Monday morning on 29.04.2019 we arrived. We had now arrived in Luang Prabang, where we wanted to meet with the Laotian organizers of our aid project. The city has become quite a tourist magnet, although it is relatively far in the mountainous north.
Right next to a small market we found the accommodation Golden Lotus Place. We decided to spend the next few days here for planning and even negotiated a free breakfast for ourselves.
Since we were not scheduled to meet with our contact persons until tomorrow, we first enjoyed a delicious and cheap lunch and visited some temples in the city.
We finally found a suitable store to print our "team shirts". We had already decided on a joint design the previous days. LaLaLaos supports children in the area with the money from the sale to enable them to receive an education. So it was the right shop for our cause. We survived the afternoon and the heat in a juice bar overlooking the Mekong, before we had dinner at the Nightmarket in the evening.
On Tuesday morning at 08:00 for breakfast, we had our first meeting with Oun. He is the head of Volun-Tours Laos. Under his leadership, various projects are being carried out in villages scattered throughout Laos. The construction of the gravity-based water system for "our" village, Knok Ngiewh, is one of them.
We introduced ourselves and explained how and why we ended up here. Then came the concrete planning of the project. What else needed to be done on-site and what materials were needed? Since the village is quite cut off from civilization, being separated by the Mekong and a 1.5-hour tuk-tuk ride over a moderately paved road, the goal was to carry all the materials on the first trip.
Before we could start shopping for the final materials together with Dao - our guide and translator for the next few days - we had to change our accommodation, as there had been an overbooking. In the meantime, Krissi received confirmation for her job interview with T-Systems Multimedia Solutions, so the guys had to go shopping without her. For her, it meant preparing a short presentation.
The successful purchases of tools, hygiene articles, rubber boots, and more were celebrated in the afternoon with a drink by the river, then we went to the Nightmarket and had dinner at the Secret Garden restaurant.
On Wednesday, May 1, 2019, we finally started. Early in the morning, we loaded the tuk-tuks and crossed the Mekong by ferry.
We drove in the tuk-tuk out of civilization, it was quite a bumpy ride, but the landscape was already a dream.
Countless green valleys and mountains, which are used by the inhabitants for cultivation. For lunch, Dao even provided us with European sandwiches. :D But Kevin's stomach didn't handle the food and the bumpy ride very well.
Arrived, unloaded, and moved into our accommodation for the next few days. A new community house had recently been built in the village, which was supposed to be our sleeping place. New toilets had even been built behind the house. Oun and the villagers brought numerous mats, we placed our sleeping mats on top to make the next nights as comfortable as possible. Then came the sleeping bags and, finally, the important mosquito nets.
Then we had the warm welcome ceremony. Children handed us beautiful bouquets of flowers and we got to know the village elders - of course, only men...
Loaded with flowers, we were given a short tour of the small village. It was impressive to see how the people live there. Numerous family members in tiny houses with few rooms.
The day was coming to an end and we were expected for dinner at the Chiefhouse. This is where we would receive our meals from the villagers for the next few days. To be honest, we didn't have high expectations for the food. We mainly expected sticky rice, but each meal was served with a rich and varied selection. Various meat and vegetable dishes and a variety of sauces. We really, really ate well. Unfortunately, most of our stomachs didn't handle it very well. The locals felt sorry for us, even though it was not their food but only our habits.
In the evening, we finally settled in our sleeping quarters, exhausted and full of new impressions. Early in the morning, around 5:00 am, it was still dark, Krissi's scream echoed through the area. Something had crawled over her leg and she had brushed it off in her half-asleep state. The creature didn't find that funny and defended itself against Krissi's left ring finger. It was quite painful. So we were all awake and Kenny and Krissi turned on the light to see what creature was responsible for the little attack. We saw that our mosquito net had slipped and we had numerous little visitors. Including large ants, so we assumed that Krissi had been bitten by an ant. Kenny already thought: Krissi again, the little drama queen. Just before we were about to turn off the light, we saw a small scorpion scurry away at the head of our mat. We could hardly believe our eyes. Kenny ran straight to our guide, who was sleeping in a different house than us. Meanwhile, the other guys went in search of the little creature. We didn't want to get stung again. After a few minutes, Krissi, who was now sitting on the floor, discovered it and trapped it in a glass. We all quickly realized that we were only connected to civilization by an endlessly long dirt road and the absence of a car and a huge river separated us from the nearest town. Marcus promptly sucked the sting out. It was too late, but we still appreciate his effort. When our guide Dao arrived with Kenny, he was able to reassure us. Since the scorpion was brown and not black, everything would be fine. He predicted that Krissi would experience strong pain in her finger and a few uncomfortable days, but nothing that would kill her. And that's exactly how it turned out. Despite painkillers and a lot of Tiger Balm, her finger hurt a lot and Krissi's body was far from fit, with diarrhea, nausea, and circulatory problems bothering her for the next few days. It was a shame, as Krissi had traveled there to work and help.
The guys started working in the morning. After breakfast at the Chief's house, the construction of the reinforcement for our water tank walls and the wooden cladding were completed. It was impressive to see even the youngest ones running through the village and up to the tank with long metal bars to help. We carried the long and heavy wooden beams on our shoulders through the whole village.
After the work was done, we went for our daily open-air shower - the village's water pump right next to our accommodation. It was quite unusual to shower in swimwear, especially when being watched the whole time by curious villagers. :D For dinner, we had rice wine and whiskey at the Chief's house, and we chatted with the Chief's son and Dao for quite a while.
On Saturday, we carried cement and made the foundation. Since it had to dry, we had some free time in the afternoon. That meant playing football, and the village boys were in great shape, which was quite a challenge. We had dinner at the Chief's house again, and this time we had rice wine served in a clay bottle. The bottle was filled with rice and topped up with water. The alcohol collected at the bottom, and with long straws, it could be "enjoyed".
Sunday, fittingly, was a day off, as the concrete had to dry. During breakfast, we caught a glimpse of the village's church service at the Chief's house. The Chief gave a speech and there was singing. We had ended up in a Christian village.
Tuesday, May 7th, we had to correct all the reinforcement again. In the evening, we celebrated with the villagers. They organized a ceremony to say thank you and wish us a good journey.
During the ceremony, our spirits, who had traveled with us to the village, were set free again, so that they would leave the village with us. At the beginning, we sat around a well-laid table with respected villagers. It was adorned with flowers, meat, rice packets, and small sweets. At some point, we were all supposed to touch the table and the villagers mumbled prayers and blessings. The energy in the room was incredible. Then, all the villagers had the opportunity to tie white ribbons around our wrists. It was impressive, as each villager murmured wishes and prayers. The atmosphere and energy in the room were almost overwhelming. In addition to the food on the table (we had just had a plentiful dinner), we received more beautiful bouquets, straw baskets, hats, and small straw figures like a little frog. The evening continued with a drinking game. We had to drink from the rice wine urn until an entire cup of water could be poured in. It wasn't easy, as the urn was huge and the straws were so long that it was difficult for Krissi to even get any alcohol out of the vessel.
The guys managed it quite well. As a little highlight, there was a performance by the students.
The girls performed dances, the boys did archery, and we competed in sack races. It was great. In the end, we danced and the village women kept bringing alcohol and trying to get us drunk. We also danced with the children, carried them on our shoulders, did some sports, and intoxicated acro-yoga (our sense of balance was definitely not the best). It ended at midnight and we all went to sleep happy. It's a shame that many of the villagers only opened up and became more open on this evening.
On Wednesday, it was time to go back to work. Everyone had a hangover, Ronny and Kevin went back to bed after breakfast. For the others, 6 hours of pouring concrete for the walls were on the agenda. After one hour, Ronny joined in again. However, he mainly filmed with the GoPro and drone, rather than doing the strenuous work. I wonder why... Fortunately, everything only took 2.5 hours, and when we finished, Kevin also arrived at the construction site. He had finally gotten enough rest.
Since we had actually planned to leave the day before, now it was really time to say goodbye. We showered one last time at our water pump, enjoyed one last delicious meal at the Chief's house, and packed our few things from our small accommodation. We even received more gifts from the villagers as a farewell. Meise had admired the villagers' bags all week. They were used to carry everything, personal items - but also sand and gravel. The bags were simply sewn from old concrete sacks. We received some of them as farewell gifts. Then we took the long journey back to civilization in the tuk-tuk.
Unfortunately, our guide Dao was not feeling well due to a hangover and said goodbye to us during the journey back to his village. Crossing the Mekong river and checking back into the Golden Lotus Palace, we enjoyed the comforts of our own rooms, real beds, proper toilets, and showers. But we were doing fine without them too. ;)
Luang Prabang, Laos
For dinner, we had to take care of ourselves again. :D But we found plenty of options at the Nightmarket right in front of our accommodation. We ended the evening at the "Utopie" bar right by the river. It was a bit difficult to find, but worth it. It was more of a original backpacker bar, but everything was colorful and super cozy. At midnight, we toasted to Marcus and his birthday and spent a few more hours on the steps by the Mekong near our accommodation.
Thursday, May 9, was Marcus' birthday. In contrast to the past few days, today was all about sightseeing. After breakfast, we met with Oun in a small café in Luang Prabang and enjoyed delicious hot drinks. ;)
Then we went to our LaLaLao shirt store. Marcus received a shirt as a gift from us, and Ronny and Meise also bought shirts and jewelry. This way, we supported the small store and hopefully more children could be guaranteed education.
After lunch, we took a tuk-tuk to Tat Kuang Si Waterfall. Our tuk-tuk driver even agreed to wait for us for the return trip. We were curious if it would work out. :D Supplied with mango smoothies and other snacks, we entered the park. Before seeing the water, we first saw bears in enclosures. There were supposedly bears in the wild here too. Fortunately or unfortunately, we didn't see any running around freely.
After a short walk through the park, we finally arrived at the water and quickly plunged into the cool water. There were many small fish in the clear water that nibbled at our feet. J The highlight here was definitely splashing around in the water.
In the evening, we led Marcus blindfoldedly through Luang Prabang. It must have looked funny, German tourists leading someone blindfolded through the streets. We had a 10-minute foot massage, took a tuk-tuk ride, and tried various exotic food samples. Finally, we ended up in a great restaurant. We had a small terrace to ourselves, and there was delicious food and good drinks. Dao and his girlfriend were also there. The guys went to the river and spent the night with something green. Meanwhile, Krissi was already sleeping because she had a job interview with MMS the next day.
Since we couldn't continue our journey on Friday due to Krissi's job interview, the guys took some time to explore the city. Well, they took a walk up a viewpoint and then enjoyed lunch and cold drinks at a small café by the river.
Krissi was sitting in a café downtown, trying to get something into her stomach with a coffee. At the beginning, the chosen room was completely empty and quiet, and just as the conversation began, a large group of backpackers settled in, chattering loudly. Krissi, of course, didn't have headphones. The job interview lasted about 1.25 hours, and afterwards, Krissi rejoined the guys. It was a demanding but still very pleasant and friendly conversation. Despite connection problems and volume difficulties, it worked out in the end.
In the evening, we left beloved Laos with the night bus. Ronny said goodbye to us, as he had only taken time off for the project.
