Ban Nam Lai, an Akha Village of 260, Luang Nam Tha National Park
The trek to this remote hamlet of Ban Nam Lai was rather unspectacular, as we were always walking under the thick canopy of the primary rain forest or other types of forest. This protected us from the scorching sun, but on the other hand there was no view for the entire seven hours we hiked. The trail was not particularly difficult, but quite a few parts were very steep and extremely slippery. This required all our concentration, because this was not the place to get injured.
But the worst part were the leeches! These creepy things crawl up on your legs and suck away on your blood. Heidi had a few small ones, but we both had large ones on our calves that created real wounds. It simply would not stop bleeding… Only after we applied thick bandages and pressure did the bleeding stop. When we removed the tape after five hours because it was cutting into the leg, the bleeding immediately started again!
To make it short, we would not recommend doing this trek, period. We should add that we did not do the seven hour hike the following day, because we stayed in the village in the morning for a wedding ceremony, the best part of this two day trip. Instead, we hiked two hours on a dirt path, without shade, that took us to the nearest road. After another 30 minutes walk on the road we reached a village, where our guide borrowed a scooter to organize our pick-up, since we had changed our route.
We reached Ban Nam Lai in the late afternoon and to our surprise found our accommodation to be half a kilometer outside the village, which felt rather uninviting.
Ban Nam Lai, an Akha Village of 260, Luang Nam Tha National Park
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