Christmas Cheer: Rice Wine in a Khmu Village
The trek began Christmas eve from the northern Lao town of Luang Namtha. Almost immediately there was a steady climb, but it felt really good to be out on a single-track trail again. For my Alaskan friends, it was much like the Fuller Lakes trail in pitch and scenery.
The Lao government, in partnership with New Zealand, has protected this region as a park and a cultural heritage/preservation area. To visit the villages contained within, you had to go through this partnership program. The fee was minimal, and in exchange, you had 2 local guides, permission from the villages to visit, a bamboo/thatch building to sleep in, meals, and a chance to observe a way of life that hasn’t changed much for a few hundred years.
The only access to these villages is by this rough trail that takes a minimum of 4 hours of not-easy hiking. During the rainy seasons, these places are virtually cut-off.
And since these places are in remote Lao, there has not been much modern encroachment.That’s about to change of course. Progress is everywhere in the form of new roads, electricity, cell phones, and internet.
There are pay-offs for the villages. The first place we visited was Ban Nalan, a Khmu village. The Kiwis have given everyone a small solar panel , a rechargable battery, and a long-lasting light bulb and fixture. For the first time, everyone now has a light at night.
Most everythng else is the way it has been for quite some time.
I was with 4 other travelers – and we all had dinner with the head-man of the village that night. Translated through the guide, he asked us all the same questions: Where we were from , how old we were, if we were married, and if we had children.
Dinner was village-style. Banana leaves served as tablecloth and there were several communal dishes that we ate from by balling up our sticky rice in our hands and dipping into the bowls and retrieving the food with our fingers as the rice absorbed the sauce.
We then went over to the river and small camp-fire. A large bit of crockery came out and a hookah- like pipe was inserted in the rice-mealy fluid. The custom was to continually suck down the wine until enough of it had been drained to add about a cup more.
I’m happy to report I passed the test. More than once.
We stayed in the vilalge that night, and on the hike out the next day, stopped by 2 Lanten villages. Neither of these villages has solar power yet. Most of the villagers never leave the valley.
It’s good thing that this way of life is being somewhat protected. I’m glad I have had the chance to see it.
Tags: christmas, lao, laos, Travel, wine
jpb