaining the forest.  This all added up to $100 for me.  Far more than I have spent across the border in China’s Xishuangbanna for similar hikes, but it was definitely worth it and made me feel (no doubt a little dubiously) that I was helping the communities and forest I walked through.

So the next morning after a breakfast of fresh tropical fruit and thick syrupy Lao coffee we set off on our hike.  We started by taking a tuk-tuk (small pickup truck with benches welded on the back) to a village about a half hour away from Luang Nam Tha.  The morning was cold and I just tried to stay warm as we whizzed up a windy river past villages and deep thick mountains of forest.  Me and my companion hung out in the village for a bit while our guide russled up some supplies and cooks for the journey.  The local kids were great and were having a blast playing games of their own devising – no TVs or PSPs here.

Our first day of hiking took us from the village through pristine rain forest.  No farms, rubber plantations, or people to be found anywhere.  It was all gorgeous and a riot of green.  We stopped at a little shelter by a stream for lunch, a fantastic assortment of food made by a local restaurant right before we left.  We had fish, broccoli, cabbage, and homemade chili sauce.  The dense green surroundings were reflected on our table that was covered in banana leaves and banana leaf packages of sticky rice.  In Laos I was continually surprised what people could do with banana leaves.

The rest of the day’s hiking was pretty short and we arrived at our camp for the night at 3 or so in the afternoon.  While the guide and cooks prepared the kitchen, beds, and camp fire I napped in the sun and went exploring.  I ended up stumbling on a massive cave carved out the side of a cliff and a waterfall right next to it.  I was lovely and my camera was busy taking pictures.  You can see the collected photographs from the trip here.

We had a wonderful dinner cooked at the camp by the two great local women who travelled with us.  Here’s a picture of them and our guide:

The dinner consisted of several dishes including some stewed meat but for me the clear winner was the Lao chili and tomato condiment or salsa.  This mixture of tomatoes and fresh Thai bird chilies kept popping up wherever I went in Laos and Xishuangbanna (southern Yunnan).  It seems to be a paste of the chillies and garlic mashed in a mortar mixed with very ripe tomatoes and some cilantro.  Asia makes some amazing condiments and this one was one of my all-time favorites.  I must have eaten a soup bowl’s worth of it that night.  Here’s the dinner spread with the tomato/chili paste at the bottom:

The kitchen:

The next was much longer than the first.  After splashing some cold stream water on my face and eating some barbecued  water buffalo, which we had cooked the night before on our campfire, we set off.  We climbed up a small mountain and walked along it’s crest.  They’re weren’t any good views of the surrounding country because of the trees, but we did climb up a rock outcropping that afforded some nice views and a much appreciated breeze.

The afternoon was spent hiking through more forest until we hit hills of rubber trees.  The Lao government allows some rubber tree cultivation in the protected national forest because, as our guide told us, otherwise the local villagers would riot.

Late in the afternoon we arrived back at the village where we has started and said good bye to our cooks.  They gave us traditional spoons made from bamboo, just about the best souvenir one could ask for.  With that we rested our blistered feet and took a tuk-tuk back to town.  The next day I got a bus back to China and arrived in Jinghong, Xishuangbanna.  It was a wild and fantastic week in Laos and I already want to head back.

Many more photos can be found HERE!