We trekked ourselves outside of Nong Khiaw and came across some villages that were paid less than the occasional visit from tourists. We showed the mother the photo afterwards in the display, and she called her family and friends around to look at it. Everyone in the village seemed to get a good laugh. Read more about the villages near Nong Khiaw, Laos.
This man was the chief of the Hmong village where we paused during our trek for lunch. He offered his house so that we could eat lunch protected from the sun. As we learned from our guide, village chiefs are elected by the village every couple of years. They are responsible for communicating with the local government, delivering news and enforcing new policies. There are elections, but only one political party. Laos is a communist country, but its flavor of Communism is different than that of Vietnam. People are hesitant to say anything bad about the government or question it. While in places like Vietnam and Cambodia people seem to complain about their corrupt governments quite a lot. Read more about the three levels of hill tribes we encountered on this trek.
We rose early one morning to watch the procession of monks collecting food as alms at the break of dawn. We chose to stand near the Wat Nong Temple, away from the main street. This street was empty, save the several groups of women who came out with food. They sat on mats with their baskets of sticky rice and waited. Each woman gave a small amount of sticky rice to every monk that passed. Monks are only allowed to eat until 11 or 11:30 in the morning, forsaking food for the remainder of the day. It was good to see how the locals take care of feeding their monks. The monks in turn try to take care of others in the community who do not have enough, forming a sort of social system. Earlier, we'd read some public announcement leaflets asking tourists not to get into the monks' faces, block their stride, or use flash to distract them (basic courtesy). Luckily, the few people around honored this request. At the end of the procession, a couple of obnoxious tourists broke the peace with their cameras and gear, almost to the point of absurdity. It was ugly really; we felt bad for the monks being treated like they were in the zoo. Read more about laid back Luang Prabang.
