Akha Tribes and Insects
The akha, pronounced in a very phlegmy way, originated from Burma, still accord to animism and legitimately wear traditional dress. The women are very very shy, and also on a side note very muscly. The merest show of a camera and they were Gump running. We were the first westerners there for a few months.
It took us about 7 or 8 hours trekking to reach the first village. The Laos paths are very ancient and steep. They go straight up and down. There is little to no traversing. The first village we reached on the way was accessible by dirt road. We drank vibrant green Lao Lao the homemade extremely strong rice moonshine- it ranges from 50% upwards. It was still warm from the wok. We then headed abruptly down a trail of about a foot in width. It stayed that way and narrower for the next 3 days. The first day was a tepid 25^C. Rosie and I obviously overestimated our shoes for the journey- Rosie wearing retro adidas flat sole trainers and I in my try-hard old-tymey boat shoes. They were not suitable. It was slapstick at it's finest going downhill. After we crossed the river at bottom and rearranged our shoes, Rosie released a blood curdling scream. The rest of froze and turned panicked expectant of snakes, lizards, bears, spiders... Rosie had her first leech. Rosie still holds to it scarring her foot forever. Surprisingly the Laos jungle was very safe and animal free. The insects thrived but all other forms of life were rare.
As we arrived into the first akha village, the animals seemed very peaceful with our guide in tow. As we left the chief's hut for an explore the animals flipped out! Chickens were screaming, pigs were fighting, horses were mating and stampeding, and the dogs had all amassed to scare us out of town. Scared of the dogs because of rabies we did as we were told. It wasn't until the next day that the dogs were used to us. We learnt "aschuu" which is almost like sneezing, which makes the mongrels all piss off. Most of the time. That night we dined with the chief, ceremoniously drinking a shot of Lao loa every 10 minutes or so. We feasted on buffalo, mushroom sticky rice and soup. We ate until we could no more. And while Rosie and Ryan decided their day was over I introduced the chief's kids to various apps on my iPhone. The best one of course being 'Angry Birds' ironically for a society based on animism. Hours later the Lao Lao sank-in and bed was necessary.
