Another epic 6 hour bus journey headed north out of Vientiane saw us disembarking in Luang Prabang, ancient capital of the Lao Kingdom. Luang Prabang is another SEA gem of a town that has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site, and its not difficult to see why. Nestled at the confluence of the Mekong and the Nam Khan rivers, the old quarter of town occupies a hilly peninsula that is crowned with a spectacular Buddhist complex. The Old Quarter is a maze of interconnecting alleys and larger lanes interspersed with plenty of Wats and palaces. Added to this mix of royal and religious buildings are the signs of booming tourism - numerous cafés, travel agencies and guest houses.
We gave ourselves a couple of days to explore the various Wats around town and to visit the museum, though the latter was more of a display of royal regalia than anything else. The most dramatic complex of wats to be found in Luang Prabang has to be the trio that occupies Phu Si, the hill around which the Old Quarter is based. A series of steep staircases lead up to the temples nestled in the hillside and in cracks in the rocks. The climb is shaded by the thick tree cover, and once you reach the top the views over the Mekong and Nam Khan are incredible. Not to mention the innumerable golden Buddha statues that come in all possible stances.
At night the Old Quarter comes alive with the Hmong Market, where members of the eponymous hill tribe sell their handicrafts to the hordes of tourists. Though its nice to think that what you're buying is made locally in a tradition that has been handed down for generations, its not always so. Plenty of the wares on display were the same sort of items we had seen for sale at markets in Cambodia and Vietnam. What's even more of a shocker is that these same handbags and various items of clothing are to be found for sale in supposedly fair trade shops at more than five times the asking price in the market! The only consolation to be had is that when you're buying from the market you'll a) get a better price and b) all the money goes direct to the Hmong (or other minority retailer), rather than a middle man getting their cut.
When shopping at markets in SEA you should always haggle the price down - being a foreigner you'll automatically attract inflated prices. It amazes me though how some sellers try to take tourists for one heck of a swindle - many times I've brought the price down to less than half of the asking price, and I'm sure that the amount I'm paying is still a lot more than what a local would be asked for.
We noticed an interesting superstition when hawkers make their first sale of the evening - the sellers are desperate to make that first sale, and once they do they'll thank the customer for being their "lucky lucky first" and go on to rub the monies handed over on all their merchandise, in the hope that the luck of the first sale spreads to the rest of their stock. So here's a second tip for market shopping - if you're the "first customer" you can haggle your prices down that little bit extra; though you should keep in mind that an insignificant amount like $1 means a lot to people who earn less than $60 a month.
Meet the locals
Luang Prabang attracts plenty of tourism not only thanks to its idyllic location and historic old quarter - plenty of people stop in town to get ready for a hill tribe trek. The trekking scene here is not as over-saturated as it is in Thailand. The trekking trails aren't as busy, and the villagers you meet aren't as jaded from the flow of tourists. The kids still come running when they see a foreigner, the adults still giggle at our bumbling ways in the exhaustive heat.
Typical trekking trips run from one to three days visiting a number of minority villages along they way. The trek leader will be a local with intimate knowledge of the surroundings and groups are limited to a maximum of six persons.
We opted for a moderate two-day adventure culminating with an elephant trek in the jungle. Our friendly guide was a Hmong named Tuson (not sure about the spelling, but its pronounced as I wrote it here), and we were pleased to find out we'd have the guide all to ourselves. One of the advantages of traveling in the low season is that you're more likely to find yourself in small groups, or as in our case, on a private tour!
The trek started easily enough with some pleasant walking through rice fields and bush, with plenty of shade provided by the high trees lining the path. The first two hours of our trek were pretty uneventful but nonetheless entertaining - the scenery was stunning verdant hills and paddy fields, babbling brooks and the occasional rumble of a motorized tractor. We met some farmers along the way and our guide Tuson provided an interesting commentary about the farmer's daily life. A short while after our lunch break we came to our first Hmong Village, where we sat in the shade of some trees to rest our legs for a while and wait for the heat of the afternoon to lessen somewhat. Most of the villagers seemed to be doing much the same as we were - hiding in the shade while the sun scorched the earth. A few kids were playing with spinning tops and a lady was kenneling cobs of corn and occasionally throwing a handful to the piglets and chickens that hung around waiting for scraps.
Having done a considerable amount of trekking while on this trip we figured that eight hours of walking spread over two days would be easy fare for us… how mistaken we were! Its true that we'd spent whole days walking in New Zealand and Australia, but never in 33C with high humidity! We were doing reasonably well while the land was flat and the trees provided shade. Things started to get hairy shortly after we left the Hmong Village. It was time to begin the serious climbing, and there were no trees to provide shelter from the burning sun. About half way up the hill I was reduced to a sweaty, heaving mass concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, willing myself on. What struck me most about our ascent though was not how hard it was - it was that the steep hill was in fact a rice field. While I was complaining about simply having to walk up the hill, a Hmong farmer had to till it, plant his crop, and would eventually go up and down the hill harvesting rice. Its at times like these that you begin to appreciate the effort that goes into that bowl of fried rice you had the night before!
We eventually made our way to the Hmong village where we would be spending the night, and our first stop was at the "bamboo shower" as its called in the brochure. A natural rock spring has been channeled into a thick bamboo pole that acts like a tap, providing the villagers with water for cooking, drinking and bathing. As we arrived plenty of women were about the tap having their daily shower (fully clothed) and filling buckets, jerry cans and plastic bottles with water to be taken back to the village, a five minute walk away. The icy cold water was like manna from heaven to us exhausted walkers, never before have I so appreciated a cold shower in my life!
Up at the village we were shown into our quarters - a dormitory large enough for 20, but it would only be the three of us staying in there - and invited to take a look around. The village kids were running around playing all sorts of games; the most interesting of which seemed to be a variation of the classical game of marbles, but played with a single flip flop. From what I could gather the players nominate a point on the ground that they must then try to hit by flinging the lone thong at it. It seemed to entertain the kids to no end, and we were quite happy to sit there watching their carefully aimed shots. The adults of the village were carrying out cooking related chores - most were hidden away in their homes preparing dinner, or running to the little (and only) shop/hut of the village to get some supplies. Our host had a great pile of pineapples and she seemed to be doing brisk business selling them to neighbors - the next morning the pile was loaded onto a tractor to be taken to market. Just
before dinner was the only time we saw any other foreigners during our trek. We were expecting them to be joining us in our dormitory, but they quickly moved on to another part of the village to stay with another family. Tuson explained that this is done to spread the wealth from tourists over the village - a noble idea, and also adds to the intimacy of the experience by spreading the people.
With no electricity village activity is limited after sundown, and with most being employed in farming the day starts early. We were more than happy to head in for an early night as the day's walking had taken its toll on our tired legs.
We were up the next morning at cock's crow, and after a sumptuous omelette for breakfast we set off for the morning's walk. We decided that we would spend a shorter time walking on our second day, so instead of visiting a third minority village we headed straight for the sealed road where a van would be picking us up. The trekking was much easier this time - downhill, and the day still hadn't heated up when we set off. It took us just over an hour and a half to reach the road, from where we were punctually picked up and shipped off by road to the elephant camp.
At the elephant camp we were introduced to the two female elephants that are the backbone of the business and given some time to get to know the lumbering ladies. After we'd had our fill of elephant petting the mahout strapped a howdah to one of the elephant's backs and we were allowed to embark.
The howdah was a bare as bones wooden affair, and not a cushion in sight! Maybe the experience is a bit different if you're riding in a royal howdah, but perched as we were on our elephant I found it difficult to fathom how royalty have favored these pachyderms as their mode of transport for so many years. When the going is over flat ground its smooth enough, but in rough or inclined terrain you've got to hang on for dear life. Then when you are hanging on for dear life, you've got to remember to keep fingers clear of the edges or risk having them squeezed into trees! Our hour on the elephant seemed to drag on, and we were relieved to be let off for lunch back at the elephant camp.
I was quite looking forward to some interaction with the elephants, but this howdah experience wasn't quite what I imagined it would be… Maybe next time I'm in Laos I'll have a better budget, and instead of going for a hill tribes trek I'll take the Elephant Mahout camp, where you spend two whole days tending the elephants and learning basic commands.
After lunch we were dropped off at Luang Prabang, where we had a few hours to kill with some iced coffee before our overnight bus to the Thai border at Huay Xai.
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