Akha Pala women meet bus in Pak Nam Noi

[The_Traveler]

If you see a picture of hillside tribes person and the costumes are bright and cheery and clean, the picture is either a setup for a photo op or the person is out to sell their wares.
Village life is rough and dirty and hard and what you see in day to day is reflects the scarcity of water in the high country and grueling nature of village life.
This is a bus stop in a small town in North Central Laos. It has a bus station because it is at a crossroads of several roads leading out radially into the hills and is on the only road between Udomxai and Muong Khua.
These are, I think, Akha Pala women (that's the closest I could get when comparing head wraps) who walk down from their village to meet the bus to sell to tourists. Akha are the sales people of SE Asia. Every where you go they are selling baubles and headbands and, I imagine, weed or opium if you ask.
The man with them is my traveling partner; at 6'1" he just towers over most hill people.