The trek was incredible. I liked it much better than the one we did in Thailand because we spent most of our time interacting with the local people. We hiked around the hills outside of Luang Prabang and stopped to visit Hmong, Khmu, and Laos villages. We got to go inside the people’s homes and eat with them. The first village we stopped in was a Khmu village, and the people were celebrating something. All the men were sitting around gambling and drinking whisky out of a pot through a long straw. The women were making food and the children were swinging and climbing all over the vines in the jungle. This truly gave new meaning to the term “jungle gym.” The villagers offered us whisky, but we enjoyed water and fresh pineapple instead. Our guide was hoping that we would also get some chicken, but they hadn’t sacrificed it to the Spirits yet.