Inle Lake has long been on the itinerary of adventurous travellers and those who quite rightly ignored the calls to stay away from Myanmar. Now of course, with a thaw in international relations, it is one of the country’s top 5 destinations and has quickly seen an increase in visitor numbers. As with all tourism this is of course good and bad but I’m not going to touch on those issues here. This is a primarily photo-blog after all.

As numbers on the lake increase, it’s a must for photographers to rise early – but then when hasn’t that been the key to better photography. As the British landscape photographer David Noton says, ‘the great thing about photography is that it forces you to be in the best place at the best time of day.’ On Inle Lake this is the crack of dawn when locals head to the market which moves from village to village on a 5 day cycle. Fortunately most tour groups prefer a leisurely breakfast and don’t get out and about until the best light has faded, leaving the markets free of the hoards during the early hours. It’s just me, the market traders…and other photographers ignoring my smile and morning greetings. But you know how most of them are…I must have interupted their Myanmar moment.

Inle Lake is ringed by mountains inhabited by several different hill tribe groups who come down to the markets to buy and sell. With their chequered headscarves, the beautiful Pa O girls are easy to identify and add flashes of colour to an already vibrant market scene.

It’s a curious thing but Westerners and others living in a media-merchandised world, who by their very nature are vocal about the rights of the individual and self-expression, are intrigued by the group identity and strong sense of community of hill tribes. Spend any time around ethnic minorities and it’s easy to feel that in our self-obsessed lives we have lost a great deal.

The markets are actually quite difficult to shoot as they a extremely busy and with a lot of contrast with people sitting half in shade and half in full sunlight. Nevertheless, there are opportunities for some good portraits. I’m already looking forward to a return visit.

In northern Laos, Luang Nam Tha and Oudomxai provinces are home to one of the country’s smaller minority groups, the Lanten. One Lanten lady told me there were 21 villages in the valleys of the north.   

I have a special affection for Lanten. They are a friendly group of people, although understandably a little camera shy. In every village I visited I was made to feel extremely welcome. Lanten are animist and I was fortunate to witness the third and final day of a spirit ceremony held for several men in the village who were sick with a fever – malaria, I assumed. This was followed by a feast to which I was invited to attend.

Closely related to the Mien, the Lanten came to Laos from southern China and Vietnam over one hundred years ago. Their language is similar to the Mien and their writing uses Chinese characters.

These days, most hilltribes wear very little traditional clothing on a day to day basis. Generally it is reserved for special occasions. The Lanten, however, are an exception. The women always wear dark indigo clothing decorated with white or pink tassels. They also wear white leggings wrapped from their knees to their ankle. When girls reach puberty they pluck their eyebrows and wear their hair up in a distinctive fashion.

Lanten are also one of the most skilled and productive of the hilltribes in Laos. The grow cotton, spin it, weave and dye it to make their own clothing. They also make saa paper from mulberry bark and are skilled silversmiths.

Houses are generally wooden with a thatch roof. Often many families will live in the same building.  Last year I was fortunate enough to watch a community rethatch one of the houses in a village in Luang Nam Tha, a process which takes place every three years or so.

The Lanten cultivate rice and vegetables, and although the men are skilled hunters their diet is predominantly one of rice and vegetables.

 You can see more images in the Laos gallery.

For adventurous travelers, one of the best ways to explore Laos is by motorcycle. For the past four years I’ve been taking a trip in November when the cool season arrives, and in February before it starts heating up again.

The country is home to deserted sealed roads winding through dramatic terrain and dense forests. It’s also covered with a network of red-dirt tracks leading to hill tribe villages in the mountains, and, thankfully, far off the backpacker trail.

Two of the main hill tribe areas are Luang Nam Tha and Muang Sing. Although there are dozens of different ethnic groups in Laos the most concentrated in this particular region are the Akha.  Subsistence farmers living in the highlands, the Akha are thought to have originated in Tibet, moving down through China, into Laos, Myanmar and Thailand a hundred or so years ago.

The Akha are a feisty and hardy bunch, far from shy and retiring like many hill tribes in Laos. There currently thought to be are 60,000 Akha in Laos, and unlike in neighbouring Thailand their culture and rich traditions have not been assaulted by rabid American Baptist missionaries. And long may it remain so. In more remote areas of Laos they are not particularly welcoming of outsiders and in fact are not that well liked by other ethnic groups.

Akha women wear distinctive head gear decorated with silver coins and hand woven tunics – although these days it tends to be a mixed of traditional clothing and western attire. Generally the Akha men wear western clothing. As subsistence farmers they plant mountain rice, grow vegetables to eat and sell in the markets, and hunt a variety of wildlife, again to eat and sell. Raised on low stilts, their houses are made from bamboo and timber and have a steeply pitched thatch roof.

The Akha in Laos are animist who believe in spirits. Entrances to villages are protected by totems and often a skinned dog with its mouth open to scare away evil spirits.

You can see more images in the Laos gallery.

If you are interested in motorcycling in Laos or Thailand, check out www.gt-rider.com, a super website managed by Australian expat, David Unkovich. Resident in Thailand for the last two decades, David is a motorcycle enthusiast who has mapped many trails in northern Thailand and Laos. The website is packed with information covering the ins and outs of motorcycle touring in both countries. Visitors to the site can find out where to hire bikes, check out itineraries for day rides or longer tours, look at a gallery of pictures, and contribute to the forum.