As the title suggests we wanted to get away from the drinking and partying once more and find somewhere quiet to experience Laos culture. We'd heard of a homestay guesthouse in a tiny village and when I called them we were told that if we got on the back of a truck at the bus station then it would, "probably take us somewhere near to where we wanted to go". Specific....! No journey in Laos is complete without sharing the ride with piles of rice bags, lots of dust, people hanging precariously out the back and at least one live chicken. We tumbled out of the truck two hours later at an intersection and walked for two miles in the raging heat with our heavy backpacks until a local construction worker let us ride in the back of his pick-up truck after we'd begged him to help us. The guesthouse was a large wooden hut on stilts at the side of a river full of buffalo with hammocks and a communal area in the family's house next door. The owner showed us around an isolated village nearby that was only accessible by sliding across a long, narrow, rickety bridge - they were completely self sufficient and living in bamboo huts surrounded by the most picturesque country side.
We'd wanted to get some peace and quiet however part of the guesthouse was under construction so the idyllic image we'd had of snoozing on a hammock all day was somewhat ruined by the incessant noise of machinery. We also saw a giant rat in our room and had to sleep on what felt like a plank of wood in a freezer so needless to say we were keen to move on in the morning. Our English speaking hosts were out when we wanted to leave so we had great difficulty trying to explain to the family that we needed to get out of the village; we mimed and pointed whilst standing in the road with our backpacks dripping with sweat - we must have looked quite a spectacle to the villagers - but we were met with giggles and shrugs so we decided to hitchhike to the intersection where a lady sold us a bus ticket to a town further north of Laos which she flagged down two minutes later by putting a ratty piece of cardboard on a plastic chair in the road. We got on the bus and slithered into the three last tiny seats - how did she know there were spaces left?
Nola guesthouse in....the middle of nowhere.
This is one of the houses in the isolated local village - each home has their own cow and chickens. The woman spend their days in groups under the stilted building doing chores.
We picked juicy, sweet star fruit and ate them under the tree - something so usual to the villagers but such a novelty for us.
Local children in front of their school where we were told they often share lessons with a random cow...!
We'd wanted to get some peace and quiet however part of the guesthouse was under construction so the idyllic image we'd had of snoozing on a hammock all day was somewhat ruined by the incessant noise of machinery. We also saw a giant rat in our room and had to sleep on what felt like a plank of wood in a freezer so needless to say we were keen to move on in the morning. Our English speaking hosts were out when we wanted to leave so we had great difficulty trying to explain to the family that we needed to get out of the village; we mimed and pointed whilst standing in the road with our backpacks dripping with sweat - we must have looked quite a spectacle to the villagers - but we were met with giggles and shrugs so we decided to hitchhike to the intersection where a lady sold us a bus ticket to a town further north of Laos which she flagged down two minutes later by putting a ratty piece of cardboard on a plastic chair in the road. We got on the bus and slithered into the three last tiny seats - how did she know there were spaces left?
Village kids playing.
We were cooked traditional Laos food which always includes very sticky rice and we ate it with the host family and some travellers who had also wanted to get away from it all.
Hitchhiking through the Laos countryside in a pick up truck. Including mandatory live chicken in the back of course.
The bus broke down several times and took a lot longer than we anticipated...this no longer surprises or annoys me as I am so used to it!
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