Laos Part II: Getting Dirty (Trekking in southern & central Laos)

Before we left on this trip, my friend Jocelin gave her honest assessment of our plans: “I think it’s awesome that you guys are going on this trip, but I wouldn’t want to do it. It sounds dirty.”  Well, I can easily say that we haven’t maintained levels of hygiene in accordance with US social norms during our travels, but the middle part of our time in Laos really takes the cake in the dirt department.

One of the attractions of visiting Laos is that it is relatively untouristed, especially in the center of the country.  Our travels took us mainly up the Mekong, which runs mostly along the western border, but we detoured into the center of the country through 2 treks.

Dong Phu Vieng NPA – Katang Village Trek

The first trek we took was a 3 day / 2 night trek out of Savannakhet into the National Protected Area of Dong Phu Vieng. The focus of this trek was to visit 2 villages of Katang, a minority tribe. The total walk wasn’t much to speak of – probably about 25km (16mi) in total over the 3 days, and the landscape wasn’t much to write home about, partially due to the illegal deforestation of the NPA, which we saw in action as we encountered logging trucks minutes after stepping into the forest.  We also encountered a UXO (unexploded ordinance) shell shortly after entering the area – a scary reminder of the little-known participation of Laos in the Vietnam war: the Ho Chi Minh trail ran through Laos, making it a target for American bombings, many of which did not activate til well after the war (we were promised that all in the NPA had been deactivated).

Bare countryside

To get to the NPA, we took a 4 hour sawng thaew ride from Savannakhet with our guide, Sinakhone, a  26 year old Lao girl.  The last hour of the ride was down a dirt path into the forest, and after about 5 minutes of that ride our newly cleaned clothes were covered in a fine coating of dust that we wouldn’t shake for the next few days.  We met 2 guys from the first village (truly local guides who would make sure we found the village) at the entrance to the forest path, and about 30 feet in we stopped for lunch.  Sinakhone and the guys gathered some large leaves and made a mat on which we sat and dined – on chicken on a stick, steamed vegetables, sticky rice, meat laap (thinly sliced meat marinated & cooked with mint leaves, cilantro, and chilli peppers among other flavorings) and some very bony river fish. I think the village guys found it funny that we were so particular about removing the bones from our fish and trying to keep our fingers clean, and we were quickly thrown into the world of living on the ground, eating without utensils, and dealing with a bit more dirt than we would have ordinarily chosen to.

Getting lunch from the market

Sinakhone preparing our lunch (actually on day 2)

During our 2 nights in the villages, we got to know a bit about village life in Laos in general, and about the Katang people in particular. The defining difference between the Katang people and the majority of Lao people is religion – the Katang people are not Buddhist, but rather practice their own religion that worships the spirits of ancestors. In general this practice follows the standard lines of worship (sacrifice, prayer), but the spirits are also guardians of the house and keep very particular rules. For instance, other than married couples living in the house, men and women cannot sleep side-by-side. It is forbidden to sleep with your feet pointing to the outer walls of the house. You are not allowed to clap in the house for risk of offending the spirits, but you can ask their permission (which someone must have, because there was a low level of clapping in the evenings). The spirits live in ‘spirit items’ in the house – anything from an empty soda bottle hanging in a corner to wind chimes to a clay jug – the reason for this belief becomes apparent when a subtle breeze blows through and creates an eerie howl or twinkling.  You cannot touch the spirit items.

My bed is seen at the left edge of the picture, while Jason's is out of frame in a corner (village #2)

Other than trying to avoid offending the spirits – we would have hated for our hosts to have to sacrifice a chicken or a more costly pig or bull for our unintentional indiscretions! – we spent our time learning about and participating in life in the villages. One of the more memorable bits was bathing, which we did both nights before dinner. In the first village, bathing is done at one of the handful of public water pumps. Women wear a sarong and men can do the same or wear shorts.  After Sinakhone pumped a bucket of water and helped me change from my clothes into my sarong without exposing myself too much, we scooped up water with plastic bowls and poured it over our shoulders, tossed it under our sarongs, and attempted to soap up and rinse off as best as possible in the conditions. I should note, the conditions included nearly all the children in the village gathered around us to watch.

The second village bathing experience saw us more discreetly 1km away from town in a fresh-water river for a dip and a soap, accompanied by a nice sunset. Slightly less awkward, and quite scenic!

In much need of a wash down by the river

Enjoying the sunset, post-bathing

We also had the chance to participate in cooking dinner both nights, which I really enjoyed – especially learning how to make fish laap, which we might just try at home. Cooking did require the ability to do the ‘Lao squat’ – the position all Lao people seem to adopt when they want to rest or do anything near the ground, but to me is a too-precarious balance that makes my knees ache. Fortunately a 3” high stool helped a great deal in my ability to participate in meal prep.

Prepping vegetables, village 1

Making sauce, village 2

Our meals along the trek ended up being really tasty, and nearly all were accompanied by the Lao staple sticky rice. Many countries in this region have sticky rice at the center of their cuisine, but in Lao the custom is to eat it by balling up some in your left hand, then using it to pick up bits of other food.  We also learned to enjoy dipping it into a mix of soy sauce and chilli powder (or silly powder, as Sinakhone endearingly pronounced it) – adding a great deal of flavor to even our most basic meals.

In the villages, the preparation of the rice is a day-long event for the women, who wake up at dawn to begin threshing rice (beating it in a large mortar with a massive wooden stick to remove the husks). This continues through the day and one day’s worth of threshing equals one day’s worth of rice for a family. Even the cooking of rice is a round-the-clock experience, as I discovered the first night when I tried to creep out of the stilt house to use the bathroom around 2am. Not only did I wake up the goats and pigs sleeping in the yard, but also the lady of the house who used the disruption as a chance to get the rice cooking started for the day before nodding off again.

Late afternoon rice threshing

Our hosts' house, with the kitchen at left beyond the ladder

I could go on and on but I will share only one more story about this trek. The biggest difference between the 2 villages we visited was that the second one had gotten electricity in the last year, whereas the first one had none. As a result, we were a huge novelty with the children in the first village; in the second, many were glued to the TV which had inevitably been installed in their house in the last year. Not that we minded, but it’s an example of the impact of ‘progress’ – a less socially interactive environment. It’s probably something my grandparents’ generation could reflect on first hand, but we wouldn’t even consider today. Of course, electricity also makes house-building, knife-sharpening, and water-getting much easier! (Comically, one or two of the stilt houses had massive audio systems with 5ft-high speakers on their porches which pumped out dance music in the afternoon and far too early in the morning.)

After lunch on day 3, we made our way back to Savannakhet where we promptly showered and I proceeded to try to scrub dirt out of our trousers – with a toothbrush and in my newly adopted ‘Lao squat’ position. Because after all Dirt is Good™, but clean is better.  Then we went for a burger & fries – the first Western food we had since arriving in Asia 4 weeks prior – and it was just what the doctor ordered.

Creative cleaning

Phu Hin Bun NPA Trek

The morning after we finished our trek, we took a bus from Savannakhet to Tha Khek, a town that has very little to offer other than being the jumping-off point for various trekking opportunities. We made the tourist information office our first stop, and signed up for a 2 day / 1 night trek starting the next day.

This trek was into another NPA with a village homestay, but was completely different than the previous one. In this case, the trekking was the highlight, with a couple long days of walking through fields flanked by limestone hills, checking out caves and swimming in some beautiful locales.

Looking out the mouth of the Sandalwood Buddha Cave

A nice place for a dip: Evening Gong Lake / "The Blue Lagoon"

It was also different because we were on the road with 3 other couples, whereas on the first trek we were alone with our guide. The village stay was fun although they seemed more accustomed to having visitors pass through, and in this case they were not a minority tribe of people, simply Lao country people.  However, Jason got try out his petang skills, and I watched the ambulance chase of a goat having his cajones sawed off prior to slaughter.  I could not, however, stomach watching the slaughter.   

Jason plays petang with the local boys

This poor creature met an unfortunate end

After dinner, we were the honored guests at a baci ceremony, a welcoming cerermony in which guests are offered – in this case – balls of sticky rice, candy bars, and bananas – along with a chant from elder men of the village. The chant goes something like (in Lao, of course): Zaaa zaaa zaaa, may you have safe travels, good health, good husband, many children, long life, long life, long life… and anything else they wish to add. A piece of string is tied on your wrist, which you must maintain for 3 days in order for the blessings to take effect. And finally, you do a shot of lao-lao, a rice wine which I politely sipped a bit of but Jason managed to down much more readily!

Receiving my well-wishes

Jason enjoys the lao-lao

We had a similar ceremony on our first trek, although in that case it was much more solemn. Afterwards, one of the men played a song on a pipe-instrument, while another sang a local tune about lost love. We were then asked for a song. I drew a blank and Jason suggested I sing the national anthem. So I did. It was a little awkward, and I was thankful I did not have to repeat that on the second trek.

The second day of the trip included a long walk through the jungle, a rather dusty & uncomfortable tractor ride, and finally a few last kilometers of very dusty walking, leaving us once again covered in dust and feeling fairly unpresentable to the outside world. But rather than check into a hotel and clean up upon return to Tha Khek, we headed straight to the bus station in search of city life in Vientiane. And we’ll get to that next time!

At least we were smart enough to get in the first of the 2 tractors! (The view looking back...)