Have i mentioned how much i love traveling in the back of the ute? after stocking up on food supplies at the market, we embarked on our journey to the homestay. I don't remember the name or place, nor how long we were on the road for, because we had a flat tyre, but it was fun watching mostly empty countryside whiz pass and to feel the wind in our faces.
First we had to stop at the police station so Mr Shampoo can show his tour guide licence and pay 5% of our $25 p.p. fee to the village. Another 5% went somewhere I can't remember, and we also paid 20,000 kip each to our host family.
The village looked rather spartan, but very clean; I don't recall seeing chickens and pigs running around, quite unlike the mountain villages of Sapa, Vietnam. We were welcomed into the ground floor of a spacious home, with a few mats over the bare concrete floor and a calender on the wall. Children crowded the door way and all the windows to watch us, as the homestay tour is new and so are falangs :) It was a little bit unnerving to have people watch our every move, but I guess that's what we do to the locals all the time (and take photos, no less :P)
our hostess prepared lunch from the ingredients we bought, and steamed the stick rice as well
we had sausages, vegies, very hot chilli paste, a greenish paste, and ferns cooked and uncooked!
we ate mostly with our hands...it was a lot easier to dip the ball of sticky rice in the paste, rather than scoop up vegetables with the rice! luckily we were given a plate and chopsticks as well, so i didn't make a mess
close up of the fern fronds - surprisingly tender and very delicious
an army of kids greeted us when we came out of our home for the night; like all kids they were full of energy, smiles and curiosity. They loved to pose for us, and to see what they look like on the camera screen. We must have spent half an hour just playing with the kids.
at the corner store - being watched by kids as we buy a drink
this place was just beautiful, and seemingly undisturbed by the village nearby
first we had lessons in catching fish with a round, weighted net! Mr Shampoo demonstrated how to fold the nets and took us through it step by step...I got it after a few tries, so did everyone else, but none of us could throw the net very far! Mr S on the other hand was a pro, which he demonstrated by throwing the net over one of us! very awesome aim Mr S!
The men that accompanied us to the river then took us to a little pond, and proceed to catch fish for dinner. The villagers rely on farming for income, and they fish after their day in the field, to supplement their diet.
they had more luck here, but the fish were tiny!
Then we went tubing; the water was shallow but the current was really strong, so I didn't like this place as much as the Nam Khan. The kids were staring at our tubes with undisguised interest, so we let them have the tubes and they had an absolute ball.
All of a sudden they started running up the bank with the tubes, pulling their clothes on at the same time; turns out someone had told them to all go home and carry our tubes while they are at it! lol. Really good kids.
no running water in this village! this is how people get their water, two buckets at a time!
on our way back we passed a garden and the ladies in there called out to us, so we went in and helped them water their crop with big metal watering cans...:)
Cooking class with Mr S and our host family - the ladies cleaned the fish while we chopped vegies and prepared the catfish we bought for the highlight of the meal - catfish steamed in banana leaves. First we lightly singed a banana leaf, so it's not as likely to tear, then we placed pieces of spiced catfish on the leaf, and folded it up to make a little parcel. The parcels were then placed in a wicker basket and steamed in a round black pot.
As evening fell the big and colourful Tokay geckos started calling, and man I really miss that sound (wiki it, there's a sound file).
Here's our massive dinner: fish paste, banana flowers, stir-fries, soup of bamboo shoots, and catfish, which was absolutely delicious. The villagers were stoked with the free beer and drank round after round. What they do here is - the first person drinks his/her drink, passes the glass back to the host, the host then serve the second person, etc. Putting aside communal usage of a single glass, this way of drinking prevents people from drinking too much and too fast! If you know me then you'd know I love drinking, and one lady really loved to drink with me, probably coz I was the only woman falang who drank; even after I said I was full, she still gave me a half-glass. Anyway, it was all good fun.
Then I heard really loud buzzing and thought that I'd finally drunk myself silly, then I saw the kids come in with a cicada each. Mr S took one and ripped one of its wings (at the base I assume as the wings were intact) so it couldn't fly away, and we all screamed to the delight of the villagers.
These are snacks which they will have later! the villagers took turns putting the cicadas on their heads/noses etc. It was a bit off-putting, the idea of playing with your food, but then who am I to judge?
a very pretty girl :)
evidence of our magnetic appeal - as we lay comatose after dinner, villagers not only continued to watch us from the windows until we'd passed out, some even pulled up a chair to watch us in comfort LOL!
Light slanting through the ceiling - so much more beautiful in real life
Bram, whom we'd met for the first time yesterday, started whispering to me about funny stuff like having three brothers and no female friends. Then he said something about 'pillow fight'. There was silence...then the sound of Jen whacking Taran with a pillow - so began a pillow fight and what was most definitely the best night of Bram's sad little life hahaha. And that was my first real introduction to Bram, the devious person I somehow ended up traveling with for a month :)
During my time there, USD$1 = ~ 8,500 Laos Kip
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