Mountain River Life

Nalae District has historically played the pivot point for transporting goods along the Nam Tha River, as it meanders 325 km from the Chinese frontier through the Namtha River Valley. Further south, rapids roughen the river as it flows down the mountains towards the Mekong and Thailand’s Chiang Rai. Today, Nalae Town, roughly halfway on the Nam Tha’s Lao journey, plays an import role in distributing goods and providing communication to smaller villages of ethnic Khmu and Tai Lue on the river’s banks. Many of these communities settled along the Nam Tha more than 100 years ago, and their lives continue to rely on the river, with fish as their staple food and a source of income.Villagers are also skilled weavers and handicraft makers, churning out traditional clothing, cotton fabric, a variety of baskets and bamboo containers, furniture and other wood products, farming tools, and many household products used in everyday life. Village visits open the door to a firsthand experience of how the friendly and hospitable local people weave, catch fish, make fish traps, and prepare local dishes. Some of these villages offer overnight home-stays or accommodation in a community lodge. You can book guided river tours at the newly built Nalae Visitor Information Center. They’ll put you in a motorized wooden long-tail boat and steer you between walls of forested mountains to hillside villages along the Nam Tha’s shores. The Visitor Information Center also offers treks that similarly benefit the local economy and contribute to protecting the environment.