Being a fiercely independent traveller I decided to find a hill tribe village on www.fallingrain.com and go there. I chose a village that way because I wanted somewhere that no one had been to.
Please note that I have done this in a number of countries and have met nothing but hospitality and kindness. Well, not in this village.
When I got there I was surrounded by aggressive men all yelling in their language that wasn’t even Laotian! I could pick up a sense of hatred in the tone in their voices and I felt that if I didn’t make a hasty retreat I was going to get my head kicked in. I didn’t take pictures, didn’t touch any spirit objects, didn’t walk through a spirit gate or commit any faux pas. So what do you think went wrong? If I had a guide, would it have been a different experience?
Also I heard that a backpacker went missing in the Xieng Kok district a couple of years ago. What was the result of the inquiry that was held over his disappearance? Is it possible that he went into a similar village and came across a similar group of villagers, got attacked, murdered and buried somewhere never to be found?
By the way, the grid reference for the village that I went to is N 20 55’ 22.6”
E 100 36’41.6’’.
Hehehe, some nice light relief... what's the world coming to when you can't even rely on a savage?!
Can we watch this on the comedy channel a bit later?
Why should a villager roll out the kindness carpet?
Your a threat, get a guide you bonehead, introductions are needed, and the guidebooks all say this.
Maybe when a stranger in a native dress walks into your backyard, while your children are there, you wont care either....
DUH!
Hmm. I met some French guys who were doing the same kind of thing near Xieng Kok, just finding tracks and following them until they came to Akha villages, and hoping that they would be welcome. They seemed to be having fun, and it was hard not to admire their spirit - but it really isn't the right way to visit a place. By the way, did you just stroll into the village itself? In isolated and remote places anywhere in SEAsia, when visiting traditional villages, I've found it works better to hang around OUTSIDE the village, and wait until people come and ask you in. We are used to the idea that there are only two kinds of space: public space, open to anyone, and private space, owned by an individual or nuclear family - but in traditional villages, you get this thing where there's communal space - space that belongs to everyone in the village, but not to strangers. In Sumba, in Indonesia, for example, walking into a village in the hills without an invitation would be like walking onto someone's porch, pulling up a chair and sitting down. If a local from somewhere else did it, they would get their head kicked in - as a foreigner, you'd probably just get a barrage of scorn and abuse.
Next time, take a guide.
How do you know whether you committed any 'faux pas' or not unless you're an expert on Lao culture and hilltribes? Maybe you did do something that offended them but just don't know what it was!
Yes, Ryan Chicovsky went missing from the Xieng Kok area since the spring of 2006 [and not since March 2007 as posted in the FBI's website] BUT that doesn't necessarily mean that he ran afoul of local villagers as your posting implies.
The OP really did get what they deserved. Why do you think this is acceptable behaviour in Laos? What were you thinking? Get a guide, speak the language or keep away. Simple innit?
<blockquote>Quote
<hr>So what do you think went wrong? If I had a guide, would it have been a different experience?<hr></blockquote>
Actually, it probably wouldn't have made a difference with a guide or not. You must have been way off the beaten path.
Your story is curious because it is the same story that is told in the new book
A History of the Ho Chi Minh Trail: The Road to Freedom
The authors WALKED down the old Ho Chi Minh Trail on the Lao side of the border from somewhere to the west of Vinh. It turned out to be a super difficult trip even with a superb guide from Vientiane. They also encountered hostility in quite a number of the villages, and like you, they also speculated about the causes. Sometimes, they felt that they must have upset something in a spiritual way in the animist villages, but other times, they felt that they were dealing with villagers who seemed to think that it was still the bad old days in the 1970s or so, as if any and all foreigners were spies. Even some Army officers were hostile sometimes. Their biggest surprise however was that very often, their Vientiane based guide, who spoke only lowland Lao, was not able to converse with the villagers that were encountered in the mountains in southern Laos.
So why the hostility? Anyone else have any speculation about it? Perhaps you walked in on a smuggling deal?
For interested readers, some new pictures from the mountains in southern Laos are on
Click here
Nong Fa Lake is in the same general area. See a quick review on
Click here
<blockquote>Quote
<hr>I didn’t take pictures, didn’t touch any spirit objects, didn’t walk through a spirit gate or commit any faux pas.<hr></blockquote>
What ethnic group was it? & why would you expect them to be able to speak Lao?
There may have been 'no entry warning signs' hanging overhead at the entrance &/or affixed to trees/'cow gates'/other structures along the paths leading to the village...made from bamboo strips, wood, or something that looks like 'cotton puff' from a type of tree, etc...that most outsiders wouldn't even notice, let alone recognise & understand their meaning. Some ethnic groups seal off the entire village for a few days when there has been a 'bad death'. Some have paths that are used only for carrying out dead bodies for burial & the living must perform certain rites as they return along that path to prevent spirits from following them back in. Some have certain trees/plants that must not be touched at all.
Or simply because the last foreigner who stepped into that village did a great job of offending everyone.
Get a guide - ideally a knowledgeable one from the same ethnic group, or at least familiar with the ones that you will visit.
trusted partner
