Day 94 Trekking in Laos Day 1 9 May 2012

Today we headed out at 7:30am to begin our trekking in Laos. We each had 4.5 liters of water, our flip-flops, a clean shirt and clean underwear, as well as basic toiletries, a raincoat, and our mummy sleeping bags in a normal, if not small, backpack.  We hopped on the back of a jeep and drove 2 hours to the starting point of the trek.

We had lunch along the way sitting on leaves and feasting on noodles, pork, boiled eggs, sheets of dried river-grass seasoned with salt and sesame seeds, and bananas.

Another 3 hours of walking and we arrived at a group of children playing with tires and sticks. Upon seeing Martijn they squealed, giggled and ran away. One boy ran so fast he tripped and fell.

After arriving in the village the kids got more used to the sight of us and we played with them for several hours while dinner was being prepared. Ana astounded them with her finger trick and hula-hoop skills.

While Martijn blew their minds by showing his chest hair and just being tall.

We walked into a National Geographic Magazine at the village of Senkhamneu of the Akha Para people (35 houses/354people).

It was a nice harmony of beautifully dressed people, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats, cows, water buffalos and even a baby eagle. The headdress signify that the women are married.

To protect the village against evil spirits it had two spirit gates, one with the head of a (dead) dog to ward off bad sprits and the other with the paws for safe exiting and travels.

We stayed at the house of the chief which felt like walking into an animated museum exhibit.

Our dinner, a feast in which the villagers joined in, included a fresh chicken ( it clucked at us literally minutes before its death), bamboo, tea, steamed rice, and four rounds of Laos Rice Whiskey. (Two is a good number and customary as a welcome and four is even better!)

After dinner we were treated to a massage by two 12 to 16 year old girls each in traditional outfits, another custom for guests.

We felt like honored guest, especially when they gave us the room of the chief to sleep in. Unfortunately, their method of mosquito repellant involves trapping the smoke from the kitchen and tobacco water pipe indoors- making it hard to sleep. Besides the smoke there was also the animal noises to contend with – like the pigs: they reminded us of a certain family member’s snoring!