Homestay in Laos
I’m a fairly easy-going traveler. I will put up with a $37/night hotel room (Chiang Mai), “vacationing” in a working train station (France), sleeping at a dairy farm (Slovenia), showering in the WC (Burma), staying in a park ranger’s storage shed (Croatia), and taking an overnight sleeper train through Thailand (can’t recommend this one). It’s always an adventure! So when George suggested a homestay in a remote village on the Nam Ou River, 2-3 hours drive/hike/boat north of Luang Prabang, Laos (he said we should be OK with the anti-malaria pills, but not sure if there’s electricity), I thought about it for a minute then said “sign me up!”
Our hostess Kham is a young Laotian woman who left her village to go to college in Luang Prabang. She fell in love with a Frenchman —they married, started a family and are now in the hospitality business in Luang Prabang. While she loves her busy life in the city, she misses village life. So, now, about once a month, she takes foreign visitors for a homestay in her village. Her cousins graciously welcomed us into their simple home, and Kham guided us around the village, showing us how the villagers she grew up with live every day. We cooked together, ate together, fished together, bathed together (in the river), and slept under the same roof.
Kham is a warm, friendly, and open young woman. She spoke of her village with great affection and how she wants her guests to understand the daily struggles and joys of farmers and fishermen in rural Laos. We came away with a deep appreciation of their graciousness and fortitude, of the ties people have to their land and their way of life.
This is our host Kham walking through a rice paddy.
Kham is walking along a very narrow, perhaps 6 inches wide, raised path hidden among the rice stalks. I managed to fall off the path into the rice paddy, not once, but twice. Kham was a pro even in her over-sized plastic sandals which looked like snow shoes. The harvest has just begun and we saw a few people working their sections.
We stopped for supplies along the route. Kham was buying rice to steam. Her village only produces sticky rice, so steam rice is a treat for her family. Sticky rice is a daily staple in Laos, usually eaten with the fingers. One makes a bite size ball and dips it into a sauce or thin chili paste. It is steamed in a basket and has a wonderful nutty flavor. Note the variety and different prices.
Walking into the village from the river, we noticed that the homes were a mixture of thatched cottages, cinder block and stucco buildings. The roads are unpaved and chickens run everywhere. There are a few tractors and an maybe a few dozen motorbikes, but no cars so no traffic. Chickens are everywhere and to me they all look alike. Kham said that people knew which chickens were theirs, and better yet, the chickens knew their owners. Egg laying chickens and ducks are penned up.
These three neighbors took a liking to George. They started following him everywhere, laughing at his every gesture.
Shortly before harvesting his rice, a farmer will select a small area of his field, and harvest the seeds for the next planting. The seeds are then spread out in the sun to dry. Sometimes this is done in the field.
The house in the background is quite common. The owners have placed the old wooden house on top of a new foundation. The village has had electricity for several years and some homes have running water. Satelite TVs are showing up around the neighborhood.
Most of the roads between villages are unpaved so this tractor is the only way, especially in the rainy season, to get supplies like potable water. The driver can also pick up his young daughter from school.
George’s fan club started to grow. There are about 112 families in the village and word spread quickly among the younger children. The little girl on the left wants to try on my shoes.
Harvesting rice is back breaking work. The little shelter in the background is exactly that, a shelter. It’s a covered platform where one can take a break from the heat, or have lunch, or take a nap. After I fell into the rice paddy, we stopped at a shelter so I could clean the mud off my shoes and pants.
Kham’s cousin took us fishing in his long boat. First he runs a long gill net, about 40 feet from the shoreline. Then with a long pole he slaps the water to frighten the fish hoping they will get caught in the net. The fish have been scarce of late due to dam construction about 10 miles upstream. We managed to catch 5 very small fish which, surprisingly, we kept.
The kitchen is spotless.
Kham is grilling the little fish we caught. She also threw some Thai chili peppers on the coals. Nala, our hostess, keeps a coal fire going and controls the heat with thick pieces of wood. She also uses an electric wok to heat up leftovers.
This is where I got to help. Nala and Kham are pulling the meat off the grilled little fish. I’m pounding the fish and grilled peppers into a thick and pasty condiment.
And dinner is served. There were a couple more dishes along with steamed rice and sticky rice.
Kham guided us on a lovely walk through the village. One of the first stops was at the home of this weaver who invited us in to watch.
This is one of two basket weavers in the village. To keep his baskets a consistent size, he works around an older basket. Baskets have multiple uses and the one he’s working on now will be used to cover a chicken. Go back to the kitchen photo and you will see another basket used to cook sticky rice.
These ladies are preparing garlic for planting. Many villagers keep a small herb garden next to their home. In the fall, after the summer rains, the villagers plant a much larger garden along the river in the rich soil . Each household has a designated area along the river to grow vegetables.
Our second day in the village was a holiday so a good number of villagers stayed home to relax. There are several of these raised platforms around the village and people like to sit around and talk about sports .
I am sitting with our hosts and we are enjoying a lovely meal cooked by Kham and her cousin Nala. Steamed rice is in the pot on the sill and sticky rice is in the basket. Every meal was a culinary feast.
This visit to Kham’s village far exceeded my expectations and I have come away from this brief experience with a better understanding of the Laotian way of life, their strong ties to the land and rivers, and their apprehensions of the rapidly changing world around them.