Our first stop in Laos was The Boat Landing in Luang Namtha. Situated on the edge of rain-forest on the banks of the Namtha river, a tributary of the Mekong, the Boat Landing is a low impact eco-tourism centre. It provides tourists with the opportunity to experience treks and boat-tours into the surrounding rain-forests combined with visits to the local hill-tribe villages whilst running a number of programmes to help the local people, wildlife and the environment. Do take a look at their website - they say it much better than I do.
Unable, once again, to face trekking on the back of rough-camping, (this time due in the main to having a stinking cold) I opted not to make the over-night trip to one of the hill-tribe villages. This, by all accounts, was a good decision judging from the soaking, disheveled, exhausted, leech-encrusted state of the participants when they returned the following day. I instead opted for a much more relaxing and less arduous boat tour, and tubing experience down the Namtha. This was of course supplemented by some excellent food and some very comfortable accommodation. I can't honestly say I am all that sorry to have missed the trek.
Sitting on the balcony of my lodge, enjoying the sunshine and wonderful tropical surroundings whilst wistfully bidding farewell to our intrepid compatriots as they set off for their jungle adventure was a nice way to spend the morning of my first full day at the boat landing. The afternoon was spent in an equally relaxed style as we had a nose around the village and then indulged in a 2 hour tubing experience back to the lodge. Despite being thoroughly soaked during the course of this event by a somewhat over-zealous thunder-storm (well we were in the river anyway so it didn't really matter) this was a wonderful experience taking us as it did through some incredibly beautiful countryside and past a number of picturesque villages.
The following day our boat-trip was a more-or-less full day experience, and visited three different villages, all of which were startlingly different in character, custom and ethnic background. The first, a Lantern village, originated in China and has the notable custom that all women wear blue and shave their eyebrows. Their stilted wood-thatch huts are built in a traditional style with the recent addition of solar panels to provide electricity. They make their income from growing sticky rice and making bamboo paper. The second village, belonging to the Kamu was similar in construction but the people were ethnically, religiously and physically quite different originating as they do from Cambodia. The most notable feature here is that they operate a 10 day week. Sadly, though, they still have only a 2 day weekend - a raw deal if you ask me. The third village we visited was a Black-Thai village, originating from Thailand and specialising in the production of silk. Lunch this day was a traditional Lao affair of sticky rice and bamboo, chili, banana, egg etc. eaten with fingers whilst squatting on the bank of the river. Very nice and extremely tasty, which coincidentally, during the course of the meal, is exactly what the local insect population thought about us.
The Boat Landing visit concluded with a buffet evening of local food which incorporated more sticky rice, more bamboo-based delicacies and the opportunity to turn the tables on the local invertebrate population. I am not exactly sure what species of insect I was eating, and I would happily not repeat the experience. These things have to be tried, however. All in all our stay here was a great experience and I would highly recommend a visit.
Unable, once again, to face trekking on the back of rough-camping, (this time due in the main to having a stinking cold) I opted not to make the over-night trip to one of the hill-tribe villages. This, by all accounts, was a good decision judging from the soaking, disheveled, exhausted, leech-encrusted state of the participants when they returned the following day. I instead opted for a much more relaxing and less arduous boat tour, and tubing experience down the Namtha. This was of course supplemented by some excellent food and some very comfortable accommodation. I can't honestly say I am all that sorry to have missed the trek.
Sitting on the balcony of my lodge, enjoying the sunshine and wonderful tropical surroundings whilst wistfully bidding farewell to our intrepid compatriots as they set off for their jungle adventure was a nice way to spend the morning of my first full day at the boat landing. The afternoon was spent in an equally relaxed style as we had a nose around the village and then indulged in a 2 hour tubing experience back to the lodge. Despite being thoroughly soaked during the course of this event by a somewhat over-zealous thunder-storm (well we were in the river anyway so it didn't really matter) this was a wonderful experience taking us as it did through some incredibly beautiful countryside and past a number of picturesque villages.
The following day our boat-trip was a more-or-less full day experience, and visited three different villages, all of which were startlingly different in character, custom and ethnic background. The first, a Lantern village, originated in China and has the notable custom that all women wear blue and shave their eyebrows. Their stilted wood-thatch huts are built in a traditional style with the recent addition of solar panels to provide electricity. They make their income from growing sticky rice and making bamboo paper. The second village, belonging to the Kamu was similar in construction but the people were ethnically, religiously and physically quite different originating as they do from Cambodia. The most notable feature here is that they operate a 10 day week. Sadly, though, they still have only a 2 day weekend - a raw deal if you ask me. The third village we visited was a Black-Thai village, originating from Thailand and specialising in the production of silk. Lunch this day was a traditional Lao affair of sticky rice and bamboo, chili, banana, egg etc. eaten with fingers whilst squatting on the bank of the river. Very nice and extremely tasty, which coincidentally, during the course of the meal, is exactly what the local insect population thought about us.
The Boat Landing visit concluded with a buffet evening of local food which incorporated more sticky rice, more bamboo-based delicacies and the opportunity to turn the tables on the local invertebrate population. I am not exactly sure what species of insect I was eating, and I would happily not repeat the experience. These things have to be tried, however. All in all our stay here was a great experience and I would highly recommend a visit.
posted by Al at 6:17 pm
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