A day in the tourist village without tourists ;-) (Day 85 of the world trip)

28.11.2019

Our night and especially the early morning hours from 5:00 a.m. were... interesting :p Either you heard some French people talking, chairs were being moved, or when that was finally finished, one of the neighbors started wheezing^^

The walls are very thin, so you can hear everything and everyone. Especially the wheezing occasionally caused concerns for Jonas and me. Not only would the sound of phlegm in the throat that is being cleared be unpleasant, but the duration of these "attacks" and their frequency (probably 10 times in the evening and another 5 times in the morning) made us wonder if this person might need help... But occasionally a Laotian woman's voice came, shouting at the person causing the noise, and then there was silence, so the "problem" is probably known ;-)

Well. Jonas and I took it with humor :) I wanted to get up at 7:00 a.m. but it was already 8:00 a.m. when it actually happened :O I was really hungry by now, so we went to the small market to buy baguettes.

Several stands there offer baguettes, each offered in a plastic bag with about 10 pieces. Jonas and I briefly considered if we could use all ten and then decided that it is possible^^ But when I pointed at the baguettes, the saleswoman took the bag in her hand and opened it to take out individual baguettes. Ahh! You can also buy them individually :p :D :D

I showed her four fingers, but she had to think a few times before she actually packed four baguettes into a new bag. We also looked for butter but unfortunately we couldn't find it anywhere :(

As compensation, we treated ourselves to a pack of chocolate cookies <3

Back at the guesthouse, I had breakfast, but I was a bit disappointed. I knew that the baguettes wouldn't be fresh, but that they were SO dry was a surprise^^ I tried one with butter and honey, and then I topped the second one with chocolate cookies - you have to be creative :D

After breakfast, we watched a documentary about the Vietnam War, as we both had little or no prior knowledge, and since Vietnam is our next destination, we wanted to at least get a rough idea about this major chapter in the country's recent history :)

Afterwards, we finally explored the village. As mentioned yesterday, most travelers only stay here for one night to continue their journey the next day. So, quite a few tourists stay overnight here, but during the day you don't see any of them. They leave in the morning and the new ones only arrive in the afternoon/evening...

So Jonas and I took a walk through the village, its main attraction being a suspension bridge and well, there wasn't much exciting to see. Almost every house is a shop specializing in different things - the village is located at the intersection of two main roads, where people might also stop for "shopping". There were also a few fruit stands and surprisingly modern electronics stores from Vivo and Huawei. Not bad!^^

We looked into a few shops, still looking for butter :D Since baguettes are popular to eat here, we would have expected to find it (unrefrigerated, for example, in Luang Prabang). However, instead of butter, we only found mayonnaise. That may sound good on a sandwich, if you put it with salad or something, but for honey, mayo is not the underground filling of our choice :D :D

Overall, we walked less than an hour to explore the village. I was hot, hungry, and the mood was a bit down :D But that changed when we bought apples and oranges at the market and the apple tasted super delicious. Food can make you happy^^

After lunch, which was Jonas' breakfast, we spent the afternoon on the covered terrace of our guesthouse. I took out our paper Vietnam map, which we received for free at the embassy, and we talked a bit about our route and plans. Of course, we didn't make anything final, but it was cool to ponder what could be interesting with the map in that "old school" way^^

Around 3:00 p.m., I suggested that we go to the tourism office to make sure that the information from the internet about our bus tomorrow is correct. The tourism office is located in a beautiful colonial-style building. On the ground floor, there is a room with a few printed pictures and other information. We didn't find a contact there, but the board confirmed our suspicion about the bus - departure at 7:00 a.m. and cost 6€ for the six-hour bus ride. Now, fingers crossed that it works^^

Since it was still too early for dinner (which I was already hungry for again), we went down to the boat landing again. The shore there is made of stones, which Jonas used to skip them over the water.

I tried it too, but I was more of a laughingstock, as my stone sank directly :D :D After a few minutes, we caught the attention of two Laotian boys, who cautiously approached us and then started throwing stones on the water themselves. Of course, they were pretty good at it too, and I think they also found it amusing how incapable I was ;-) ^^

When a "motorcycle gang" of teenagers arrived on the opposite side of the river, Jonas and I went back, treated ourselves to a cup of instant noodles, and tried (unsuccessfully) to take a warm shower :D :D

Soon we will have a "real" dinner, we need snacks for the journey tomorrow, and then we will probably watch YouTube and pack, as we have to get up early tomorrow.

Thus, our last day in Laos comes to an end. Looking back, we are super glad to have been here. It is an interesting country with a lot of originality, and we are curious to see how different it will look in the next country! :)