akha village near muang sing

From muang ngoi we headed up stream and then to the west until we hit the small town of muang sing.

From there we took a three day hike to two akha villages in the area. This tribe is notably different from others in Asia because of the equality of women (dating and having sexual relations with different guys is excepted and expected). For their beautiful silver headdresses (which are made from old French coins). They also chew on a strong nut (called beatlenut in English) that turns their mouths red and rots their teeth.

Here's the first village. It had a few pipes with running water in them and the men were really into the volleyball type game you play with your feet.

The second village was larger, and quite honestly not as nice. There was not water source (they had to walk 20 minutes to a stream). We saw a lot more drinking going on and fewer smiles.

These girls gave everyone in the hiking party a massage, something all of their woman learn to do as traditional healers. They were all ready for the singles party later that night. Some boys from a nearby village paid for some booze so they could come and choose which one of the girls they wanted to sleep with. A group of us went and checked it out. It was a bit like a high school kegger in the states, except the boys were much more drunk and there were a lot more people making out.

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