30112010 : Trekking in Vieng Phouka, Nam Ha national protected area

The govt is trying to promote eco tourism to help ease poverty within the villages and to provide the locals with an additional source of income. the agency which i went with contributes the money to the villages in front of our eyes to assure us about where the money is going. whereas for the other agencies they say they do it but you never see so you don't really know whether all the money ends up in their pockets or actually part of it is contributed for village development. Will let the pictures do the talking for now :

oldest woman at 1 of the villages. guess her age

lunch table

sticky rice for the next 8 meals

bamboo lodge in the forest for the 1st night

summit of the 'misty mountain'

HUGO!!

making friends with sekham our english speaking guide

burning for the next cycle of planting to ferterlize the ground

the french sisters bought some textbooks for the village children

this is how you shower. of course we're the center of attention.

rmb-ed an episode of man vs wild when he taught on how to make a fishing spear with bamboo. taught sekham how to do it as we saw kids going out to fish but they had gears which made it very hard for them to catch the fish.