This is me back after a sabatical within my sabatical, eh!...Sorry for the lack of update and I hope what follows will redeme my absence of text and pictures. You know I have been well and here are some details...
I had first left China after the 93 days granted on my visa which I used up until the very last day and crossed border with Lao at Mengla, on the 23rd of January. I found it difficult to get around new people with new customs and language. :-s The colour of the earth was getting more and more red and the leafy bush was greener and greener - There I decided to leave aside the Chinese music I had been listening to for weeks.
I had first left China after the 93 days granted on my visa which I used up until the very last day and crossed border with Lao at Mengla, on the 23rd of January. I found it difficult to get around new people with new customs and language. :-s The colour of the earth was getting more and more red and the leafy bush was greener and greener - There I decided to leave aside the Chinese music I had been listening to for weeks.
In Lao,
I learned how to eat and breath with dust and hop on and off sawngthaews, a mini pickup, sort of tractor, while putting my hands together to greet Sabaidee to the oh so smiley new locals.
No trains in Lao just rocky and bumpy roads and the constant distraction of some crazy machines chickens, pigs and dogs lives around wooden stilt houses and people bathing outdoors at any time of the day... Tiny children, the colour of honey, jumping out of the bush and shouting Sabaidee in their sweet little voices - how can one not melt with a such wonderfuly innocent welcome.
I learned how to eat and breath with dust and hop on and off sawngthaews, a mini pickup, sort of tractor, while putting my hands together to greet Sabaidee to the oh so smiley new locals.
No trains in Lao just rocky and bumpy roads and the constant distraction of some crazy machines chickens, pigs and dogs lives around wooden stilt houses and people bathing outdoors at any time of the day... Tiny children, the colour of honey, jumping out of the bush and shouting Sabaidee in their sweet little voices - how can one not melt with a such wonderfuly innocent welcome.My first stop
was in Luang Namtha, which looks like an important/big town on the map, but to my surprise is a single tarmac street where a few main dusty ones meet. My first dish was Coconutmilk Fish soup with chips and a Lao beer Ah! I reunificated South East Asia with Belgium - (do a search on Moule Frites, for those who don't know what i'm blabering about) -miam-miam a satisfied palate, exotic views of green countryside and optimal temperature, what's next?...
was in Luang Namtha, which looks like an important/big town on the map, but to my surprise is a single tarmac street where a few main dusty ones meet. My first dish was Coconutmilk Fish soup with chips and a Lao beer Ah! I reunificated South East Asia with Belgium - (do a search on Moule Frites, for those who don't know what i'm blabering about) -miam-miam a satisfied palate, exotic views of green countryside and optimal temperature, what's next?...
At my humble and cosy hostel I meet a just married couple from France, Nadia and William whom I ignored at that stage where going to be part of my Lao-Cambodian adventure and we would form a "fantastique-magnifique" team together! ;) 
We bumped into each other 3 times in Lao before we were on equivalent pace and ready to rock and roll the dust in Cambodia.
We bumped into each other 3 times in Lao before we were on equivalent pace and ready to rock and roll the dust in Cambodia.However, 
let's not skip the hills and allow me to spread the sound of Lao... Should you decide to go trekking in the mighty jungle, well be fast as there poor people have no conscience of the damage done while cutting trees in their last remaining jungle mountains. Am I lucky to see now? that's a sad question - I never thought I'd witness such devastating views of literaly shaved mountains of what used to be dence, fierce and plentyful bamboo forests and pure jungle life. Consequently, you don't hear birds and seeing a monkey or a snake has become a myth. In spite of this relality I have spent tree unusual and magnificent days among ethnic minorities who are slowly leaving the bush to live by main roads.
let's not skip the hills and allow me to spread the sound of Lao... Should you decide to go trekking in the mighty jungle, well be fast as there poor people have no conscience of the damage done while cutting trees in their last remaining jungle mountains. Am I lucky to see now? that's a sad question - I never thought I'd witness such devastating views of literaly shaved mountains of what used to be dence, fierce and plentyful bamboo forests and pure jungle life. Consequently, you don't hear birds and seeing a monkey or a snake has become a myth. In spite of this relality I have spent tree unusual and magnificent days among ethnic minorities who are slowly leaving the bush to live by main roads.From Phongsaly, in North East Lao, with two new French companions, Anais and Gregory (French people rock my world! lol), two authentic trekkers with wings on their muddy shoes - we decided to hit the trail with NO guide after cheatting a couple of expensive travel tours and memorising some trail routes. We picked one trek that was going to be 3 days under the hamering sun, drenching tropical rain, sloppy slipery red mud and 2 nights among hill tribe villages, the Hmongs and the Akhas. Wanting to be inventful we though taking the trail backwards, i.e. starting it at the intended finishing point would be smart for reasons that would be too long to explain. Hence, on D day we get on a jumpy bus to Bougnueau about 2 hours away from Phongsaly and landed at the arrival bus station where a market always spreads its colourful goods. We filled up our bags with supplies for the day and started asking for the way to our first ethnic village 4 hours away in the mountains, Papounmay. Most people indictated us to follow the road to the left and some young girl pointed at the road to the right... of course the majority has a bigger voice and we started hikking up the road on the left expecting to meet the entrance of the trail towards Papounmay! ... Two hours later and under the mid-day sun no trail As we kept on asking Papounmay?-Papounmay?, people kept on telling us to follow this same route... as for us we were convinced that the trek should not involve such long tarmac road - thus deceived by the confusion to find the trail to PAPOUNMAY we give up and decide to go back to Phongsaly to the amusement of our Guest House landlady.
Wasted day? Not really we still had fun and finding PAPOUNMAY became a true mission.
Wasted day? Not really we still had fun and finding PAPOUNMAY became a true mission. No we did not give up. The following morning, after filling our stomachs with noodle soup from a local shop for breaky, we enter the trail from Phongsaly which was just 100 metres down our GH! Off we go, the ground is springgy and the morning mist is just perfect before the sun hits us later with 35C. The path goes down and we pass by one village and say hello-smile while some elderly ladies follow us then divert through the slopes and we still hear them talking and laughing from the valley. Second village - a sabaidee!-a smile then we start entering the no man's zone for a few hours through bamboo forests. At 3 O'clock pm we get to the gate of the first Hmong village where we would need sleep for the night - palm tree roofed houses on stilts, lots of children playing outside and following us as we walked accross their village. No adults and a few elderly people who just smiled when we tried to gesturise our need of a bed - then a man in his thirties approaches and shows us 4pm on his watch - then we guessed that the rest of the adults would arrive from work at 4:00 - it is dusk at 6pm up there.
So we sat on a log at the other end of the village and played a little with the kids who where very interested in our cameras. At 4ish pm, there come the first adults and we start our mimic show again to the children hilarity but no acceptance in what we 're looking for - an hour and a half later, tired and with no luck in the guessting business we start considering the grain cabins in the middle of the fields as a shelter for the night... that would be rough! then as a last attempt Gregory jumps the gate exiting the village where we can see the edge of a house roof... 30 minutes later and as the sun was setting Greg comes back with good news - we got a roof and food for the night! Hurray! We meet the family which turns out to be the 30 year old man we'd met first. Five minutes later all the village kids ran in to see us again and it's party time! 
It is 7:30 pm, we are seating outside the bamboo house, on a sort of bamboo platform. We eat dinner at candle light with the 4 members of the family - some sticky white rice, another plate with sticky red rice (strange...) and the best was some grilled little animal, of which we could neatly see the little paws and head...mmmh we were starving so no fussing. Then we were showed to our room inside their bamboo house to a comfy bamboo bed big enough for the three of us :D, that was real cosyness the night was going to be cold. All sat inside the room and our hosts made a fire in the middle of the ground - as the evening when on the room filled up with more visitors from the village; so we sampled some chats, Lao-Lao (rice alcohol) rounds, and went to sleep like three big logs.
It is 7:30 pm, we are seating outside the bamboo house, on a sort of bamboo platform. We eat dinner at candle light with the 4 members of the family - some sticky white rice, another plate with sticky red rice (strange...) and the best was some grilled little animal, of which we could neatly see the little paws and head...mmmh we were starving so no fussing. Then we were showed to our room inside their bamboo house to a comfy bamboo bed big enough for the three of us :D, that was real cosyness the night was going to be cold. All sat inside the room and our hosts made a fire in the middle of the ground - as the evening when on the room filled up with more visitors from the village; so we sampled some chats, Lao-Lao (rice alcohol) rounds, and went to sleep like three big logs.
The morning mist was terrific - so dense! Breakfast was composed of almost the same ingredients as the previous evening except no meat but vegetables instead. This time, we all sat in the kitchen and all the children arrived to greet us again, all with the same school bag - hence we got it!! We were at the village school! What a surprise! Nice to be having breakfast and listening to young Lao voices repeating their lesson in chorus - such an unexpected and beautiful turn out!That morning, the clouds lashed a heavy rain for an hour which delayed our departure and make us dread the state of the trail Enventually, we say our good-byes and 50 metres down le lane i was alredy on my bom - the trail was a red river of mud - I don't know which was better, walking down or up hill; half fun - half stressful.
Day 2 was extremely long as we skipped the village we are supposed to spend the night and hurried the pace to the next one which was PAPOUNMAY - hehehe! we were very eager to arrive and see for our eyes that Papounmay really existed. Gregory walked ahead on his big legs in order to get to the village before sunset and arrange our accomodation. He hung some plastic bags as direction markers whenever he met a junction on the trail. At 5:45, dawn was starting and we were exhausted. Anais and I were sincery hoping that Greg had arrived and that we were not far any more. The path was never ending going up and down hills. When we finally reached the last slope up, the shouts of children playing and the view of the village thached roofs in the valley were a blessing. It was like seeing Asterix village between the trees!!!
That night we stayed at the chiefs village house and washed outside like they all do. Dinner was a feast and villagers popped in the meet us. We were in our famous Papounmay, among the Akha minority people.
Awaken with the roosters singing, we get ready and start day 3 walking in the jungle in line with the villagers on their way to work - i.e. cutting trees and arranging the path. The women's outfit are dark with a blak veil covering their hair and garnished with colonoal coins - pretty amazing looking - i call them princesses. On the way they hand me they shuvle and there I was digging the trail with them... 
...the walk would be shorter that day and much easier.
The return of the soldiers was successful.
I left northern Lao with Anais and Gregory and headed to central Laos, to the ancient royal capital of Louang Phrabang - a UNESCO's Cultural Heritage site. Very touristy but nevertheless very attractive with its peninsula where the Mekong meets the Namtak river. In Louang Phrabang you cannot miss the market as it extends up the main street every evening and the french baguettes sandwiches, "mmmh" I cannot express enough the confort it brought back to me after 5 months. Of course, when in this beautiful spot one can do all the touristic visits of the royal temple and museum. But i rather liked meeting with locals as i always do and take a dip in the streams of the Namtak river with the kids; in Laos, you don't go about in mini skirts and bikinis out of respect for its people customs.
From LouangPhrabang, it was directly Pakse, in the Bollaven Plateau, south of the country. for the first time I opted for an organised day tour as it turned out to be difficult for me to get to places on the plateau without independent tranportation and time was short. So the only day spent there was to visit the coffee plantation and some minority villages - which made me rather sad as the tour vans stop there for tourist photos and leave without a good bye - it felt like going to a zoo! So I am really not fond of guided tours.The very next day, I was happy to get straight to the most remote place in Lao, the 4000 islands. 
A paradise of islands, on the Mekong, with a feast of waterfalls, lovely people and no electricity made it even more remote. I made friends with the family of Mr Siett and Vee - and I got to see again my friends, Nadia and William. I had the most relaxing days, dozing in the heat of the afternoons and dipping in the river at sunset 
- the best was coming back cycling at night - or riding the moped with Vee and the two kids. I was sad to leave them and they gave me a wonderful good bye ceremony called the Baci. The women prepared an enormous amount of food for dinner - a pyramid like of slim twisted candles decorated with white string brought to the center of the floor carpet table where the whole family, Nadia, william and myself are gathered. Then starts the exchange of strings, knotted at each people's wrists with wishing words of goodness for life and "may our path meet again in another life..." Highlights of life say no more...
A paradise of islands, on the Mekong, with a feast of waterfalls, lovely people and no electricity made it even more remote. I made friends with the family of Mr Siett and Vee - and I got to see again my friends, Nadia and William. I had the most relaxing days, dozing in the heat of the afternoons and dipping in the river at sunset 
- the best was coming back cycling at night - or riding the moped with Vee and the two kids. I was sad to leave them and they gave me a wonderful good bye ceremony called the Baci. The women prepared an enormous amount of food for dinner - a pyramid like of slim twisted candles decorated with white string brought to the center of the floor carpet table where the whole family, Nadia, william and myself are gathered. Then starts the exchange of strings, knotted at each people's wrists with wishing words of goodness for life and "may our path meet again in another life..." Highlights of life say no more...
