Good evening!
It's 8:19pm and as I write Martin and I have just got tucked up on the floor in the living room of our homestay in Muang Soune village, Laos! This has certainly been an experience and one that has been an eye opener for both of us! Martin is off to sleep as I start to try and put into words some of the things we have seen and done today.
The day began with some Tom and Tara time as I woke up early having had a great night sleep! It was a lovely surprise too because when I text Tara it was 2am in England but for some reason she woke up! It was really good to have a long conversation with her on what is our 1 month official anniversary! When something is so special you are allowed to recognise small milestones... I've just decided :)
After a lovely breakfast in our guesthouse we made our way up the street to meet a lady and her father who have brought us to their family home. I actually don't know their names, which I know is really bad!!
The journey out of Luang Prabang took around 1 hour and on the way we stopped at a local, very local, market! Here we needed to buy the food for the next few meals we were going to eat and it reminded me of a similar thing Tara had written about her time in Thailand. The market was empty and we were the only customers to rows of women and children selling fruit, veg and most other things you can think of! The floor was the natural earth and it wasn't in any way clean, but it was when we got to the meat section things really hit home! A pig's head was our welcome, followed by a few hooves and the odd pile of hearts/guts! There were flies all over the meat and the plastic bag tied to a stick that was being waved over it all simply didn't cut the mustard in terms of a fly deterrent!
The lady gave us some pork and then proceeded to chop up any bones she could find. I am told this is used to make some kind of soup but I'm not convinced any of the meat/bones should be used to make anything for human consumption! Anyway, after lunch and dinner we are still alive and our bowels seem to be in tact for now!
On our way out of the market Martin and I decided to buy 2 boxes of pens so we could give them to the children at the local school. We got 100 pens and have given half out so far, more about that later!
After the market we made our way north east into the Laos countryside. We were sat in the back of a small truck and we enjoyed the views and chat with our host along the way. Eventually we got to the river and got into a small thin boat to get across to the other side. Here we were met by our hosts uncle who had a cart attached to a engine on some wheels! It was a kind of stripped down tractor but did the job in getting us and our stuff through the village to their house!
In Muang Soune village there are roughly 250 people who all seem to work in the rice fields to survive. There are a mixture of concrete houses and natural resource houses and there is no road/pavement. We really are in the sticks where people live together, work together and all help each other! The house we are in has 5 rooms and an outside cooking/eating area. There is a kitchen with a fridge in and a wood fed fire for cooking, a bathroom/toilet, a storage room, a bedroom and then the large living/lounge area. Everything is made of concrete or wood. Martin has just woken up and said, "Mate it's ****** boiling!" I have to agree and as we are inside now there is no breeze/fan and air con is a distant dream!
After slowly adjusting to our new surroundings and coming to terms with the fact we were living here for a night we went for a walk around the village with our host. There didn't seem to be anyone around apart from lots of children. We were told this was because the parents were at work in the fields or on the mountain! The eldest child is in charge and the children are left on their own with the village elders! In one case we learnt about this meant a six year old looking after a two and a half year old! Absolutely crazy! The children weren't at school because it's the summer holidays so we gave our pens out to the children around the village. Some accepted, some stared, some ran away! One little girl made us laugh as she kept all three pens we had given to her instead of sharing with her siblings!
When we got back to the house we had lunch. The best part of this was the spring rolls and I didn't fancy trying the soup that still had a fish head in it!
In the afternoon it was time to head out of the village to the rice fields. The scenery was breathtaking and as people worked the fields we enjoyed walking between the fields trying our best not to slip and fall into the pools of mud!
The more we walked the more spectacular the views became and the more mud we got on our flip flops and us! However, it was when we looked up to the sky that we realised things were about to get worse! It was amazing to watch the almighty force of the rain come straight towards us but it was at this point we made a dash for a bamboo hut and I managed to stand on a thorn! It went right into the heal of my foot and bloody kills!
Watching the rain from the bamboo hut was great! We were sat with our host and a beautiful local girl that both Martin and I were baffled to see working in a rice field! As the rain came down we both lay down and fell asleep! We don't know how long we were asleep for but when we woke up the sky was clear and it was back to being a lovely afternoon! The walk home was testing, hilarious and above all bloody muddy! The mud made it almost impossible to walk in flip flops so we ended up wading through mud all the way home! This wasn't ideal because of the thorn that had gone into my foot but I didn't really have much option!
When we got home we had a short rest before our final activity, fishing! We took the small thin boat with our host, her father and her uncle. We sailed up river a little way before finding a small route through the reeds! This was where we dropped the nets before smashing the hell out of the water to disturb the fish with bamboo. On the first drop we managed to catch 10 fish! On the second, a little further down river, we caught around another 20! The fish were small in size and didn't taste too bad for dinner!
After fishing we got showered and changed before dinner. The shower consists of a pipe from a stream filling a big concrete tub and then using a bucket to pour the water on top of you! Back to basics! Dinner was lovely and like I said earlier we're both ok so far!
So as it approaches 9:30pm I'm going to try and get some sleep! I can hear the TV that our host and Aunt are watcing, the high pitched drone of grasshoppers and people talking all around! The village really has come alive at night! We are lay on thin mattress' in a pink mosquito net! It's really hot and sticky but I'm really tired! Hopefully I will sleep!
It has been a great day and I wouldn't change any of it! The village is small, basic and behind the times but its definitely a place of beauty!
I really need to sleep as my eyes are shutting! Night all X
Hello!!
It's midnight on Tuesday and I've just got in bed. Today we left Laos and arrived in Vietnam, my 36th country.
Martin and I woke up pretty late today compared to the rest of our Laos family and we both enjoyed a long sleep having gone to bed early! Martin got a whole 13 hours, compared to a total of 6 the from the previous two nights!
Our pink mosquito net had done a great job and our defences (headphones) against the 30+ chickens outside worked a treat!
After a breakfast of the dreaded meat from the market we went for a boat ride up the river. Martin and I were pretty much over the homestay and actually wouldn't have minded going back to the town! The boat ride was lovely, scenery great and it was good just to relax. We went to the next village up the river which is a new one because of recent changes in the area. To cut a long story short the Chinese are building 5/6 dams along the river and consequently villages of people have to move to avoid being flooded. The government are building them new houses, which to be fair were much better than their own, but the people still don't want to move. They don't want to lose their family homes and they don't want to lose their rice fields and gardens that have been passed down through generations. It's a sad time for the locals and nothing can be done! If they speak up, it's jail!!
We looked around this new village as our host and her uncle looked on. It's a difficult world and situation they are in and they don't seem to have a voice.
After this we went back to the house and packed up, had lunch and left. All Martin and I wanted to do was have a shower!! We agreed that we would go to our hosts house in the town to do this before going to the airport. It was a rush but we managed it!
When we got to the airport we realised that we were on separate flights an hour apart. Celia, a Spanish girl travelling with us, had also booked a different flight, the 16th August!!! She had done this by mistake so had to buy a complete new ticket!!!
Eventually after a few hours we all made it to Hanoi! We got a picked up by a woman called Lee who drove us through the crazy crazy streets to our hostel in downtown!
This is definitely the party hostel and it was buzzing when we arrived. Once we had got our rooms though we headed out for food! Finally we found western food and Martin and I had burgers!
Tonight we have decided to wash and recharge our batteries! The homestay was a good experience but it was draining and not easy. It was just way out of our comfort zones so we are glad to be in a 12 bed dorm tonight, which at the moment isn't bad at all!
Tomorrow we will explore Hanoi and look forward to a great few weeks in Vietnam!
Over and out from both of us!
Night X