Yin Lie, and Tigers, and Bears, oh my!

Yin Lie means "it's cold".  Yes, the people are a bit cold too, but here I am referring to the temperature.  It is pretty cold for here (about 10C or low 40's F) especially when compared to the first month and a half of the trip when the temperatures were constantly around 35C or above (90's F).  I am in Luong Nam Tha, and supposedly only sixty kilometers from China.  You can feel the presence of other countries when you get close to borders:  here the people look a bit different and there is Chinese writing everywhere (and several "Chinese only" guesthouses - brothels I think but I can't tell for sure).  But first let me backtrack to how I got here.

In Luang Prabang there were many activies to do and, in particular, it was a great place for kayaking and trekking.  One day Rachel and I (click for photo of me in kayak), along with two boring German guys, kayaked 22 kilometers down a river, and it was a great day.  Along the way the scenery was very nice (click for photo),  and there were a few (not many) rapids - once we even capsized.  Luckily, our dry bag protected the camera and money from getting wet.  For lunch we stopped at a beach where we swam and played with kids for an hour and a half, which was really fun.  Along the way we also had some occasional visitors on the kayak (click for photo of Rachel and "visitor" on kayak).
Girl in Kamu hill tribe village.
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The next day we visited the Pak Ou Caves (click for photo) for a half day trip.  We took a boat up the Mekong for an hour and a half, stopping off at a couple of villages.  In these villages there were some people doing handicrafts, like making paper, weaving (click for photo), and spinning yarn (click for photo).  The caves weren't so spectacular, but are significant for their religious importance.  Inside the cave there are hundreds of Buddah statues (click for photo), with a long history of rulers and visitors of Laos adding more.

On the next day we went for a two day trekking trip, which turned out really good.  In the morning we were a big group (click for photo of other "falangs" eating lunch), but after lunch we split up and Rachel and I and our guide (click for photo) went off on our own, visiting Hmong and Kamu villages.  See the photos below.

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Hill tribe woman dressed in traditional clothing.
The villages were very smoky and foggy in the morning.  As it was a bit cold, most houses had a fire inside or outside with people huddled around.
We stopped at several schools in order to donate books (much better than giving candies).  Outside one school the girls were playing a starange game of trying to jump over a rope.
The kids in the villages and schools were fun and curious, and loved having their photos taken.

Each day we walked about six hours through beautiful scenery.  We slept in a Kamu village and I made many friends (some of them spoke Lao which helped me communicate).  In the night our guide cooked us a great dinner, and after we found a family with a fire and sat down with them.  In the side of the fire they were cooking sweet potatoes, and they gave us one to split, which was a nice gesture.  We played with their kids into the night, and in the morning, after they gave us another sweet potato, we reciprocated with gifts of bread and our last tangarine.  In all of the villages there was no shortage of things to see and photograph, and the women were usually in traditional clothing.  See more photos below.

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Usually kids were a bit shy at first then they warmed up.  Unlike Africa, it seems that all over Asia the people are quite shy.
This Hmong girl was very curious and was sneaking around getting peeks at us.  At one point I held her hand for a bit and she was tickled pink.
This man is cutting tobacco, which will be dried afterward.
Yes, I know, this is a common photo for me - I can never seem to resist taking photos of beautiful teenage girls.


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 The day after Rachel left I went to a really great waterfall.  Often when travelling waterfalls are dissappointing but this one exceeded all expectation.  There was one very tall (perhaps 80m  = 250 feet) fall at the top, fed by all kinds of side ones.  At the bottom were dozens of pools with a turquoise color (as can be seen by the photo on the left).  I swam in a large one of these, which was nice, though chilly.

In addition, there was a large enclosure with a tiger.  When I was done with the falls I got to the bottom of the enclosure and found that the tiger was pacing back and forth, growling and purring.  I got so close I could touch him, and it was an incredible experience.
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As for the bears ... that will have to wait for my next webpage.   I am really behind making these pages and I need to catch up.
love, Ed