Jill & George's trip: A night with the hill tribes

Our 2-day trek up into the northern Laos hills, to visit the Hmong and Khmu tribes will, I’m sure, remain a highlight of our trip.

Our 2 day trek began with a 2 hour journey in the back of a truck, which took us out of the town, away from the tourists and deep into the Laos countryside. We had booked the trek through an independent company who assured us that they were the only ones doing this new route, meaning that the villages we planned to visit would have only recently started seeing small groups of tourists once every couple of weeks and would thankfully not be suffering from ‘tourist fatigue’. We met our 3 fellow trekkers and 2 guides who would be leading us for the next two days and decided that it would be a fun couple of days.

We arrived at a small village, covered in orange dust which had covered every surface as we bounced along the dirt tracks. We loaded up our backpacks with water and provisions before setting off. We were rowed across a small, but fast flowing river to take us into the jungle and then began the 5 hour trek. It had been raining a fair bit, so it was quite muddy underfoot and we squelched around quite a lot along the narrow tracks and scrambled up through the rocks and over tree roots. The scenery was unbelievable, when we either stopped for a quick break or remembered to actually look up as we navigated the paths, we were met with the most incredible views of lush green hills, streams running below and trees and flowers in all directions. There was the occasional cow or pig wandering along the paths, which sauntered off when we approached them. I even managed to pass the huge spiders webs without too much freaking out (when in the jungle...) We stopped for lunch in a clearing and the guides whipped out a selection of chicken curry, veg stir fry and rice which was amazingly still warm.

At around 4.30, after the threat of rain and some hastily put together makeshift bridges over the swollen streams, we arrived, muddy and heavy-limbed, at the village which would be our home for the night. I don’t think I’ll ever forget our arrival, we heard the children playing before we could see them. As we got to the top of the hill we had a view down into the village and could see a group of children playing football outside the bamboo hut which served as the school. The football was flat, most of the kids didn’t have shoes – a couple were playing in gum boots – but they seemed to be having a great time! We walked into the village, which housed 47 families of the Khmu tribe, past the wooden huts on stilts with dogs and pigs running around underneath, past the communal water tap which served as the shower, laundry and cooking water, past the cows and buffalo which roamed around and up towards the chief’s house where we would be sleeping. We heard some barely stifled whispers and giggles behind us and turned around to see a group of children following us with fascination! We felt a little like the pied piper with the procession growing as we passed by other houses and more children joined in. We had the wonderful opportunity to spend the evening wandering round the village and getting to know the locals. The children loved having their photos taken and shrieked with delight when they saw themselves on the screens. Even their parents found it hilarious to see the photos and couldn’t help themselves joining in with the children’s posing. Some of the children showed George and I a game with sticks and stones (similar to jacks) we tried our hand at it and they were all highly amused when we failed miserably!

Once back in the chief’s hut, we were served up an absolute feast which had been prepared for us. We ate it by candle light (only one hut had electricity – a recent development which was still the height of excitement), watched over by the core group of children who had been following us the whole time. After dinner, we decided to crack out the playing cards – a very popular decision! After the children had gathered up all the cards we discarded, studied them closely and then tried out their own games, I decided to show them how to make a house of cards. What then followed was an hour of intense concentration from the kids as they tried to construct card houses – it was amazing to watch their faces light up with delight as they completed a house or screw up in despair when the cards fell down. At one point the chief’s wife joined in with the efforts! I think the kids would have stayed all night if they could, but eventually they were ushered out so that we could sleep.

After a very cold night sleeping on the floor, we were woken by the cockerels at dawn to begin our second day of trekking. We bid a fond farewell to the chief and the rest of the villagers and were followed down to the bridge by the children who stood and waved until we were out of sight. I was so sad to leave and wanted to scoop them all up and take them back with me! We hiked to another couple of villages, where we were welcomed with the same interest and excitement by children and adults alike. We were able to visit a local village school, housed in a large bamboo hut on the outskirts of one of the Hmong tribe villages. It was wonderful to see the classes in progress, although I’m sure we disrupted the calm slightly as the children were keen to see the visitors. George and I were able to hand out the exercise books and crayons which we had brought along and hope they will find good homes.

Our walk back was very different in terrain to the previous day, but no less stunning, with beautiful green hills rising up either side of the undulating track we followed. After 5 hours of trekking, we made it back to the truck, tired, dirty, desperate for a hot shower, but with some memories which will stay with us forever.