4/30/02 Luang Namtha, Laos (Kelly)
Anne and I went trekking with a guide today through the mountains, rice fields, and a couple of villages in what felt like the hottest day I've ever lived through. The tour actually wound up being a fairly intimate event; it was just the two of us and our guide. We took many respites throughout the day but the first one is really the only one worth noting. We stopped in a very small village and went inside a family's hut (house.) The wife was out gathering food and shopping in the market so the father was there with his 3 very small children. I was shocked to see this man; he was solo skinny to the point of being able to see his tendons and bones sticking out of his legs. The man obviously didn't speak any English so our guide acted as a translator for both sides. We found out that he is addicted to opium, which apparently is very prevalent in Laos. It was so sad to see this father with three children all under the age of 3 knowing that he would probably die within a couple of years.
A couple of hours later, as we made our way through the mountains, we found a lone hut isolated by itself in a field of tree stumps to eat lunch. Laos has the most forest available for lumber in all of South East Asia so it is not uncommon to stumble upon a field that has been cut down and left with stumps. After lunch we journeyed into a village, which was about an hour away, where we were able to interact with some locals. They gave each a "handicraft" made bag as an appreciation token. I'm assuming just to say thanks for stopping by. We finished the trek up in the next couple of hours before taking a truck back into town.
Posted by Admin at May 5, 2002 12:33 AM