Greetings from the Xaiyasith family
Door: Stephanie
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Stéphanie
12 Mei 2009 | Laos, Luang Prabang
I left Chiangmai for the second time to return to Laos on the day Koninginnedag (Queensday) is celebrated in Holland.
After a warm, family feeling goodbye to the guesthouse crew, I left by minibus with approximately 8 other persons to Houeixai (Lao-Thai border).
Before we could take the slowboat across the Mekong River to Luang Prabang, we made a sleep-over at the Lao-Thai border. Then I started my slow-boat journey to Luang Prabang together with Thomas, a Dutchman I met the day before, a couple of minutes after having dried my goodbye tears in Chiang Mai. In the evening the boat stopped in the small village of Pakbeng where Thomas and I decided to stay there one night more than the others to take a day’s rest because we were tired of the (too slow) boat trip: although a good opportunity to taste the way of life around the Mekong river.
A day’s rest made us happy but we had our first surprise at 11 PM when the electricity was cut in the whole village. It was pitch-dark, almost scary. but after a search on the streets, we found a candle in one of the bars to change the scary movie into a... love story?
The next morning we realized there was, of course, no possibility to get cash money in this village, so we started a banana diet to save my friend’s dollars and my own last Thai baths and Lao kips, to enable us to buy the most basic like a place to sleep and drinking water.
That day we arrived in Luang Prabang after only 3 hours by speedboat :) My travel mate still had problems to get cash money, so we continued our banana diet in case I might get problems as well with my account, but luckily this did not happen. although? I’ll tell you more later....
After having solved Thomas money problem, I left him to travel alone to Ban Thuam Tai, a small village 2 hours by public transport from Luang Prabang to visit my Lao friend (whom I met during my previous stay in Laos in Vientiane) in his hometown with his family. I had no idea where he would be waiting for me as we couldn’t communicate by phone or computer because his village has no internet.
So I arrived in Ban Thuam Tai, having only his name (they don't use street or house numbers).
Asking around I stayed for a while with some bus drivers near the marketplace, where they already started offering me a place to sleep in case I couldn't reach him the same day. But I decided to go on. First by asking at the market, where they brought me to a guesthouse. With the manager of the guesthouse I returned to the market for enquiries and also to buy sticky rice and a mango to survive dinnertime and via the municipality-office and the pharmacy, we finally found his family 100 m away from the guesthouse.
My friend had already left for Vientiane so he had to come back and I spend one day with his family and a lot of other interested -in strangers- people :)
The first morning, daddy came to wake me up for lunch, but first he wanted to give me a welcome with a glass of Lao Whiskey! How to explain I would be drunk after one glass if I hadn’t eaten at all before!?!?! Well, then I prefer to be a clown (explaining by hands and feet)in stead of saying just no to a sign of hospitality which could be impolite :)
These days in Ban Thuam Tai I learned how to live the real Lao life. For me it started with eating sticky rice everyday at every meal enriched with vegetables but don’t ask me which ones :) They use vegetables like wild spinach, but they also are very creative and use plants or leaves from a tree or the green part of the potato plant boiled in salt or sweet water. I also got acquainted with the bamboo shoot and the ginger steels.
Whether they will eat meat or fish depends on what they catch the same day in one of the lakes near the village. I found the fish very tasty but one day a bit strange of shape (I found rather big bones in the fish!) ….until they explained me I was eating a frog....
I just had to appreciate their food and I soon did: first because I didn’t want to escape by buying more familiar food on the market (noodles for example), but later I had no choice: the first days I spent unexpectedly in the guesthouse, so my moneybag soon was empty... I even had to walk on broken flip flaps for the rest of my stay there, because I didn’t have money to buy new ones when one of them broke during a walk: so I became one of them; in all aspects.
The family lived in a basic way. All their food is coming from their own farm on the mountain near the village, but still a 2 hours walk away. In august they get the rice for the whole year and will also sell their food to earn some money. If they go to the farm, they start walking at 7AM and mostly they stay there for one night to continue their work the next day. Also kids are recommended to help their parents when they stop going to school or they even quit school to help their parents. This happens more often if a child is the youngest in the family or if they aren't motivated to continue their education after primary school. Also the youngest brother of my Lao friend, 16 years old, quit school to help his parents at the farm, although he didn’t listen all the time :)
The family also had daughters (6), but they all died at the age of: 3 months, 1,7,8,9 and 16 years old and their parents never knew why...
Now the family has only 4 sons and 2 years ago my friend’s elder brother also died at the age of 26.
When the hottest sun-hours were gone (40' C?), the Lao people started taking a bath at one of the central water points near their homes to refresh themselves. I did the same for one day in the garden of the family, a more private place for the guest of honor (because it could be very busy at the central points when people came back from their farm.). ' Private' well, I was not really alone... a pig was watching me and made very satisfied noises :)
By the way, although life in this village was very basic, it was funny to see how they all watched international TV or listened to music coming from their mobile phones....
Before I left the village, they arranged a Baci ceremony to wish me the best for my further journey.
My friend explained: “most Lao people always make the Baci ceremony to dismiss bad luck and get good luck, to make good health ,a good journey and a good year, to love each other, so in Laos and other countries like Thailand and Cambodia, the baci ceremony is very important."
After having received sticky rice, egg and chicken on my head and a bracelet from each person on both my legs and of course a lot of prayers, now, I am ready to continue my journey......
P.S.
Tomorrow (13/5) the pictures and a movie(!) if I can fix it...(I'm not sure) We will see tomorrow! ;)
After a warm, family feeling goodbye to the guesthouse crew, I left by minibus with approximately 8 other persons to Houeixai (Lao-Thai border).
Before we could take the slowboat across the Mekong River to Luang Prabang, we made a sleep-over at the Lao-Thai border. Then I started my slow-boat journey to Luang Prabang together with Thomas, a Dutchman I met the day before, a couple of minutes after having dried my goodbye tears in Chiang Mai. In the evening the boat stopped in the small village of Pakbeng where Thomas and I decided to stay there one night more than the others to take a day’s rest because we were tired of the (too slow) boat trip: although a good opportunity to taste the way of life around the Mekong river.
A day’s rest made us happy but we had our first surprise at 11 PM when the electricity was cut in the whole village. It was pitch-dark, almost scary. but after a search on the streets, we found a candle in one of the bars to change the scary movie into a... love story?
The next morning we realized there was, of course, no possibility to get cash money in this village, so we started a banana diet to save my friend’s dollars and my own last Thai baths and Lao kips, to enable us to buy the most basic like a place to sleep and drinking water.
That day we arrived in Luang Prabang after only 3 hours by speedboat :) My travel mate still had problems to get cash money, so we continued our banana diet in case I might get problems as well with my account, but luckily this did not happen. although? I’ll tell you more later....
After having solved Thomas money problem, I left him to travel alone to Ban Thuam Tai, a small village 2 hours by public transport from Luang Prabang to visit my Lao friend (whom I met during my previous stay in Laos in Vientiane) in his hometown with his family. I had no idea where he would be waiting for me as we couldn’t communicate by phone or computer because his village has no internet.
So I arrived in Ban Thuam Tai, having only his name (they don't use street or house numbers).
Asking around I stayed for a while with some bus drivers near the marketplace, where they already started offering me a place to sleep in case I couldn't reach him the same day. But I decided to go on. First by asking at the market, where they brought me to a guesthouse. With the manager of the guesthouse I returned to the market for enquiries and also to buy sticky rice and a mango to survive dinnertime and via the municipality-office and the pharmacy, we finally found his family 100 m away from the guesthouse.
My friend had already left for Vientiane so he had to come back and I spend one day with his family and a lot of other interested -in strangers- people :)
The first morning, daddy came to wake me up for lunch, but first he wanted to give me a welcome with a glass of Lao Whiskey! How to explain I would be drunk after one glass if I hadn’t eaten at all before!?!?! Well, then I prefer to be a clown (explaining by hands and feet)in stead of saying just no to a sign of hospitality which could be impolite :)
These days in Ban Thuam Tai I learned how to live the real Lao life. For me it started with eating sticky rice everyday at every meal enriched with vegetables but don’t ask me which ones :) They use vegetables like wild spinach, but they also are very creative and use plants or leaves from a tree or the green part of the potato plant boiled in salt or sweet water. I also got acquainted with the bamboo shoot and the ginger steels.
Whether they will eat meat or fish depends on what they catch the same day in one of the lakes near the village. I found the fish very tasty but one day a bit strange of shape (I found rather big bones in the fish!) ….until they explained me I was eating a frog....
I just had to appreciate their food and I soon did: first because I didn’t want to escape by buying more familiar food on the market (noodles for example), but later I had no choice: the first days I spent unexpectedly in the guesthouse, so my moneybag soon was empty... I even had to walk on broken flip flaps for the rest of my stay there, because I didn’t have money to buy new ones when one of them broke during a walk: so I became one of them; in all aspects.
The family lived in a basic way. All their food is coming from their own farm on the mountain near the village, but still a 2 hours walk away. In august they get the rice for the whole year and will also sell their food to earn some money. If they go to the farm, they start walking at 7AM and mostly they stay there for one night to continue their work the next day. Also kids are recommended to help their parents when they stop going to school or they even quit school to help their parents. This happens more often if a child is the youngest in the family or if they aren't motivated to continue their education after primary school. Also the youngest brother of my Lao friend, 16 years old, quit school to help his parents at the farm, although he didn’t listen all the time :)
The family also had daughters (6), but they all died at the age of: 3 months, 1,7,8,9 and 16 years old and their parents never knew why...
Now the family has only 4 sons and 2 years ago my friend’s elder brother also died at the age of 26.
When the hottest sun-hours were gone (40' C?), the Lao people started taking a bath at one of the central water points near their homes to refresh themselves. I did the same for one day in the garden of the family, a more private place for the guest of honor (because it could be very busy at the central points when people came back from their farm.). ' Private' well, I was not really alone... a pig was watching me and made very satisfied noises :)
By the way, although life in this village was very basic, it was funny to see how they all watched international TV or listened to music coming from their mobile phones....
Before I left the village, they arranged a Baci ceremony to wish me the best for my further journey.
My friend explained: “most Lao people always make the Baci ceremony to dismiss bad luck and get good luck, to make good health ,a good journey and a good year, to love each other, so in Laos and other countries like Thailand and Cambodia, the baci ceremony is very important."
After having received sticky rice, egg and chicken on my head and a bracelet from each person on both my legs and of course a lot of prayers, now, I am ready to continue my journey......
P.S.
Tomorrow (13/5) the pictures and a movie(!) if I can fix it...(I'm not sure) We will see tomorrow! ;)
-
12 Mei 2009 - 22:08
Erik:
Hi Stephanie,
Again a great story as we are now used to getting from you. Paul Theroux has got nothing on you.
Keep up the good work.
Lots of fun and interesting happenings!
Groeten, Erik -
13 Mei 2009 - 12:59
Ina:
Hé, leuke bikini! :)staat je goed. zeker daar gekocht?
Ina
-
13 Mei 2009 - 15:32
Michel:
Avec tout ce que tu découvres en spécialités culinaires j'attends avec impatience ta première invation à déjeuner/diner.
Bises -
13 Mei 2009 - 20:42
Leonie:
Hey Stéph,
wat heb je weer een mooi verhaal geschreven! Je Engels is echt heel goed! En het was ontzettend leuk om de video te bekijken :D En de foto's zijn ook prachtig (wat voor fruit is het eigenlijk? je kunstwerkje? en hoe heb je dat voor elkaar gekregen?). Nou een hoop complimentjes dus :D
Geniet van alles, en als je terug bent moeten we maar een keer een foto avondje doen ;) (of misschien een stuk of 10 haha je zal wel heel veel foto's hebben).
xxx
Leonie -
14 Mei 2009 - 09:36
Laura:
Hoi Stephanie,
Je verhalen zijn erg interessant. Leuk dat je op reis echt met de gewoonten van de bevolking leert leven. Dat is nog eens wat anders dan in een luxe hotel. En je Engels is echt heel goed!
Ik zou het wel heel eng vinden om zo in mijn eentje over de wereld te zwerven. Jij en Chris zijn wel heel avontuurlijk bezig. Lees je de berichten van Chris ook op deze site? Hij maakt ook leuke dingen mee in Japan.
Je foto's zijn ook erg goed en je kan dan ook goed zien dat het echt allemaal heel primitief toegaat waar jij bent. Lijkt me lastig om niet te weten waar je de volgende pinautomaat kunt vinden en dan maar op een bananendieet over te stappen.
Nou, veel plezier en interessante dagen.
groetjes van Laura -
14 Mei 2009 - 11:18
Alex Van Der Zee:
Dag Stephanie,
Geniet van al die verhalen van je en complimenteer je maar meteen voor de prachtige foto's en je taalgebruik.
Zelf heb ik een geweldige reis naar Suriname gemaakt en -zoals we hebben afgesproken- we zullen daar in een later stadium (in elk geval na de 85 dagen) op terugkomen. Lijkt me geweldig, 'doe ze de boks op' en tot ziens,
Alex van der Zee -
14 Mei 2009 - 12:48
Roderik:
Wat een heerlijk verhaal weer! Ik ben blij dat je het zo naar je zin hebt.
Heel veel plezier nog! -
15 Mei 2009 - 06:49
Steven:
kom jij uberhaupt nog wel terug? :P
-
22 Mei 2009 - 11:40
Kees:
Hoi Stephanie, wat een gave reis maak jij. Het leuke is dat je door de contacten met de locals heel veel van het land en de mensen opsteekt. Beter dan al die overgeorganiseerde rondreizen.
Ik heb begrepen dat je rond deze tijd Hanoi aan het ontdekken bent. Waar je zeker naar toe moet is de “Perfume Pagoda”, de tocht met een roeibootje is al een hele belevenis. De “Water Puppet” show is heel grappig om te zien. En dan vooral “Hoan Kiem Lake”: bij zonsopgang meedoen met t’ai Chi en later op de dag, tegen zonsondergang wachten op de geluk brengende reuze schilpad. Het is heel grappig en relaxed om al die mensen aan de waterkant te zien wachten. Maar pas op, toen wij daar zaten lag er een oude vent in de struiken foto’s van Chris te maken.
Heel veel plezier in Vietnam.Wij kijken uit naar je verslagen
Groetjes uit Hilversum (ook best een leuke plek om te zijn)
-
05 Juni 2009 - 11:49
M:
Xin Chao!
Leuk te zien dat je je vermaakt met al je nieuwe vriendjes en vriendinnetjes.
Ook leuk om te zien dat mensen zelfs foto's en video's van je mogen maken! (nou nog NIET steeds in de camera kijken en you'll be fine)
Zowieso veel bewondering voor deze onderneming, is toch iets waar misschien iedereen wel eens over droomt maar waar slechts weinigen daadwerkelijk met knikkende knieen een ticket kopen.
Het gevoel van vrijheid, van isolatie (alleen, vreemde taal) en daarmee dichterbij jezelf komen dan je ooit had durven dromen, ontmoeten van nieuwe mensen, kleuren, culturen, talen, voedsel, gebruiken, ..
Iedereen die tegen je roept dat het niets voor hen zal zijn benijden je en zullen nooit toegeven dat hun droom nu is omgetoverd in een maxi cosi op de achterbank. "Ja maar als de kinderen straks (over 25 jaar) het huis uit zijn, wil ik dat zeker nog gaan doen!!
Hoor je het ze zeggen?
Nou heb ik geen geduld om al je reisverhalen te lezen en eerlijk gezegd boeit me dat ook niet zo. Ik wacht braaf af tot je weer in het Hilversumse bent aanbelandt om de Highlights van je avonturen met een gezicht erbij aan te horen.
Hou je haaks, hou em stief, doe voorzichtig, geniet, bewonder.. maar vooral: LEEF!
M
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