Luang Namtha

After a few days in Vientiane we flew north in Laos to the small town of Luang Namtha.  The town is in a small valley, surrounded by mountains and jungle. 

We spent a day trekking through the jungle with our two guides.  There were tons of spiders and ants and the jungle was extremely thick.  For lunch we stopped at a small hut and ate a traditional Laos meal - sticky rice, pumpkin, spicy eggplant and a few things I didn't recognize.  Lunch was eaten with the fingers!

 The trek included a number of river crossings on logs for bridges - we all managed to make it across the river without incident.

After the jungle trek we went to visit a school in the local village.  We arrived just as school was finishing.  The school is for primary students only - 5 to 10 years old.  The classrooms have mud floors, simple desks and chalkboards.  Many of the children are missing school right now as the rice is being harvested and everyone has to help get the work done. We tried to talk to the children but none of them spoke English and when we tried to take their photo they all ran and hid but when we put the camera away they surrounded us and stared at us inquisitively.

In the dirt play ground there were a number of pigs and chickens playing in the yard.  

The next day we did a bike ride around the town.  The weather was cool for South East Asia - about 25 degrees Celsius so the monks were prepared for the weather with their woollen hats!  Everyone in Luang Prabang carries an umbrella on their bicycle or scooter to provide shade from the sun.  This is easy to do as the average speed of the motorbikes is only about 30 km/hour.  Makes for a sleepy town! 

November is time harvest time - the fields are golden with the ripe rice.
 

As we rode through the village we saw strings of this all over the town.  It is buffalo skin - drying in the sun. It is dried and then cut into small squares and eaten as a snack throughout Laos.  I haven't tried it yet - but it smells like beef jerky and seems to be popular as it is for sale in all the markets.

Part of our bike ride included climbing to the peak of a small hill to enjoy the view. 

We ended our tour with a traditional Laos meal eaten on a small hut in a rice field.  Our guide, Tom, showed us how to roll the sticky rice into balls with our fingers and eat the pumpkin and omelet with our hands.  The food in Laos is simple and fresh.  
Tom also taught us about Buddhism as he spent a year as a Novice Monk learning about Buddhism, prayer and meditation. Most boys in Laos spend a few months to a year at the Monastery as Novice Monks.

While we were in Luang Namtha we ate many yummy meals at the Bamboo Lounge - Coles' favourite was the wood fired pizza!