Memoirs of OVE Laos Ep 3 - Pong Song Village
I can never be done with blogging about Laos at the snail pace I am going. The village! A very memorable experience, where I sincerely feel the warmth of LAOians. And so we embarked on our 2 hrs bus ride from Vientiane to Pong Song Village~
Imagine a village with a very slow pace of life, where the day starts as early as 5am, where women belong to the kitchen and men in the fields, where kids do not receieve any formal education unless some voluntary group visits the village...
We were all split into groups and attached to various host families. This is the house I stayed in~ Not bad, I never expect to see a TV!
The way villagers bathe, and probably how our grandparents bathe in Kampong. It feels really damn shoick and cold to use the mug to pour the natural water all over the body~
The kitchen~
My housemates for 3 nights~ 
KB took this pic without my knowledge~
The village hat is seriously a blessing to have in the scorching weather~
Look at KX, so cui in the hat~
Making cement seems to be our 'forte'~
This is how 30-40 kids plus 10 volunteers cramp in a poorly ventilated classroom~
And how everyone have lunch in the classroom, food is free-flow btw as the villagers were incessant in replenishing our soup, eggs, rice fearing that we were not fully satisfied~ 
Look at this huge dish outside almost every house! 
On the way to school~
Seriously I dunno why Derrick carries such a SMALL bag around~
Reception was so bad that Jess had to climb up the van in a bid to send an sms for me. It still failed despite her efforts~
The most hilarious part when Peiling was greeted by everyone when she stepped out of the bathroom. He 21st Bday in Laos~There was of course no cake in the village, no candles so we only had fried potatoes for her
Our typical Laoian affair daily. This is our 7am breakfast btw, prepared by our host family~
Dinner~
And whats most famous in Laoian meals. STICKY rice~ Its really sticky and we eat with our hands like what the villagers do~
Our fav pastimes during freetimes, playing bridge! Some people really cannot get exposed to the sun haha~
The clouds at the village take on all forms~
The Padi fields~
Our first welcome meal~
This is the 'dining' table~ Reminds me of Da Chang Jin where the maids will carry the table and serve the emperor~
We had to resort to using leaves to shield from the heat !
Fun while working ~
I dunno what era this pic looks like, just so wrong~ 
Its a shame how many guys u need to carry this pile~
The volunteers and villagers and kids~
How a woman can smile while slaughtering a chicken~
And soaking the feeble chicken in HOT soup~ 
Our last nite in Pong Song, an extremely great reception in the evening~
My host family and me~
A night which ended with campfire. Almost the WHOLE village came down and sang, play with us. Super touching
The morning before departure~
A last group pic at Pong Song~
A last group pic at Pong Song~
Not done yet~
