January 22 – Cruise the Mekong River • Village visit • Explore Pak Ou Cave

Destination: Luang Prabang

Accommodations: Parasol Blanc Hotel

We had a delicious breakfast at the resort this morning. The home made yogurt was outstanding and with some honey and fruit… Yummy!

After breakfast we boarded the jumbos that took us to the Royal Pier where we boarded a wooden boat to take a cruise along the Mekong river.

The Mekong is the 12th longest river in the world and supports millions of people who produce rice along the river. The river is home to large catfish, tilapia, and many other fish, but it also houses a few electric eels which have been known to kill people who might be swimming in the river.

Along the way, Lao told us some information about the Laos government. Not everyone in the country is communist. Only the people who work with the govt, or who are nurses, doctors, teachers, or soldiers are the folks that are usually members of the party. Party membership is really the only way for advancement.

Bribes are a way of life. If you want to start a business, you tell the govt. The govt will say come back in 3 months and will have the paperwork ready for you. You go back, and they say it’s not ready yet, come back in another three months. But…if you give a bribe, the paperwork can be completed in a day. Many times parents will bribe teachers so their child gets a better education.

If you are a member of the party, you get better treatment in a hospital, might not have to pay taxes, and you might receive a car to go back and forth to work in.

It’s not easy to become member. You have to work for the govt first. You don’t receive a salary. Usually, your mom and dad support you during that time. You work for maybe 7 years and then you have a meeting with the party heads. They check back on generations of your family, and if anyone ever said anything against the government, you will never get ahead. If they can’t find anyone who said anything against the party in your family, you will be considered to become a member.

It was all very interesting.

We finally arrived at Muangkham Village, a small rural village, where we were able to speak with some of the residents.

We saw how people take river weed from the bottom of the river and wash it and then spread it on screens. They add garlic, scallions, tomatoes, and sesame seeds to the screening and then let it dry in the sun. Then they sell the sheets and people eat the sheets like a soft cracker with meals or as a snack.

I volunteered to help the lady make the sheets. I sat on a stool probably floor inches from the ground (I can’t believe at the end I was able to stand up sans help🙄😂). I put water on the river screen while beating it with a whisk and then I added all the above ingredients. It was fun to do for me, but laborious work all day for the ladies.

We also watched a lady make sticky rice cakes. After boiling and steaming the sticky rice (which is different from regular rice), she puts the very hot rice in the table and takes gobs of it and places it in a form that makes the cake. Then she takes them out of the form and dries them in the sun. Her thumbs have blisters and scars from handling the hot rice. We tasted the cakes. They were very good, but bland.

After the food demonstrations, we took the boat to the Pak Ou Cave. The cave is in a cliff and it is filled with thousands of Buddha icons. Lao brought a small Buddha with him and we all held it and made a wish. Then we climbed up extremely steep stairs to get to the lower cave. This was definitely out of my comfort range, but I did it! Allan was the last to make a wish so he was allowed to place the Buddha among all the others.

Allan and I did not go to the upper cave. I was worried enough getting down from the first cave, but alas, I lived to tell the tale.

We had lunch on the boat and then it was back to the hotel via jumbos, to rest up a bit before the night’s activities.

Four of us in the group went to visit The Big Brother Mouse – a place to help Lao students practice their English, a place for kids to read books, and a place where volunteer tutors come to help in any way they can.

A young boy named Khamla realized that when tourists came to Luang Prabang, they were reading books in their spare time. “Why would they do that while on vacation?” he thought to himself. He had no access to books in his language… Only textbooks.

To make a long story short, Khamla grew up and found artists and writers… Some of them young people… who began to write children’s books and illustrate them and Khamla found a way to publish them. Getting kids to learn how to read was exciting for them. In 2016 they opened a summer program for reading. It was so successful the parents pleaded… “Open a school”!!! And that’s what they did. They started with 13 students the first year and now, they have over 2,000 students in eight schools.

The Big Brother Mouse House that we visited has books that tourists can purchase that will then be distributed to schools. It is also a place where people can drop in for help learning English.

We met with a young man who was 18 years of age and he talked about how he hopes to get a scholarship to attend university in Hungary or China. He spoke English very well and we enjoyed hearing about his family, his girlfriend of two years, and his hopes and dreams. It was a wonderful hour spending time with this young man.

I wasn’t allowed into the premises because you had to take your shoes off. I showed the man my booties but he said no and brought a chair outside for me to sit on. That was really odd since it wasn’t a temple and all the temples we have visited have let me in with no problem. Are was very surprised and didn’t understand it either. No matter, we had a nice time and we bought some books for the school children.

We had dinner at an Italian restaurant and Allan and I had Bolognese which was very tasty. We also had a dark beer which was a welcome change from the light beers we usually find.

Early to bed because we have to be out and about tomorrow morning at 5:30 for a special morning.