Fair Trade?

Our peaceful second day on the river has one alarming event.  We look up from our reading and chatting to see the young woman who is serving as stewardess at the helm of the boat and frantically waving and shouting for the captain.  Apparently, both csptsin and Kha are in the far back of the boat repairing the toilet, and she has been left in charge of steering.  She is quite nervous and some of us get nervous too when we seem to come awfully close to rocks and she is steering wildly.  She steers, then runs half way back shouting for the captain.  We are about to get up and go find him ourselves when he finally saunters forward and takes back the wheel.

It has concerned me all along that their are few life vests on board.  Almost all of them are ripped at the shoulders from sun damage.  Making sure the boat has good safety equipment, before boarding,  now seems like a good idea!

Our village stop today is to visit Khmu village.  A contingent of children wait on the sand to greet us.  The older girls shyly duck from the camera, but they are all delighted to see their pictures on the camera screen and I take and show many pictures. The oldest girl demonstrates that she can count to ten in English and we have fun counting and the kids repeating English words.

There is no offering of anything to sell and no begging.

The little boys are not shy and eager to get a look at their photo.  Then they giggle.

The kids lead us up the path to their hillside village.

The garden of lettuces is surrounded by a sturdy fence of split bamboo slats.

A lady is making thatch roofing panels, expertly tying each bamboo strip into place.

This colorful rooster struts around.  We have just learned from Kha that on a recent visit the villagers were preparing a wedding feast.  He was offered roast dog and whiskey.  He declined both, since a Buddhist may not eat dog or cat.

This little one has a runny nose, but the children and women in this village seem healthy and fairly prosperous.  

The village is much cleaner than the Hmong village yesterday.  The houses are well constructed and neat.

Again, their main product for trade is sticky rice.  Here it is drying in the sun.  Later it will be milled.

The Khmu also live by barter.  Pulled up along our boat is a tradesman' boat, loaded with clothes and other items the villagers may want to trade.  

One of our passengers visited a Khmu village 20 years ago.  At that time the people wore elaborate native clothing and hats.  Now they wear t-shirts and shorts for the boys.  

Kha encourages us to make donations for the village's new school.  He says the Nagi also trades books and pencils for the opportunity to bring in tourists.  Still, many of us wonder if this is a fair trade. Are the boats full of curious tourists a help to the village or an intrusion to their culture?  Some of the tour wish they had candy or pencils to give.  Would this be good or bad?  There is much to ponder about our cultural and economic gulf with the Khmu.

Our final stop are the sacred Pak Ou caves housing many Buddhas of all shapes and sizes.  

It is a steep climb up 300+ steps to the first cave.

 The caves are in deep darkness and we only have one flashlight.  Luckily my camera flash is adequate.

The lower caves offer some stunning views.  We meet a British group who are bike touring with Red Spokes company and heading to Luang Prabang from Chiang Rai.  They are loving the experience and I know Ben and I are both thinking that would be a great future adventure.

Our cruise is nearing the end and we are all in one piece.  Our hotel has called to say they will be waiting for us.  We have new currency to learn.  We have been practicing saying "thank you" in Lao - "cup-chai".   Almost time to say goodbye to our fellow cruisers and "sawbahdee" (hello) to Laos.