in the apatu mountains, laos, february '09

perched near the peak of the mountain, we stopped to take in some fresh air and decide where to eat and sleep.  the air was cool and misty. it was about 5 in the evening and girls were washing their long hair on the street, using drums filled by hose with cold water.  this house looked grand in a tiny town where the main economic activity seemed to be making grass brooms. the mountains were so steep there seemed to be nowhere to grow food or raise stock.  chickens and pigs roamed the street and steep mud tracks led to plantations of pineapples and tea in impossibly hard to reach terraces on the mountain.