November 9 Phongsali to the villages 200 kilometers to the east and north

Map showing where we went

We started at 7:30 AM since we knew we had a long day ahead, loading the old van with 80 lbs. of salt, 200 notebooks, similar numbers of pens, pencils, packs of soap, shampoo, and some lipsticks and nail polish, as well as sewing needles to give to local villagers.  The first hour driving back to Boun Neua was on pavement, but the next four hours driving north along the border with China was on rough dirt roads with extensive mud, and we reached Yofam on the Nam Ou River, almost to the northern border of Laos, before we had lunch and turned back. Lunch had been purchased by Xia at the local market in Boun Neua.

Rice fields in valley with Thai village

Passing villages every few miles, the first village had Pinoy, next Tai Yang, followed by a group whose identity we have forgotten, then two Akha Nuqui villages, then a Pau village. When we found people along the way, Leslie would give out lipsticks or sewing needles to the older ladies, and pencils and notebooks for the students.

Akha Nuqui young girl

We stopped and distributed notebooks and pencils at an Akha school, and then talked to some of the ladies in the village, giving them sewing needles. Leslie purchased a bed weaving from a Tai Yang lady, who showed us her loom and where she lived. We hiked down a mud path into an Akha Nuqui village where there were an unusual number of cattle.  Although the chief had told us most of the women were still working in the fields, we found a group who were already at home, and had a good opportunity to get some pictures of them and their distinctive headdresses after Leslie made them gifts of sewing needles. Even when enticed with offers of sewing needles, there were some women who refused to come out of their homes to meet us, however. We have a lovely framed photograph from Victoria of several Akha Nuqui women that we believe was taken in this village.

Front of Akha Nuqui girl

Back of Ahka Nuqui girl at left with mother carrying bamboo and looking on

We visited a second Akha village on our way back, but it had started to rain, making the mud around the village very hard to walk through. The village was quite poor, and the people were anxious to get sewing needles and pencils. We were offered small stools to sit on and cold tea on the front porch of one house, while various men, women, and children would come to see us. The poorest villages also we gave each family a pound of salt.

We had intermittent rain during the day making the road even more muddy and slippery than it had been. The poor women and children walking home at the end of the day from working in the fields were obviously soaked and cold.

Akha Nuqui girl in second village in poor village

Finally we stopped in the first Akha village, but this time were mobbed by small kids anxious to get notebooks and pens.  We finally ran out of notebooks, but gave out soap and shampoo as well as ballpoint pens to those who missed out. We were reminded of the time in India when Aniesa and Jonathan were trying to give out pens from our train doorway and were mobbed. Obviously they had heard from villagers porting on their gifts received earlier in the day that they were on the lookout for us. It took Xia being the teacher that he used to be to get them to line up in 2 lines.

The scenery was lovely with fertile valleys with terraced rice fields and high lush forests. There continued to be some rubber and plantations. The butterflies in this area were abundant. 

It took several hours driving in the dark to finally get back to Phongsali, where we arrived some 13 hours after our morning departure. We went to bed after a quick dinner of bread, peanut butter and banana.