The mini-vans and songthaews to Muang Sing depart from Luang Nam Tha bus station, a short 5min walk away from the guesthouses. We aimed to catch the one at 9.30am and did well to arrive early as the mini-van left at 8.40am. We were very surprised when our driver switched on the music, what we thought was a normal car CD player turned out to be a DVD player with a 3cm x 8cm screen! However the music was not surprising as it was famous Thai songs that we had already listen to many times during our travels in Thailand and Laos! The trip to Muang Sing was quite short (compare to the trips we did in the last two days) as it was only 1h50. The landscapes were nice when the road cut through dense forests, however we saw a lot of deforestation, full hills where farmers burned down the forest to replace it with corn or rubber trees.
Muang Sing is a really small town, only the main street is sealed. The mini-van dropped us at the bus station a bit out of town, however it is only 10min walk from the main street. We booked a room at a brand new guesthouse, Anousone, offering comfortable rooms for 50.000 Kips.
As the weather was pretty miserable we spent the rest of the day relaxing and checking the treks offered by the few agencies in town. Not being sure that it was not going to rain on the next day we hold down until the next morning to book a 1 day trek to visit 5 villages, 1 Hmong, 3 Akha and 1 Tai Neu (220.000 Kips per person as we were only two doing this trek, it's cheaper when there are more people).
Our guide Keo was nice. He grows rice on his farm during the rainy season and is a guide during the dry season. He gave us interesting information about the agriculture of the area. Mainly farmers grow rice and corn but more and more produce sugar cane to export to China. Also farmers burn the forest to plant rubber trees, again for the Chinese market. The result is that most of the forests around Muang Sing have disappeared.
We started our trek by a tuk-tuk ride to the village of Na Xai (Hmong), 20min from Muang Sing, then we walked 2h45 to reach the Akha village of Paway Kao located at the top of a mountain. On the way we briefly stopped at the village of Houay Khaem (Akha). We walked most of the time through young rubber trees plantations which was somehow disappointing but the view on Muang Sing Valley was nice. On the way back to Muang Sing we walked 2h30 to reach the village of Si Lihuang (Tai Neu) from where the tuk-tuk picked us up. On the way we stopped at another village, Lor See (Akha). At the beginning we walked through a secondary forest which was nice and after Lor See we walked in the valley through the fields and the landscapes were beautiful. In the forest our guide showed us in a tree a red ants "home" totally made of leaves. Very impressing, see picture.
Landscapes wise the walk through the fields in the valley between the last two villages was the nicest part. The visit of the villages was somehow disappointing as we felt that our guide was as uncomfortable as we were and except for a few people (mainly kids) we did feel that we were not welcomed by the villagers. That made us wonder if they get any benefits out of those "eco" treks. We certainly did not learn as much as we wished about the minorities inhabiting those villages, our guide just told us a few things, for example that the Hmongs build their houses directly on the ground and the Akha build their houses on stilts. When we had lunch at the Akha village of Paway Kao we were shocked by the poverty. The kids were wearing clothes with big holes and the houses in the village were very basic. In all the villages there was a school but as for the houses the furthest we were from Muang Sing the poorest the school was (see picture of the school in Paway Kao). As it was the last day of school pupils got their results, in Paway Kao the kids showed their marks to our guide and apparently they all did not do so good in Lao, Akha being their first language. The most interesting village was Si Lihuang as we were invited by some villagers to have a look a their local productions. One guy was making some Lao Lao and a woman showed us how she was doing rice noddles, we had not seen it before and we found it very interesting. This village was very close to Muang Sing and much richer than the other villages.
Talking to other travellers who did a tuk-tuk tour of the villages, cycled to the Chinese border or walked in the countryside we realised that they all had the same feeling that tourists were not welcomed by the villagers. We all agreed that the landscapes in the valley were pretty nice but it was a pity to see how the forest on the hills was burnt down. Muang Sing turned out to be a very different experience to the one the Lonely Planet let us expect.
Muang Sing is a really small town, only the main street is sealed. The mini-van dropped us at the bus station a bit out of town, however it is only 10min walk from the main street. We booked a room at a brand new guesthouse, Anousone, offering comfortable rooms for 50.000 Kips.
As the weather was pretty miserable we spent the rest of the day relaxing and checking the treks offered by the few agencies in town. Not being sure that it was not going to rain on the next day we hold down until the next morning to book a 1 day trek to visit 5 villages, 1 Hmong, 3 Akha and 1 Tai Neu (220.000 Kips per person as we were only two doing this trek, it's cheaper when there are more people).
Our guide Keo was nice. He grows rice on his farm during the rainy season and is a guide during the dry season. He gave us interesting information about the agriculture of the area. Mainly farmers grow rice and corn but more and more produce sugar cane to export to China. Also farmers burn the forest to plant rubber trees, again for the Chinese market. The result is that most of the forests around Muang Sing have disappeared.
We started our trek by a tuk-tuk ride to the village of Na Xai (Hmong), 20min from Muang Sing, then we walked 2h45 to reach the Akha village of Paway Kao located at the top of a mountain. On the way we briefly stopped at the village of Houay Khaem (Akha). We walked most of the time through young rubber trees plantations which was somehow disappointing but the view on Muang Sing Valley was nice. On the way back to Muang Sing we walked 2h30 to reach the village of Si Lihuang (Tai Neu) from where the tuk-tuk picked us up. On the way we stopped at another village, Lor See (Akha). At the beginning we walked through a secondary forest which was nice and after Lor See we walked in the valley through the fields and the landscapes were beautiful. In the forest our guide showed us in a tree a red ants "home" totally made of leaves. Very impressing, see picture.
Landscapes wise the walk through the fields in the valley between the last two villages was the nicest part. The visit of the villages was somehow disappointing as we felt that our guide was as uncomfortable as we were and except for a few people (mainly kids) we did feel that we were not welcomed by the villagers. That made us wonder if they get any benefits out of those "eco" treks. We certainly did not learn as much as we wished about the minorities inhabiting those villages, our guide just told us a few things, for example that the Hmongs build their houses directly on the ground and the Akha build their houses on stilts. When we had lunch at the Akha village of Paway Kao we were shocked by the poverty. The kids were wearing clothes with big holes and the houses in the village were very basic. In all the villages there was a school but as for the houses the furthest we were from Muang Sing the poorest the school was (see picture of the school in Paway Kao). As it was the last day of school pupils got their results, in Paway Kao the kids showed their marks to our guide and apparently they all did not do so good in Lao, Akha being their first language. The most interesting village was Si Lihuang as we were invited by some villagers to have a look a their local productions. One guy was making some Lao Lao and a woman showed us how she was doing rice noddles, we had not seen it before and we found it very interesting. This village was very close to Muang Sing and much richer than the other villages.
Talking to other travellers who did a tuk-tuk tour of the villages, cycled to the Chinese border or walked in the countryside we realised that they all had the same feeling that tourists were not welcomed by the villagers. We all agreed that the landscapes in the valley were pretty nice but it was a pity to see how the forest on the hills was burnt down. Muang Sing turned out to be a very different experience to the one the Lonely Planet let us expect.
