To get to Pieng Ngam, we walked for almost two hours uphill through the forest. Even though it was an uphill, the trails were easy and the scenery beautiful. The forests and their management is the responsibility of the people living in adjacent communities. They rely on the forests for timber and rattan used for housing and hunt small mammals. Throughout 17 days in Laos, bird sightings were rare, and never saw any small animals or monkeys. Why? They hunt and eat them all. I saw exactly one Kingfisher the entire trip.

The rice fields had just been harvested and the only green rice paddies were nursery fields. During planting season, the little nursery rice shoots would be transplanted into the actual fields. View image…

flooded rice nurseries in Pieng Ngam Village, Laos
In Pieng Ngam, we ate lunch in a village house (the local food was not to my taste but others in the group chowed down)….

village house for lunch in Pieng Ngam, Laos 

Helene, Simon, Anna and Bill – all much better at getting comfortable on the floor then us in Laos
This was the most interesting village. There was a woman spinning silk thread in the middle of the village along with a man sitting next to her creating a new broom from bamboo…View image…

spinning silk in Pieng Ngam Village, Laos
New scarves in hand, we headed out towards Village #3 by crossing a wide river. ( It really was just a wide stream and easy to wade across.) Lots of fun because by now, it was really hot.

crossing the stream to another Laos village 

Sheila having fun in a stream, Laos
Village #3 was the biggest with over 1,500 people, lots of satellite dishes and a man making the local moonshine, Lao Lao” for 50 cents a bottle with some very unusual equipment…View image… Some of our intrepid group took a few slugs and said it went down pretty smooth.

distilling rice wine in a Laos Village
Through the village….View image…with its little market….

old woman in Laos village
…into the waiting tuk-tuks and back to Luang Namtha. There were quite a few restaurants in Luang Namtha, all catering to budget travelers. Some of them were: The Banana Pancake Club; The Panda Restaurant; The No-name Bridge Restaurant; and Jin Xiang Hotel & Restaurant. The town is famed for home-made scissor cut noodles (called Kao Soi), good bakery goods at the Banana Cafe, or you could always eat off the street stalls (I don’t) and try grilled water buffalo, or grilled chicken feet. Yum-yum…(I’m being a little sarcastic here.)

The 6-7 mile walk was very enjoyable. One of the reasons, ex-Marine and Iike to use Explore is because of days like this. Instead of an ordinary tour getting in and out of a tour bus for weeks, you have an opportunity to really immerse yourself in a country, and get some physical activity. A wonderfully, interesting day and tomorrow it was on the road to Hong Khiaw.

Sheila and ex-Marine (Steve) in tuk-tuk truck back to Luang Namtha, Laos