Muang Sing

So, Danna and I decided to go off the much beaten path to the lesser beaten path and try our luck at trekking in Muang Sing. We got there and discovered we were literally the only white people in the town and as I described it, had landed ourselves in the Laos boonies. After wandering in confusion looking for the homestay we wanted, we settled on the closest one to where we were standing as we were tired of carrying our bags. After checking in and dropping our things, the wandering in confusion continued. The tiny little map we had showed that there were a number of trekking offices located along the main strip. We only found the local tourism office (presumed closed as it had a padlock on the door). Anyone we tried to ask for help ignored us or didn't speak any English and wouldn't even watch our gestures in an attempt to help us out. After being in Myanmar, this came as quite a shock.

After about 30 minutes of wandering up and down this tiny little strip of a main street, Danna discovered there was indeed a secret entrance to the tourism office! We went in only to discover the man hiding out in a dark room in the back did not speak English and was not interested in helping us arrange a trek. He did at least suggest a hotel that would have someone who spoke English and would be available to help. After dragging instructions on how to get there out of him, we set off in search of the elusive open trekking operation. What a surprise when we found it, they actually were open and eventually someone who spoke English came to our rescue and was able to help negotiate! Because there was no one else to help lower the cost, we decided to do a day trek to the different villages and try our luck in Luang Nam Tha for a longer trek.

Around 8:30 the next morning we set off for the first village, a Tai Lu ethnic group. Here we watched a woman weaving and through our guide, Xor Vang, we were able to ask her a couple of questions. She has been weaving for over 20 years and learned from her mother when she was a teen. She can crank out a couple of meters of weaving in a day.

On the walk to the next village, we passed through a bunch of banana fields and learned that the local villagers rent the land out to a Chinese company who grow the bananas. Apparently the local Lao people don't eat these particular bananas because of the amount of chemicals and pesticides put on them. Also, Muang Sing and the villages we were visiting are only 8 or 9 kilometers away from China. There is a small border crossing there only for Chinese and Lao people. While we were walking we saw the mountain range that separates China from Laos. Xor Vang said that in other treks the climb to the top of the mountains and you can see China from them.

The next two villages were Akha and we had a few interactions with some of the kiddos. Danna and I had bought pens and pencils to hand out to the kids we met along the way because their school year was starting the day after we our visit. They all seemed excited to receive them and we watched one little boy stick his pen down his pants so no one would take it from him.

It was in our third village we visited that we came across a particularly interesting spirit gate. Most of these villages believe in animism and have some sort of gate to let in good spirits and keep out the bad. This  particular ethnic group builds a new gate each year just a little farther in front of the old one. Hanging from the gate are a variety of spirit catchers, which are woven pieces of bamboo in the shape of a hexagon. This gate also had wooden guns hanging from it in order to scare off the evil spirits. 

In the fourth village we came across a shaman performing a ritual to capture a spirit that had escaped when a member of the family had gotten sick. Outside the house, the family had arranged a spirit catcher in the form of strings with bamboo hooks circling out from one main bamboo center. Each string had a silver coin strung on it in order to attract the spirit. Inside the  house the shaman was chanting over an alter which contained a sacrificed pig, rice wine and a monetary representation. Xor Vang said that the chanting usually lasted an half an hour but could sometimes go on for longer. I must say, it was a crazy thing to witness. 

All along these villages are rubber trees. They are planted by the thousands and the rubber sap is collected and sold to the Chinese. Xor Vang is also a farmer when he is not acting as a guide and he has over 1,000 of these trees. To collect the sap, a thin strip is cut from the trunk. When cutting, the farmer only cuts on one half of the tree. They start about halfway up the trunk and work their way down. Reaching the bottom takes a couple of years and once this occurs, the farmer restarts the process on the other side of the tree.  A new strip is cut off the bark every couple of days. 

The trek was a great experience and Xor Vang has been my favorite person I've met in Laos. He was super friendly and very knowledgeable. He had answers to our questions before we even had time to ask them.