Remote village in laos high above the clouds the people here speak their own language. Time seems almost to have stood still. We need a family that is holding fast to the old traditions while also making small steps out into the wider world. Today is a special day a photographer has come to the village. Well i go all the way with. The father how can you has wanted a family photo like this for a long time. He wants to put it in a golden frame and hang it up at home. On. His youngest son is only rarely here now hes been living on his own since he was 11 when he moved to a town in the valley to attend school. The girls of the family will probably spend their lives here on the mountain like their older brothers. The family have penned their hopes and can launch the youngest son as their best hope for a different and easier life for the younger generation. For the women of the family the day begins with starting a fire cooking and feeding the pigs. You. Yeah. Yeah yeah youre gonna look at them on a saturday. Now how clinics are clashing sometimes they sell a pig to a neighbor to bring in a bit of money. That goes to help support the youngest son. Apart from that the family are subsistence farmers. One of the neighbors pigs has snuck into their yard. So. Has plenty of time to relax. His wife your choice has chores that keep her busy from dawn to dusk. And. Among the arc up people of the mountains of laos fetching wood is womens work. For the women of the family walking without carrying a heavy load on their back is too leisurely so they spin cotton along the way. In the past aka women were not supposed to wear shoes and your choice still prefers it this way who never told. Her. It was hard slog i went to school until 3 then my father died and i had to work with my mother. I had to do all the mens work such as chopping down big trees. I built myself a letter out of branches so i could reach them i worked very hard as hard as i possibly could and we still didnt have enough rice to last the family the entire year. Long after my mother died i married my husband hes rather old but he said that if i married him he would take care of me and my younger sister. Hes 12 years older than me. He now. You troys is 59 years old. Ok way. To mourn me. I have my 1st daughter when i was 23 my 2nd when i was 24 and my 3rd 25. After that i had a child every year 15 pregnancies in all. Because i had so many children i looked much older than my age almost like you knew i had to work very hard because i didnt want my children to go hungry. While in la. You might. You know your. Current want more. In. The long. Run than a hard on. Her. And her. And. Her. Her. Head it worth. It for me. To complete her. One of her daughters in law has stayed home to cook a midday meal for the family. Gets me to do it with love i got a way to go or i could probably. Do it. And then left my one mind. For my head on a close. All the most of that to look up to 6 times. Oh i go there every meal includes vegetables and rice breakfast lunch and dinner sometimes there are eggs and rarely some meat. Allowed in family eat in the kitchen. The parents and the oldest son said it one table. Impossible to only help a little bit for pot and the other son the daughters in law and the grandchildren sit at the other. 12 people live in this house and all. That. Much of life is governed by custom and tradition from the seating arrangements of meals to the womens dress to the work they do their daily routine and the festivals. Of the future. How can keeps a close eye on things. Hes a member of the Village Council of elders and a former village chief. And although no one says so directly hes also the shah men. Any woman this is a fortune telling. Yet not if someone is old and very sick then i can know that they hope that death by looking at this. May head. Find that i can make these predictions but it would not be good for me to tell someone else that bad luck is coming their way they would be. Out with a. New. Neighbor comes to fetch him the child is sick with a high fever and the family says the boy was frightened in the forest and his soul left him. Now the spirits are trying to lay claim to him they want the shame and to prevent this. Instead of entering the child the spirits will be lured into a doll made of paper gold tobacco and rice will entice the evil spirits. In the last good food. The soul of the baby chick is supposed to enter the child. The chick is also sacrificed to the evil spirits. When you get. Him. Down there to have you. On your might you have thought oh my god you know you i now do with all the day. I was doing. It. To get. The evil spirits are now inside the paper dog the shaman is removing her from the village. Because the sword will ensure that they remain banished from the village that afternoon the fever is gone and the child feels better he took a pill a fever reducing medication but as far as the villages are concerned thats an irrelevancy. More than 30 years ago pal can pick this hilltop as the location for the village pelion sung by. 3 sacred trees marked the spot. That. Were not allowed to cut these trees. Even the tiniest cut is forbidden no one can cut any of these trees and if you cut there youre also cutting here. The trees are sacred. If someone cuts them somebody in the village will get sick. Or tigers will come from the forest to eat or kill our animals. Theres no electricity Running Water roads or neighbors. The arca have maintained their traditions over centuries c c. But how can also experience the different way of life when he served in the military. Who say so i thought in the vietnam war for this country and for the people of laos for 16 years. My fault for the night before to liberate the country in the people being on my home i was a soldier fighting our enemies. When i was in the Locker Company shut down 6 airplanes. Over there behind the hamilton thats where i was when the planes arrived i thought. My who we are not. This is. I fought harder than anyone in the province. Want to. Quit if i hadnt returned to the village. Id be a Government Official by now was i me. None. Pucking 2nd son has just become a father again its his 5th child he lives next door. So sad. Because it did your wife give birth already. Knows how much how long is the baby crying a lot like a car is she in the baby a well. Thats a different way they. Also. Must learn after the harvest the rice needs to dry under the sun every day at night its put back into the sacks. When the women work the men take care of the youngest children. Room. C 9 women moved to their husbands village when they married. They began wearing the traditional dress and start adding to its decoration. Thats just. Your choice had to sew each of our 3 daughters in law a full costume. That showed all right. Good night now that you did. They do what. I did. My mother in law is old so she doesnt want to wear bright colors like us she doesnt want to outshine her daughters in law. Then youre going to be. Offended that we cant take off the headdress even when we go to sleep. To lead them at that and we cant comb our hair or wash it when we want to only on certain days moving out back on. The most forbidden day is the birthday of our parents and our parents in law. That would mean they wished for their deaths. In 100 women have a lot of work i cant even listed all. Had we go to the rice fields cut firewood carry water do the washing. Feed all the animals. Theres no set bedtime who just go to bed when we finished all our work. That also includes their highly skilled production of textiles. They make dyes for their clothing out of wild indigo plants and slike to live on. During the day one of the women is always at the wooden machine to separate the cotton from it seems then comes the spinning weaving and dying every family in the village produces their own clothes and. Often we cant find the white limes so we have to buy from someone else and we make our clothing out of cotton fabric the fabrics have to be hung to dry for more than 12 months before we can make clothing out of them but did you like. Them she should have been a. Shade and her husband have 5 children. The youngest is 2 the oldest 10. I cant remember the 1st time i went to have billets. Until i married when i was 22 years old. She was 21. Then i 1st met her at the new year. But we shouldnt talk about such things. When our parents are around its not good to talk about things like this. Its embarrassing. Even sitting next to each other in front of the parents is considered unseemly. Theyve been living in this house as a married couple for 11 years. Now king and you choi 2 of their sons their wives and 6 grandchildren live in this house. Make up. We are the parents. We can sleep in the same room but others have to be in separate rooms nor know how many. And then it could be. My 1st daughter in law sleeps over there. Separate from my son this is the room of our 1st sons wife she sleeps beside the kitchen. Those who put in the 2nd son doesnt live here anymore. The 3rd son his wife sleeps here and he sleeps over there. You have. To pick on him no daughter in law may sleep on this site is not allowed to hang up. How king has sent his sons out to look for a location for a new rice field. After 3 years the soil is depleted. Then the old rice field is abandoned and forest is cleared for a new one. The men also have a task to do when they head out on a longer mission. They hunt for wild animals and birds. Their brother in law was accidentally shot while he was out hunting. They found a spot for the new rice field how can told them they need to start clearing the ground straight away. Not give you what day is it today and now that i know today is the day of the pig which is a good day and thats why we need to start clearing now we want to start on a good. Omen that there will come back in about 2 or 3 days time to start clearing properly. It was. It will take 20 days to finish clearing this field homu of many millions here and. Until i dont think its enough time you know. Theyll clear all the way to the crest of the hill as soon as the rice is growing well they will conduct a sacrifice to the spirits. Of all but when the rice plants have grown to about 50 centimeters we slaughter 4 chickens for the ceremony one will have to be a white chicken chicken is to feed the spirits in this area the 2nd chicken is for the heart in the field the chicken is for all the animals around the field and the 4th for all the plants in the trees. They all need horses and cows to bring the harvest in later in the year being. This year our rice field will be closer to the village last year was over there this year its here but this years harvest brought us more than 100. 00 bags of rice but it takes around one to 2 hours to get them up there. By you know. 8. Before they head home the brothers put markers down. That way the other villagers will know that their family is now farming this section of land. The familys youngest son 18 year old ken lawn has come for a visit. He brought with them some t. Shirts jackets and trousers which people from the town of gave him who want. To celebrate the visit the women are making a large meal out today they were in the kitchen. Only in that. Job but they will say the war took the mobile phones away and they had a flat tire on the way you look once you reach park song village i bought a new one from an old man im trying to put have no courage so i had to change myself yes. But he has a bit to end if youre the only one of. His best childhood friend has come over him and. He wants the same haircut. Kenalog is one of only 3 boys who left the village of 300. 00 residents to continue their studies after finishing primary school. Its based on low base and we would like him to go to university but we dont have money for that hell finish high school this year oh many here i dont want him to come home i want him to work for the government you want to head to head i used to work for the government but i gave that up to come back to the village me to be so i want my young son to continue what i began. Who knows who care any. Less any any. Money i used to be in love with a girl from the uk but no any more than they love you but you and i live in forms of it well there are many different ethnic groups. You need to i know im not just limited to be are you doing any and you post like the enable of a nato. And. I dont want america girl im mainly in films only and the women have beautiful their. Penis in town then he can choose whether to follow our culture or not thats fine for him but not for us for us older ones we cant stop anything according to our tradition that. To be in the future if my parents instead of our own invite him to live in time with me ill take care of them once i have a job and earn some money and they know they have years and. No need for cobol contusion i dont know what ill think they will move to turn over syria but im not sure of my brothers will go to it by now it will be and im going to before i knew know what. The question of who might want to move away is a hot topic in the village. Every 3 months a medical student visits the village to carry out vaccinations and to distribute vitamin a and medications against worms. The village is remote far from any hospital or doctor that. When someone is seriously ill and the path is impassable due to heavy rain theres no way to get medical help. Thats why the village chief wants to have the village relocated further down the mountainside. They would have access to a paved road as well as electricity and Running Water. 30 families live in the village not all of them want to move some because they dont have the money. Others because they fear that they will lose touch with their culture and traditions. And the name calling on. The governor said there is really chief accountant who leaves the village we have to move together. If it will move on my own i would have done that already at. All and could know not me if they want to move by we have enough to stay here if they go theyll go but well stay home i have a chief isnt here anymore we just keep living here and. They hold fast to their traditions the ceremonies the sacrifices of animals to ward off bad luck and their relationship to the spirits and to their ancestors. Going to go to. The biggest taboo in our culture is one that they are not permitted to mention within the confines of the village. It is. Its a topic that the older people always told us we shouldnt talk about at the level of only the elders can talk about it. Well you who when there are pregnant women in the house they must never hear anything about this topic we have it so terrible i mean people hate is as much as war made it through the new pope paul wanted to cali its always been this way. If you give birth to twins the family cant stay in the village. And they cant move to another village either. You know they know you but i wasnt in the old village had twins once and we took them away and carried out all the ceremony so he. Might one day more the parents who give birth to twins have to build a small hut in the forest next to a small stream and. Even when we bring them food we cant look at or talk to them so we just say here is food for you. Were not allowed to say anything about their family when we bring them food. We talk as though we were talking to ourselves and to the trainees. Not going up. Almost trying to talk to us were not allowed to respond. Oh you know well talk to you thats what we believe. About no we mustnt talk about this topic in the village its forbidden. We cant raise twins even if someone wanted to force us to. Thats our culture. Of the along that they be. For years ago you know Government Officials came to not post sun village. They came to ask if we could change. But even if the government requests this of us we cant change this morning we cant race twins we have to respect our traditional culture. If. People are never allowed to step across the river where they buried the twins their own mobile did last a cooma life move. Not get an idea. For the parents of twins are permitted to return to the village after they have killed their newborn twins. Their home is burned out of everything it contains how much for an entire year no one is permitted to speak to the couple. People believe that only animals can give birth to more than one baby at a time. When a woman gives birth to twins an evil spirit must be at work. Today. Or. Your choice cousin has died. A member of the family must attend the funeral which is being held in a village on a nearby hill located partway to town. The boy who was king mum the youngest son is leaving. He wont visit again for a month. The funeral ceremony began a week ago. The figure on the horse represents the deceased. On the 2nd horse some of his belongings will accompany him on his final journey. The deceased rides into the forest where he will be buried at night. The shaman must kill the water buffalo with a single stab of the spear as part of the ritual sacrifice. To make sure the family continues to prosper the head of the buffalo must be noisily brought to the roof. The. More prosperous the deceased the longer the funeral ceremony lasts and the more animals that are sacrificed. The. Cut. Glass. On. The the. Whole fit when i die i will have 2 horses to ride. And about 6 or 7 cattle will be slow to the sure but the about midnight so go here at me ive done so much and i work for the government. But so is my funeral isnt the biggest i wont rest well today. I want my funeral to be the biggest holiday yet maybe if a call would you know. Was. Still has a 3 hour drive ahead of him. He has to go into the valley and cross the lake in order to reach town. Hall. Peaking. Its a journey into another world a world hes been living in for 7 years now in which he hopes to make his future. King mum has some rice in his bags. To. Her. Every morning the residents of funk sally are woken by a news broadcast through the loudspeaker courtesy of the socialist government here. Ken lum remembers how coming to live here on his own at age 11 was a bit frightening but also exciting. Back then he found a grandmother an elderly woman without any family in town. She cooked for him sometimes and let him watch t. V. He only comes to the market hall to shop on special occasions he cant afford most of what sold here. He has the rice he brought from home and cooks meals for himself in his room in 6 months will finish his High School Degree oh. God saying ill do my best to get a high score on the leaving that day so that i can go to university to be hands on this i see that he says a full on. Only the top 3 in his class will get a scholarship. 37 students are competing for young mum doesnt want to disappoint his father a fine. Young. Man my dream is to study something about i t a he and yet but it might be become a Police Officer you have been but my father doesnt really should pull those ideas and only my own dog shit but you know theres a point in the end to my financial situation will determine whether i can go to university or note we dont have the money for it. To him though and. He cant imagine returning to the village. After 7 years in town hes left behind the customs and traditions of the village high above the clouds. Can long gets up early every morning to exercise. The kind of university t