trekking in Luang Namtha

I got to Luang Namtha and started looking around for a company to trek with. I was hoping to do a 3 day trek at least and at the second office a group of american's walked in right after me. We decided to book a trek together to lower the cost. It ended up being under $70.- for 3 days and 2 nights. We met early the next morning and took a tuk tuk first to the market to pick up some lunch food and then into the hills to our trailhead. We started up the trail and were quickly engulfed in the jungle. The trails was good, but there are no signs to indicate where they might lead. After a few hours of walking with frequent rests we reached the first village where we spent the night with a local family. They cooked us an extravagant dinner over little firepots and we chased it with their homemade rice alcohol. The second day involved the most and steepest hiking. We visited a waterfall and solved riddles as we walked along, making for a very enjoyable day. Finally we reached the Akha village where we spend our second night. The greeting here was much warmer than in the previous village. Shortly after arriving we were sitting around a fire playing a game that involved singing an akha song and slapping each others hands. The dinner in this village was a simple banana flower soup with food (rice). We hiked out on the third day along streams and through rice fields back to where we started. I was one of the few members of the group who was spared any misfortune. Out of six trekkers one had to leave on the morning of the second day with bad knees and two members suffered prolonged bouts of diarrhea and vomiting. Despite this everyone deeply enjoyed the trip and was also happy to be back in a guest house. I am now still in Luang Namtha. i've met a couchsurfer from Germany who is showing me some of the better restaurants in town and hooking me up with volunteers from his program who live in other parts of Laos. I plan to take the bus to Oudom Xai tomorrow and rent a scooter there to check out the far North territory of Laos.