We started from the base camp at Nam Khan River which is a side river of the Mekong. Quickly they shipped Natalie and me on the river to the other side. From there we started our hiking tour. We walked through small rice paddies, hidden fields and orchards in the jungle. Bouphan led us safely over fences and small streams. We learned that water rice is planted 2 times during the rain season while the mountain rice, up in the higher mountain region, will only be planted once a season.

After 1,5  hours following a small trail we came to the first village. The people there are actually not considered Lao people. They belong to the Hmong which is one of many ethnic groups in Laos. They have their own language and culture. A couple of years ago this village (and many others in Laos) got a primary school for the first time, where local kids are able to learn Lao as a second language. It is part of a countrywide education development program of the Lao government. Especially in villages, primary schools were opened and compulsory school attendance was implemented countrywide. It is a big change for the kids to have a chance of a better future. At the place we stopped for a small break, a bunch of kids were playing around us. They seemed interested in us, but a bit shy too. Once I had given one of my cookies to a mighty little boy the dam was broken and suddenly I was surrounded by all kids to get a cookie too. It seems that some things are simply the same with kids around the world :).

We left the place with a lot of impressions of the village. The path started to ascent to the highlands and the jungle around became thicker. While we were stepping up our trail some local tree loggers appeared in front of us. They carried some fresh cut Mahaghoni wood  boards downhill. Actually they did not carry it, it was more pulling it down. Bouphan told us that logging is illegal since a few years, but some locals still cut the trees to increase there little income.

Hiking up hills during midday in the rainforest is a very sweaty business. We both were completely wet and our clothes soaked with sweat several times over. Luckily our mosquito repellant worked very well, otherwise I am sure we would have been eaten up by mosquitos. Now we have a small idea about how hard locals work in their fields. Shortly after the little fields, the tree plantations finally disappeared and we were surrounded only by thick and lusch jungle.

Once we had passed the mountain ridge, we descended to a very small valley village for lunch. Only 5 families live there around a small pond. Our guide served us a lunch pack consisting of a very delicious fried chicken rice covered in a banana leaf. The area was very muddy because of the heavy rain we had the night before. This allowed us to watch a hugh number of tropical butterflies in all imaginable colors licking water and minerals from the ground. Some kids were playing on the benches among the pond. A poor little boy dropped himself in the mud as he slipped out while playing on one of the benches. First he was crying, but shortly after he washed himself in the pond and seemed to have fun.

The kids at this place are obviously not made from sugar. However bathing in this dirty water is still something that is difficult to see, when you think about kids in our regions taking a bath in a clean bath tub full of bubbles. One little girl was scratching her hair constantly. We assume the poor girl had lice. As we left from there we actually had only finished 3 of the 6 hours of hiking. It quickly turned out that we were not able to do the rest of the trip in 3 hours. Our narrow jungle trail turned into the deepest mud I had seen for a long time. Even worse, we still had to go steep up and down through the jungle and there was very little traction on that ground. Each step took ages and our progress on the trail was very little. I guess the weight of our trekking boots more than tripled since the mud sticked to them like glue.

On the upper parts of the trail we passed some open view spots along the trail which gave us an incredible view of the green and mountained country. It was all worth it! What a beautiful country!

When we reached some mountain rice and sesame fields, our guide gave us time to recover and shared some facts about these plants. Mountain rice does not need to be planted in rice paddies. It is just growing in steep mountain fields. Due to its slow growing process it is much more tasty and aromatic compared to normal rice. Besides these interesting facts I did not know before, the fresh green rice fields created a truly Asian atmosphere in the green mountains.

Two boys cutting some bamboo sticks beside the path, goats in the bushes and arty looking wet rice field mobilized our last energy reserves as Natalie and me expected being close to our last village for that day.  We both were soo happy but fully exhausted and dehydrated when we reached the village. Finally we had hiked all day long for 8 hours thanks to the adventurous muddy trail. The village consists of 72 families. All of them belonged to the Khmu, another ethnic group in Laos, with their own culture, religion and language.

We went to the family house we would stay at for the night. Once we got there we downed a couple of water bottles to recover as we could feel that our bodies had lost more water than it had received. Bouphan introduced us to our host family. We looked around and I was pleased to see the kitchen, where the housewife was cooking so good smelling food for us. Once we had finished our tasty dinner, we talked a lot with Bouphan about the peoples‘ daily life, before Natalie and me went to sleep.

The little room was clean and equipped with some thick blankets and pillows. The bamboo walls allowed us to hear everything that happened in the houses around us. Unfortunately Natalie was still struggling with severe headache from dehydration. I took care of her with some dried pork and instructed  her to keep drinking in small sips. In the beginning she woke up every hour to drink more water and it seemed the headache would simply not get better. When a big thunderstorm was pooring down at some point in the early morning hours, she woke up and needed to go to toilet really badly. Well, at least now her body finally had more water than needed again and she fell asleep quickly afterwards.

More or less recovered, we started into our second day. For breakfast our host served us a western style breakfast sandwich with scrambled egg. I think its done this way to make sure that all guests get enough food for the second day of adventures, but I really wanted to know what locals have for breakfast. After a couple of minutes Bouphan served me food, which he had this morning. He brought sticky rice and a super spicy chilli salsa to dip the rice in. A mild warm bamboo sproud soup was served too. And last a plate of steamed bug larva. Mhh yuuhhhmee, my chance to try some insects finally. Bouphan teached me to peel the intestine out of the larva. The larvas were in 3 different stages of their metamorphosis and all tasted differently. I loved it!

After breakfast we did a little tour through the village on our own. Based on our recent experiences we gave some choco cookies to the little ones, and one grandfather, who obviously liked sweet stuff too. We then left the village. In the beginning there were still some rice and veggy fields around us. Bouphan stopped at a single house inbetween a small rubber tree plantation. The family there lived from harvesting rubber from the trees. It is hard work as you have to cut small grooves in the trees in the middle of the night. This is done to keep the rubber tree juice liquid to get it run out during the cool night hours. Despite the hard work their income is quite little. Traders pay them around 0,70 Euro Cent per kilogramm and you have to cut many trees for that.

Our next highlight was a beautiful cascading waterfall at the foot of the mountains we had left in the morning. Shaded by trees with some local owned food stalls around, it was the perfect place to rest before we would start our kayak tour back to Luang Prabang. After some sweet bananas and some water we left this lovely place. A small boat brought us back down the river to the base camp from where we would start.

Bouphan got everything ready, equipped us and went through the safety instructions. He told us we would pass some rapids at the end of our tour and thus gave us some advice how to escape out of the water in case we would flip over. We started into a calm Nam Khan river with our two seater kayak. The current was strong due to the rain season and we did not spend much effort to move forward. On the shores we could see some locals in their fields. Some off them were fishing by net. Kids playing in the water. They were greeding us with a loud SABAIDEE, which is HELLO in Lao, every we came along.

After 2 hours more or less gliding down the river the first rapid appaered in front of us. Ups, it looked much more impressive than we both had expected. On the full width of the river the water was foamed. Bouphan gave us the last two instructions. We should always keep the kayak straight to the waves and should follow his tail in a few meters distance. When the first wave hit us in the front, we were soaked with water immedaitely. I paddled hard to keep us straight in the rapids, while Natalie tried to make her small, so that I was able to see the wave coming.

It was such great fun and we were getting better with each of the following rapids. At the end we had mastered five of them. On the last kilometer the Nam Khan was quiet and peaceful again. We had seen and experienced so much during the last two days. An unforgettable trip ended for us. We truly believe to have seen a small, but authentic part of the true Laos only in 2 days. For sure we have to come back!!

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We flew to Luang Prabang with Vietnam Airlines and were already amazed about the view of Laos from above. While Cambodia has been pretty flat, Laos was a sea of mountains with the impressive Mekong going through it. We landed in Luang Prabang in the evening. When we arrived at our guesthouse, we were welcomed by incredibly lovely and friendly people who had been waiting for us. We were welcomed with a tea and shown to our room, which was another treat as it turned out. I am impressed what these Asian can do with simple towels!

We were told that there is a night market just a few minutes walk away and that we were very close to the Mekong. So we went for a stroll through town and right away noticed how quite and relaxed everything is. There was hardly any traffic, the streets were closed off for the night market and as it was low season, there were also very few tourist around. So we walked through the streets and encountered a mix of beautiful old colonial buildings, nicely decorated river restaurants and small street vendors and street food buffets. We fell in love with Laos right then and there already and decided to skip our Mekong tour. We cannot possible stay in this place for just 3 days, especially as we wanted to do some trekking in the area as well. With this decision made, we had some dinner at one of the street buffets and went back to our romantic hideaway. The next morning, we had breakfast on our cozy balcony and went into town to book our trekking tour. We had researched that you could hire a local guide that will trek with you through the jungle to remote hill tribe villages, where you can also stay in a home-stay overnight. We wanted to do exactly that, but make sure at the same time that we chose a company that gives a good chunk of the money to these villages and the guide and that is not just another Asian rip-off travel company.

On our way into town, we past the street juice stalls again. We could not resist to try it and it actually became our morning ritual. These shakes are simply so fresh and delicious, that I sometimes had 2 within 10 minutes. If you ask me, I could have spent all day there and just drink one different shake after another.  But we were on a mission. So we continued on and first booked a flight to Ko Samui from there, as we decided not to travel overland and instead use the time in Laos. And we also booked a 2 day trekking tour with hiking, homestay and kayaking. Mathias will tell you all about this experience, but it was certainly one that we will never forget. So much I can tell you already now. With this done, we felt like trying some more local food. We had read about a very good restaurant in town that served superb Lao food and also offered a cooking class.

A cooking class was actually something we hadn’t done yet and really wanted to do in Asia. So we went to the Tamarind restaurant and ordered 2 Lao classics. Chicken in lemongrass and spiced fish in a banana leaf. OH MY GOD!!! We had a food orgasm eating this food. It didn’t take us long to decide that we would also do the cooking class with them, where you actually learn how to make exactly these 2 dishes! I mean, just look at the picture above. Doesn’t it already look fantastic? I can tell you. We have tried a lot of Asien food by now, but this chicken in lemongrass is my absolut favorite by far!!! The amazing thing is that it is so full of fresh spices and you can taste every single one of it! We couldn’t wait for the class to start, which was however only after our trekking tour.

Extremely satisfied with the day, we went back ‚home‘ and couldn’t wait for the next day to come. Up on the list: a Lao massage and some more local food :). We started the next day with more fruit shakes and on our way to the massage place stopped at the market to buy some pencils and writing books for the kids in the village. We wanted to bring some gifts for the village we would stay in and got told that these are the best things to bring. Next up was a 1 hour Lao massage. It was fantastic and we both fell asleep while two Lao ladies worked there way up our body. We hadn’t had a Thai massage yet, so we will do that to compare, but this Lao massage really loosens up your tense muscles. It is nothing for people who like it soft and cautious though. They really work with force. Mathias even felt a bit sore the next day.

It was the perfect preparation for our trip that would start in the morning. That and the Lao barbecue we had that evening. Another delicious food encounter. You sit down at a buffet of fresh meat, fish and vegetables and can grill or cook your ingredients as you prefer. It is a hot affair, as the aluminium barbecue pan sits on top of a pot of hot charcoal  in the middle of the table. We were extremely stuffed and satisfied, but also totally sweaty after this experience. So it was time to head home, take a shower and then get up early the next day to start our trekking tour. As mentioned, Mathias will tell you about this experience. Only so much, while it was a tour through breathtaking scenery with unique local encounters, it was quite exhausting for me as I suffered from bad dehydration during the trip. So when we returned on day 2, Mathias treated me to a top-class dinner in another highly recommended place. The Blue Lagoon was a Swiss/Thai fusion restaurant that creates a little oasis for their customers. We tried a mixed Lao specialty platter. I have to say it was very good food and beautifully presented, but not as good as the one we had at Tamarind. So I couldn’t wait for our cooking class the next day.

The cooking class actually took place in a remote location 30 minutes drive outside of the city. It was a very atmospheric setting and very idyllic. 4 expatriate ladies from Hong Kong, who were spending a few days in Laos to relax from the hectic of Hong Kong, shared the class with us. Mathias and I both never attended a cooking class before, so we cannot compare, but we enjoyed every single minute of this one and can only recommend it. The chef was obviously from the Tamarind restaurant and explained every thing extremely well, while allowing every one to do their own dish. As mentioned, we prepared the 2 dishes we had a few days earlier in the restaurant and another dip and a desert. It was surprisingly „easy“ when I think about the taste that comes out of it later and we all did pretty well. Our self-made dishes came quite close to the ones in the restaurant. Of course not the same, but with lots of practice, you could get there. Thank god, we also received a cooking book in the end. So everyone, be prepared! When we come home, we will try this for you :).

And with this, our time in Laos came to an end. The next morning started before sunrise. On our way to the airport to fly to Ko Samui in Thailand, we had the chance to become witness of one of Laos cultural ceremonies: the early morning alms giving to the monks. In Luang Prabang, this tradition manifests as a morning ritual where monks silently line the streets while locals (and interested tourists) put gifts of food into the bowls carried by the monks. We had seen signs in the city before, where the tourist office was asking tourists to keep their distance and respect this tradition. So we viewed this ceremony from a distance on the other side of the road in a corner, making sure we didn’t get in their way or be disrespectful. It was very sad to see though, that some tourists obviously did not care much about showing respect. A few even sat up cameras directly in the way of the monks, while another person would shine a light on them to get a better picture. We thus left this place very quickly as we were ashamed to be a tourist in that moment. I read later that some Lao officials are considering stopping the tradition, because of the deep offense caused by tourists‘ beastly behavior. Fewer locals are inclined to take part, because they refuse to be part of a dog-and-pony show for tourists. It really makes me wonder sometimes what goes on in people’s heads…

Well, I hope the city will find a way to keep up the tradition and keep tourist at a respectable distance somehow. During our travels through Asia, it was quite obvious that so many places have lost their true soul and are merely a yet underdeveloped copy of the Western world. Laos is still one of the few places that is not so far down that road yet and as a traveler this is very refreshing. It is the reason why we travel and we hope that Laos will somehow find a way to keep its beauty on the way to modernism and not become another place full of cement blocks in Asia. We are extremely happy we decided to come here, even if it was only for 5 days. We will be back for sure!