Lao Chai Off The Beaten Path

Brown rice.. eheheheehahahhahaa
kidding! The rice paddies are engineered into stepped terraces, with little outlets for the water to trickle down onto the next one, until it reaches the bottom... it's amazing when the whole side of the mountain is covered with them!!

We were in awe of the local kids crossing this bridge: they walked on top of it as if the bamboos didn't roll as you stepped on them! It's not even that high, there is a small stream under it, but the bamboos kind of move as you step on them.. yeah, i know, city folks... heehhee

There's Mr. Hung leading the pack, followed by Mike and Ashley. Mr. Hung hooked us up with some bamboo sticks to be used as trekking poles (we had to return them on the way back to his friend). He was also courteous enough to offer us plastic boots, which i gladly borrowed, even though they weren't as comfortable as my good ol' sneakers!

Each day will bring you to a new place. You are surrounded by rice paddies, but they all do not look alike. Our morning looked pretty gloom, as we woke up and all we saw was... fog. But cheery Mr. Hung took us down the mountain nonetheless, and even though we couldn't see 10 feet in front of us, by the time we descended to almost half of the mountain, the thick fog rolled away lazily, unveiling in front of us, rice paddies everywhere!

It was a hide-and-seek game, as the fog would come and go as it pleased. I had to learn to be quick on my (shutter) trigger -- i missed some photos while i was fidgeting with my camera. It was great to walk in the fog, to find such awesome scenery at the bottom of the mountain!

As you trek through the mud (in our case), you will encounter lots of water buffalos and their poop. Lots of them. Lots of water buffalos. Lots of poop. But it's all organic!! ;)

It was so peaceful to watch this huge beast munch on the greens!!

There's the river at the bottom, where all this water trickles to slowly..

The mountain in the background is completely covered with rice paddies as well..