The 6-hour bus ride went quite quickly and by the time we arrived in Hin Boun near the border of Vietnam, we were refreshed and relaxed. We stayed in a village, relatively average sized in this area, of about 1000 people.
One or two of the kids knew a few words of English, but the majority didn’t – so we communicated in the international language of hopscotch, hand-clapping games, and a great one called ‘let’s look at Sarah’s photos and realise most of them are shit and are of boring things like trees, waterfalls and pigs. But it was great fun (don’t worry you will all get to play soon!).
Our local guide cooked us a meal of fresh spring rolls and tamarind dipping sauce as well as soup, rice and vegetables which was heaven. It was great to watch village life, and interesting to see how work and life is so intermingled in Indochina. People don’t choose where, when or how they work, it’s just what they do as part of their day. Street-side restaurants are within the living rooms of the family, undoubtably with a TV and a few kids sitting 2cm away from the screen watching Power Rangers (some things don’t change wherever you go). Kids also help their parents with the work as soon as they can walk, and you can see the young girls of 10 or 11 stop what they are doing and cock their head, hearing a baby cry, before going to see if they can settle it. They are also kids mind you, and then try to push each other off the blaconies. As you do.
We slept on mattresses in two huts, mosquito nets hanging over us from the ceiling like coocoons, and woke to roosters crowing before saying goodbye to our newfound friends and travelling a few hours to the Vietnam border.
We have been told that if Laos is a sweet friend sitting at a distance, then Vietnam is a stranger yelling two inches from your nose. But we are all looking forward to the challenge.
-Sarah
Sarah