Peaks at Phouphakham

Journey north of Long Town to Phou Pha Kham Mountain, visit ethnic villages, climb to a ridge in search of animals or their tracks and have lunch on the trail, before hiking down the hill for the ride back to your guesthouse. This moderate-to-difficult one-day trek, led by a local guide, gets underway at the Long Tourism Office with a morning walk past Ban Chom Cheng to Ban Luang Pha Kham, a government designated Tai Lue “Cultural Village”. After a brief stop, you’ll walk over a suspension bridge and continue through rice paddies to Ban Lang Pha Mai to visit an Akha village. You’ll spend about an hour touring the community and learning about the day-to-day lives and distinct culture of these mountain dwellers. The trail continues through a cassava grove, and then climbs Phou Pha Kham in the shade of trees that are hundreds of years old. You’ll look for tracks and other signs of wildlife, and might even spot a monkey or antelope on the path, as it winds past massive boulders on the trek to the top. The ridge at the summit presents views of a river snaking through the Long River Valley on one side and a panorama of mountaintops that stretches to a distant ridge on the other. You’ll have a Lao-style forest picnic near the peak, before making an hour-long descent to visit a Tai Lue village, where a van greets you for a ride to a Lanten village on the way back to town.