We awoke before the sun had fully risen - today was the beginning of our foray into the jungle and simpleness of village life. Our guide arrived an hour later than what we were told, but we were nevertheless happy to be on our way. We met Pon, our guide, and then set off north in a tuk tuk to a Khmu village, where we would begin.
When we pulled up to the village, it wasn't anything special - a village along a modern highway. We took a walk through the village of 15 homes. Some of the kids were playing Bocce ball, and the eldest was wearing a shirt with Osama Bin Laden's face on it. I had to laugh - Osama had his own t-shirt like a superhero. I'm sure that these children may not have known who he is, but nevertheless I found it funny.
After we finished, we set out with 2 of the villagers. They walked ahead of us, and didn't really say anything. During lunch, I fell in love with something new - chili paste. It serves as an excellent compliment to my sticky rice & cooked cabbage. I would fall into the routine of having chili paste with every meal for the next week.
We walked for another 2 hours after lunch until we came to our camp for the night. My first impression of the camp was basic. It consisted of a bamboo building on stilts, with a bamboo picnic table, and an outhouse. I think I was more worried about what we were going to do all afternoon - we had arrived really early and had hours to kill before dinner. I decided to try out the river for bathing, and my body was shocked by the temperature of the water. I stayed in long enough to wash my face, hair, and body before scrambling to the river bank to grab my towel. Even though the water was cold enough to give me a headache, the feeling of cleanliness was wonderful.
After dinner, we sat around the campfire playing songs on Pon's guitar & talking. I think it was one of the latest nights of our trek - we went to sleep at 9pm. My synopsis of the first day was that the surroundings were great, but I wasn't learning anything cultural from the Khmu people or my guide - one item that Green Discovery had marketed for their Nam Ha trips. This is the only issue that would resurface through the remainder of the trek.
When we pulled up to the village, it wasn't anything special - a village along a modern highway. We took a walk through the village of 15 homes. Some of the kids were playing Bocce ball, and the eldest was wearing a shirt with Osama Bin Laden's face on it. I had to laugh - Osama had his own t-shirt like a superhero. I'm sure that these children may not have known who he is, but nevertheless I found it funny.
After we finished, we set out with 2 of the villagers. They walked ahead of us, and didn't really say anything. During lunch, I fell in love with something new - chili paste. It serves as an excellent compliment to my sticky rice & cooked cabbage. I would fall into the routine of having chili paste with every meal for the next week.
We walked for another 2 hours after lunch until we came to our camp for the night. My first impression of the camp was basic. It consisted of a bamboo building on stilts, with a bamboo picnic table, and an outhouse. I think I was more worried about what we were going to do all afternoon - we had arrived really early and had hours to kill before dinner. I decided to try out the river for bathing, and my body was shocked by the temperature of the water. I stayed in long enough to wash my face, hair, and body before scrambling to the river bank to grab my towel. Even though the water was cold enough to give me a headache, the feeling of cleanliness was wonderful.
After dinner, we sat around the campfire playing songs on Pon's guitar & talking. I think it was one of the latest nights of our trek - we went to sleep at 9pm. My synopsis of the first day was that the surroundings were great, but I wasn't learning anything cultural from the Khmu people or my guide - one item that Green Discovery had marketed for their Nam Ha trips. This is the only issue that would resurface through the remainder of the trek.
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