After some self-guided strolls to nearby villages we began a three-day adventure with the eco-tour “Green Discovery Company.” Day 1 was a moderately easy bike ride through the Luang Namtha valley to get a feel for this mysterious region. Then, on days 2-3 we ventured deep into the Nam Ha Protected Area (NPA) to visit the Akha village, Ban Nam Lai. In all, we visited four different villages–Black Tai (Tai Dam), Lanten, Tai Lue, and Akha. Each village practiced a different religion–Buddhist, animist, a form of Taoism, or ancestor worship, and spoke a different language–a couple written, others only oral.

On our 2-day trek, Ellie and I had three guides, representing the Black Tai, Khmu, and Akha ethnic groups. Needless to say, communication was less than perfect, not only for us, but also for our guides. This meant that when things of interest were communicated to us it was like playing the old game of “telephone”; it often went through three translations (e.g. Akha–Black Tai–Lao) before it reached us in English! But we managed o.k., and so did the guides despite their diversity, a fact that suggests to me that although the Luang Namtha valley may not be a “melting pot”, it does seem to know something important about tolerance. Today, Laos has a population of 5.62 million with four major ethnolinguistic categories – representing over 100 ethnic groups.

Green Discovery advertised our 2-day trek as one where we would learn about “birds, animals, plants and trees of the forest.” This may have been possible if we spoke Lao. But, I’m not sure our guide even knew the names of plants and animals in his own language. Guides are hired because they speak some English, not because they have any particular knowledge of plants or animals. Instead, we learned about spirits – there are many in the deep forest. Our guide, a Black Tai and animist, cautioned us along the way about the presence of the forest’s “bad spirits.” They hide in termites’ nests and water buffalo mud holes, are conjured up to appear when a villager deigns to pack bananas and firewood together or mistakenly grabs a root hanging down from the forest’s green sky. In short the bad spirits are everywhere. We stopped for lunch in a small bamboo shelter along the way. Animist crosses, called “Taleos,” or “eagles eyes,” hung from the ceiling protecting this small enclosure from harm.

After hiking through several hidden poppy fields, we arrived at Ban Nam Lai around 5:00 p.m., with just enough time to leave our packs in the camp’s “lodge” and visit the village. Exhausted and blistered we tried to digest our short-term reality before the sun set at 6:00 p.m. Calling this a “lodge” without any further description was misleading to the point of a breakdown in tears, being scared out of your wits, and shockingly inaccurate. The Akha “lodge” is a typical Akha-style one-room, thatched roof house, with a dirt floor, no electricity, visiting rats vying for dinner, all of which we shared with our guides under mosquito nets with more holes than net on a wooden platform along one side of the house. The toilet was a hole behind the house. Indeed, we were given the promised “authentic experience.”

Before dark we walked through this village, which consists of 47 one-room thatched roofed homes and about 360 people. We offered a small gift to the Akha village “boss,” and learned more about Akha traditions. There are about 90,700 Akha people living in Laos, consisting of many sub-groups distinguishable by clothing as much as anything. Their spiritual beliefs include the Akha “way of life,” animism, and ancestor worship. The Akha originated in Yunnan or Tibet and migrated south into Thailand and Laos about 200 years ago. With no written language, a strong oral tradition has helped sustain their identity and history. An Akha Village is recognizable by its village gate (“law kang”), which is the mythological separation between human and spirit worlds.

To our eyes, however, the most recognizable characteristic of this Akha village was the sight of about a dozen 3 x 6 feet thatched-roof huts on high stilts. According to our guide, once a boy turns 14 or 15 years old, his parents build him this tiny room high above village life, where he spends his nights until he has impregnated a young girl who then becomes his wife.

Although we spent most of our two-days hiking through the forest, the experience had little to do with the trek and more to do with the Akha hill village and its dependence on the forest. So much of what we witnessed was unimaginable, but by the time we lay our heads down, I began to understand why all the ancestral spirits live with their mortal families, who take care to feed and nourish them every ten days. The spirits keep everyone safe and protected from all the evil lurking in the forest. That thought provided some small bit of reassurance, as Ellie and I held tight to each other all night.

Our time spent in Luang Namtha made clear that the differences among Laos’ ethnic groups are slight compared to what they have in common — poverty. The headdresses, traditional clothing and silk weavings are all quite beautiful, but their colors are dulled when seen in contrast to the reality of village life. The Luang Namtha valley will be transformed with the completion of the airport and highway, although I’m not sure how. Hopefully there are eagles’ eyes protecting the villages from any further demand on their precious natural resources – which is all that keeps them alive.

Beth Van Hoeven

The Luang Namtha Valley, tucked in the far northwestern corner of Laos, is going through radical change. This is a valley where electricity doesn’t yet reach from Vientiane, but from nearby China, there is more chatter about opium than the government’s policy of genocide against the Hmong ethnic group, and the only way to get here is by a long, winding bus ride or a slow boat up or down the Nam Tha River, a tributary of the Mekong. But, like a tiger patiently lying in wait, there are signs that the valley is closing in on at least one of its targets – tourists. Droppings in the form of a highway stretching from China to Thailand and an airport in Luang Namtha are visible and nearing completion. There are a couple seedy, but connected Internet cafés in town. Green Discovery, an eco tour company based out of Vientiane, is offering treks, bicycle rides, or kayak trips to local villages, all of which attempt to avoid (although it is impossible) any signs of the unscrupulous felling of trees. There is no doubt that this valley is preparing for the moment when it can pounce on the “farang.”

Ellie and I have been here for six days. We are staying at The Boat Landing, a lucky six kilometers out of town. We came here to see the various ethnic groups populating this part Laos. Before long, however, I was also staying for the food. The Boat Landing sits on the banks of the Nam Tha River and offers views of villagers taking nightly baths or washing clothes. It’s simple, and at $32.00 per night (including breakfast), the highest priced lodging around. But, the food is anything but simple. It would be showered with five star ratings anywhere else in the world – assuming it could find the ingredients. Our most extravagant meal, which included a large “BeerLao,” was about $13.00 for two.

Here are some entries from the menu:

Lahp Chicken, duck, fish, pork or tofu — Lahp is to the Lao as hamburger is to Americans. Lahp is made of minced meat mixed with roasted sticky rice, mint, basil, green onions, chili as well as local seasonings.

Soop – Chicken or tofu stewed with cilantro, mint and lime juice. Soop is everywhere. It is soup without the liquid.

Sa Low Chicken, duck pork or tofu – Sa is the northern version of Lahp, made with banana flower, lime juice, mint, basil and other local herbs. The Muang Sing Tai Leu version, in addition to the above flavors, adds tingly Mak ken and yerm leaves.

Mak Gawk – Chili Paste. Mak Gawk is a tart forest fruit.

Moke – Fish, Chicken or Duck steamed with lemon grass, galanga, chili, red onion, garlic, basil, shallots, and fennel.

Aw Lahm – Pork, Chicken, Duck or Tofu stewed with eggplant, chili pepper, rattan shoots, banana flower, pumpkin shoots, lemon grass, fennel, shallots, basil. The menu cautions that if you see pieces of wood in your Aw Lahm, please don’t eat them. This is a spice called “Mai Sakhan,” a forest vine.

Beth Van Hoeven