Tiger "Tales"

First thing after breakfast yesterday we rented some 125 cc Suzuki gas powered mopeds and hit the pavement. The first place we stopped was a small town just outside of Luang Namtha.

The roads off of highway 3A were all bumpy, dirty, dustbowls, but one specific road had a parade of colorful umbrellas so we followed it. The umbrellas were protecting students from the sun on their way to school. Most walked or rode on bicycles... I saw only one student with a gas powered moped.

The high school was a structure of no more than three or four rooms built on stilts. Most buildings that are not made of concrete are built on stilts. (Most buildings are not made of concrete). The primary school was on an adjacent corner. It was just a concrete shell with no visible sources of electricity running towards it. Dirty, I mean really filthy, children were playing in the small schoolyard.

At lunch we met two guys who ran tourist trekking companies in town. Being good entrepenuers, they invited us over for a drink. We started talking and the topic of tigers came up. The man closest to me told me this story: "When I was a young child I was walking my water buffalo through the jungle with my brother and my aunt. We had two buffalo. Suddenly a tiger attacked the lead water buffalo mortally injuring it. My aunt tried to protect the second buffalo, but the tiger started attacking her. My older brother was very brave, and we had a rifle, so he shot at the tiger. Then he pulled out a machete and hit it three times. The tiger ran away. My aunt lived but the tribal doctor needed to amputate her leg."

The other man told this story: "When I was very young a hunter in my village killed a tiger with some other men from his family. That night we had a huge celebration and everyone ate some of the tiger."

These may be tall tales but think about this before you write them off.... The second man's village is only accessable by a four hour bus ride (from a capital city where there are more bamboo buildings than concrete ones) followed by a four hour trek into the deep jungle. Laos is craaaazy.
C. Johnson