Our Home

In our first year and half of marriage we lived in many homes…with Jeffrey’s parents and in a friend's farmhouse our first summer, traveling to Florida and living in a small primitive community while studying Community Development, spending the next six months living between both our parents in Minnesota and then Vermont, coming to Laos and living with a host family for two months and then moving to Tha Thom to spend the next two months in a guest house… and now after months of anticipation we have finally moved the seventh time… into our first real house!

If you are ever able to take a visit to Laos, don’t worry about the questions, ‘Where will we stay?’ ‘What will we do?’ ‘Who will we see?’ We can now answer all those questions for you!

Our Home!

Our new home is located a short distance down the main road from the ‘business district,’ directly across from the local temple (called a ‘wat’). We were happy when the home was not built on the road, but rather about thirty meters back. This will hopefully translate to less dust in the hot season and noise during village festivals. There are also a number of trees living in the yard, and we are happy for the shade they provide and hopefully fruit, too!

After a Thorough Cleaning

The house is a traditional style, raised-structure, and we hear that in the hot season families will spend more time beneath the home than actually in it! The home also consists of a traditional outdoor kitchen which is located directly behind the home. Some of our home’s ‘un-traditional’ characteristics are the porch, wooden walls and tiled roof. A traditional home would probably not have a porch, and would be built with bamboo walls and a grass roof.

Relaxing with a Bowl of Wai Wai (Ramen Noodles)

As you step into the house, you will enter our large living and eating area. After three months of sore rear ends, Jeffrey was insistent on the ‘comfort factor’ in our home. Most Lao homes will have various chairs or couches, but we have yet to see one with cushions on it. Our home will be furnished with a couch and sitting chairs (with cushions!) as well as cushions on the floor encircling our traditional Lao table.

We have two bedrooms, one for you and one for us! The guestroom is a bit snug and we actually had to cut the bed to fit it into the room! Part of this fact is due to a traditional custom we were informed of, ‘In Tha Thom people will never sleep against the grain of the floor boards, only with them. This is because when a person dies, they will be placed across the floor boards, demonstrating how that person can no longer do things as living people do.’ In our western point-of-view, we’d rather position the beds to maximize the space, but for now we’ve chosen to leave our beds the Lao way.

You can then make your way through the home and step down into our indoor kitchen. We were surprised to hear that even though they were building us an outdoor kitchen, we would still have an indoor one as well. I’m still trying to figure out what to do with all the space! One exciting item in our kitchen is the sink and a ‘running water’ tank that Jeffrey built for us. I find washing dishes this way much easier on the back. We also have a good refrigerator that does a great job at keeping food cool…when the electricity is on. As we are entering the dry season, electricity is becoming more and more sporadic.

Our bathroom is another step down from the kitchen. The interesting 4-different tiles used (all various shades of white and pink) are good at waking one up in the morning. There is also a large mirror on one wall, which to Jeffrey’s satisfaction, is high enough that he can shave without slouching to see himself! And yes we do have an Asian style toilet. We actually find we prefer it to the western style.
In our back yard we have the outdoor kitchen, well, coffee trees and the future site of our garden (more on that when it’s completed and green!). You can take a short stroll down to the river front, observing local villagers washing clothes, showering, fishing, children playing… or a perfect view of the starry sky on a dark night!

We feel blessed to have such a beautiful place to call our home in Laos, and we think it’s been worth the wait! When you come visit us, we hope you will agree!
Posted by Kaarina

Motorcycle Tales (Part II)

After our time was spent we returned once again via the mountains to Vang Vieng another of our destinations just north of the Vientiane. Unfortunately, this city is popular with the party crowd, but for us, caves, limestone cliffs and an organic farm were on the docket.

Limestone Cliffs and Dry Rice Fields

Blue Lagoon Cave

 Our accommodations at an organic farm were simple yet comfortable. Guests can stay in a dorm setting, guest room setting or even rent their own bungalow. The farm’s main products come from mulberries. Mulberries, mulberry tea, mulberry wine, mulberry shakes, deep fried mulberry leaves and goat cheese are all sold. I include the goat cheese as part of the mulberry product list because the goats on the farm are fed mulberry leaves too! The farm also has pigs that had a big litter of piglets during our stay. Workers and volunteers just planted pineapple and are putting in garden beds. It sometimes seems strange starting gardens in December! The farm is beautifully located on the edge of a large river. They demonstrate the use of mud buildings as sustainable alternatives to concrete and offer them as living quarters to those visiting at the farm. We thoroughly enjoyed our time at the farm and if we get the chance may go back to volunteer.

Young Mulberry Trees

A Modern Mud Home

Rows of Mulberry Trees

On New Year’s Eve a group of kids from the community center, which is also associated with the farm, held a small dance performance at the farm café. We both concluded that Lao enjoy two kinds of dancing, Lao traditional dances and hip hop. Unfortunately as evening progressed the Indian food that we ate earlier began talking back! When the clock struck twelve and the fireworks in Vang Vieng went off we both ushered in the new year from our seats in the occupied the outhouses. Food poisoning sure wasn’t fun…but I told Kaarina that we would eventually be able to eat food again and it would be a good story for the blog. We are thankful that through all our travels, diverse menus and sketchy restaurants, food and water has not made us sick until now.

With our bike returned and the New Year ahead we are excited to get back to Tha Thom and move into our new home! (Stay tuned).
Posted by Jeffrey

Motorcycle Tales (Part I)

Two hours into the trip, straddling our rented 250 Honda Baja, we began asking ourselves if this really was worth it. Our butts and back hurt and legs were cramped. Dirt bikes were not made for touring! Then we reached the mountains, completely forgot our sorrows and realized why we wanted to do this trip. Stunning limestone cliffs graced by clouds and dotted with caves, strange almost monument-like rocky outcrops, mountains wrapped in jungles and 15 foot “broom” grass, rice terraces in the lowlands, and the sun’s rays streaming through scattered clouds, decorated our route. Road 13 snakes its way along the mountain sides which perfectly suits motorbikes. For buses, cars and trucks it can be treacherous both in safety and to the stomach. The entirety of the mountain journey we found ourselves thrilled to experience the beauty from the saddle of a bike!

Starting Stance

Mountain Road to Luang Prabang

 This Christmas Kaarina and I traveled to Luang Prabang, a historic northern Lao city. When Lao was a kingdom this city was the capital of Lao. The royal palace, now a museum, is surprisingly well preserved. One room (Kaarina’s favorite) has its walls adorned with murals depicting Lao village life. The throne room is also stunning as it is adorned with murals of elephants, wars, villages, people and animals made solely out of different colored mirrors!

National Museum and Wat

 A strong French influence remains in Luang Prabang as stucco-ed villas and French-Lao food create an atmosphere that is strangely European. The night market reminds you that you really are still in Lao. An entire street is closed nightly when merchants set up tents and spread out their wares for sale. What makes this market uniquely Lao is that it is probably the quietest and most low-key shopping experience, second only to the silent auction.

A Side Street of the Luang Prabang Night Market

Many fair trade shops sporting elegant fabrics in the form of clothing, wall hangings…you name it, can be found throughout Luang Prabang. Most of the textiles will remain in our dreams as many things came with heavy price tags. However, Kaarina did buy the most beautiful sihn in the world at one such shop, Gobnoi (Small Frog).

Another enterprise that both of my grandmothers would get a kick out of is Big Brother Mouse. This organization has translated and written many books in Lao for kids. We have also used their books to help our Lao learning. They employ local young artists and writers, usually collage age. The books are either sold or if they receive enough donations are distributed in various rural villages and schools where children don’t have books. Some books even reach their village on elephant back!

At the National Museum

 As some of you might expect, the city bustle wasn’t the only attraction for us. Luang Prabang is renowned for its picturesque waterfalls! We spent a perfect afternoon exploring jungle trails, reading by serene waterfalls and playing Tarzan, swinging off trees to splash into blue-green pools. The pictures tell more.

Tat Kuang Si Waterfall

Posted by Jeffrey