Laos
Luang Namtha Province
March 2010 • Large chunks of Laos have been set aside for environmental protection, and Luang Namtha is the country's ecotourism petri dish. Lots of small businesses have sprouted up to cater to the needs of foreign adventurers, amid nagging signs of small-scale clearing and planting that show the government has a loose definition of the word "protected." Xai, owner of Namtha River Experience, invited me on a trail survey with some village and government leaders, then he and I did a 4-day, 400-km motorcycle tour of the entire province. A lot of the road had been recently cleared and smoothed over, but long stretches were still only rutted dirt, with water obstacles and blind spots. One day we collided with a couple of kids speeding downhill on a bicycle, all four of us landing hard on the road. The bicycle was pretzeled; our motorbike fared much better. The boys hid in the forest and wouldn't respond even when their village elders called out to them, so an impromptu council was held in the middle of the road to determine who was at fault for the collision. Xai did his best to tell our side of the story, but there was no way I'd be leaving that courtroom without an emptier pocket. Eighty bucks later, everyone rose from their squats, shook hands, and walked up (or down) that road to the rest of their life.
