Lazy man's paradise
Trip Start
Dec 01, 2004
1
23
30
Trip End
Apr 08, 2005
Vang Vieng,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Sunday, February 13, 2005
The Suanmone Phoudindaeng Organic Farm is 3km north of Vang Vieng, and we were both looking forward to visiting and helping out a bit. They produce mulberry tea, silk, dried fruit and fruit wine and have a full restaurant at the farm and a cafe in town. Proceeds from the sale of their products are turned back into programs for the village people living nearby. The week before we arrived, volunteers had just put the finishing touches on the new Adobe brick library
01 - Our first impression
. The farm has dorm and private room accommodations for everyone, not just volunteers. In fact, there is no longer any sort of room and board discount for volunteers. Everyone pays full price, and anyone can help if so inclined. It took me a day to feel comfortable with the laidbackness of the farm. We had arrived at 7:30a.m. expecting to be met by Mr. T. (he runs the show), shown around and assigned some work to do. Instead we found ourselves alone - no one else who spoke english was up yet. "Mr. T.?" we asked a local man. "Mr. T. no here. He go to Vientiane", he replied. "We met him yesterday. He said be here at 7:30", we tried to explain. He just looked at us, shook his head slightly and went back to his work. This turn of events left plenty of time for Gino to sleep off his "happy shake" from the night before and for me to read a bit. But I wanted to work. I wanted to be taken on a tour and see what they were growing and learn how to farm organically so I could bring home neat ideas....
To make a long story short, the first day was a write off. We walked around a bit, checked out the river, watched tourists come and go, and chatted with the volunteers as they appeared for breakfast and lunch. The next morning I was up early and tossed bat shit around some pineapples with Liz from New York and 3 local guys
02 - Fertilizing pineapples
. It was fun to listen to the them try and chat - sentences reduced to nothing but nouns and verbs. Gino slept in and I met him for breakfast at 10:30. Mr. T. wasn't back yet and no one had any idea what sort of construction stuff needed to be done, so Gino had another day off. We met a couple of young women from Montreal during lunch and they tagged along for the afternoon hike we had planned to take. We had to cross the river (I'm not fond of water unless it's chlorinated and in a pool, or sold in a bottle for drinking), which wasn't deep (mid thigh) but was very fast at one point near the other side. I didn't like that very much and I made Gino hold my hand for balance, but I made it. We followed a path until we reached the base of the small mountain. The path all but disappeared into the wooded and rocky steepness of this thing I thought I wanted to climb. The rocks were sharp and did I mention it was steep? I lasted 5 min. I knew getting down was going to be way more difficult than getting up, and I wasn't up for the challenge. Gino continued on with Geneveive and Fanny, and soon I found myself back at the river with no one to hold my hand for balance...
I found a nice spot in the cradle of some tree roots and decided to wait. There was lots of interesting stuff going on in the river to watch - kayakers and tubers floated by waving and offering help, local kids splashed and swam in the shallow, slow moving areas, ladies came to wash vegetables, a man came for a bath, some young guys fished with masks and spears and some women made the journey through the rushing water with baskets and really sharp machetes and no one's hand to hold for balance. Wow. I was regretting something. But what was it? Agreeing to go on the hike? Not continuing up that horribly steep, sharp deathtrap of a mountain? Not taking the kayaker up on his offer to help me across the river? Not taking him up on his offer of beer? My afternoon was overflowing with bad decisions
03 - Cleaning beds
! I took another close look at that water. There were bits of pond scum floating by, and crazy water bugs skating around on top of the surface right where I wanted to go in, and I could swear that the speed of the current had picked up. But it was 4:30 and I was tired of waiting, and soon the mosquitoes would be out, so I swallowed hard and ventured in. I made it across without falling in, but my flip flops flopped off my feet where the water ran fast and I had to go the rest of the way on slippery, green-covered rocks with bare feet (gross). It wasn't until I recounted the afternoon's events to Liz from New York, that I saw the humour. I had no problem throwing bat shit around, getting it under my nails and ground into my socks, but the thought of falling into that river water had me paralyzed. Funny what we're afraid of, eh?After a couple of days helping and hanging out, we decided to make a day trip to Phonsavan on a motorcycle. But not on just any 125cc moto. No, Gino wouldn't be caught on one of those in the mountains. We rented a Honda 225cc dirt bike. It had no back seat, so I found myself perched on the rack behind Gino for the journey.
