How to behave on a trekking/hiking tour in Laos

 

a short guideline for hikers and visitors who do a trekking in Laos

 

As you take part in a project trekking tour in Laos please inform yourself about the trekking area, the region you visit and the customs in the villages. Try to learn more about the area and the project you visit. Please ask our Fair Trek head office in Luang Prabang, your operator, seller and your guides for more information before and while on tour. The more you know the more you will enjoy your stay here in Laos.

 

While in Laos please do not bathe in streams and waterfalls using chemical soaps and shampoos Many hill tribe villagers used to be able to eat small fish, frogs and insects from now-polluted streams in remote areas in Laos. Still rivers provide many different kinds of food for the local people. Even if locals do not use ecological soap, you can do better. Bring biological things for a trek from home.

 

Please do not throw away
waste or rubbish into Lao countryside
even though local people tend to do that as they don't know better. Set a good example. Bring back what you have brought in. Encourage your guide to follow your example if you see him throwing things away. The awareness for ecological behavior is not usual even with local guides...

Buy local products
In some villages people have taken an effort to earn some extra money from visitors. As population is growing, rice fields get less fertile villagers need a sperate income. We try to encourage villagers to stick to their artistic knowledge, their weaving history or their culture. If you buy a small bag, a bamboo flute or even just a piece of embroidery you help the villagers to understand that their tradition is worth something. Also you have something unique to take home for your friends.

 

Do not buy and/or smoke opium/marijuana
from villagers and guides. This could be big money for the guides or villagers, with sad consequences for the villages! Many of which do not even grow their own opium/marijuana could think to make a good business with tourists. On the other hand all official sides hope to stop growing opium. Please respect!
Also village children see foreigners smoking and think they can do the same every day, and still go to college and make lots of money just like the tourists do. This is not true and a danger for these people! Please do not use drugs in Laos!

 

Do not give candy to children or money for pictures
We offer opportunities to find good presents and gifts but in fact, nothing should be exchanged directly between tourists and villagers! A village in Laos is a very communal place, and what belongs to one belongs sometimes to more people. Jealousy and hate between villagers can arise because one family or person received something from a tourist and another did not. - we do give a per person payment to the villagers (village fund) and to the places where we stay. Also there are ways how people can earn from your visit in a normal way. Buying handicraft, food and such things. Useful things for schools can be handed out through your guide. You may buy these things before you go on the trek in Laos - available in Luang Prabang.

Respect the peoples privacy
and do not disturb villagers in their houses unless you are invited or your guide asked for permission.

Jealousy, believe it or not, is a major contributor to the drop in population in villages visited by tourists. The ones driven away are actually the lucky ones though, as they wind up in a neighboring village that is closed to tourists.

 

Please follow the instructions of the guides
For example when bad weather is coming up or other dangers are foreseen by your guide. They have been living in the trekking areas and learned how to understand the areas and signs of Lao nature. Try to follow the time frame the guide will give you, even if you do not understand.

 

Accept/tolerate
the sometimes very basic living standards that you also will have to share. Basic toilets, mud, rain, no shower, minimum amount of water... Trekking in Laos means also stepping out of your comfort zone, let it happen and don't complain if something just not goes the way YOU expected it! One thing you need to remember: Laos is different and that's why you are here.

 

Ask questions about Laos
to your guides and help them to understand you as an interested traveler. Even our guides work with tourists a long time, they might not know what you are interested in. Remember that also guides do not know everything as most of them have not been able to study as most westerners.