Luang Probang: Teaching and Chumpet

On the morning of my 3rd day in Luang Probang, Andy and I went to Big Brother Mouse for the second morning in a row and participated as volunteer teachers at another 2-hour English class that takes place at this excellent volunteer project. With the satisfaction of teaching and connecting with locals under our belt, we headed off to our other plan for the day which was to take a Ferry Boat across the Mekong River, to Chumpet Village, where there are many more temples and roads to explore in local villages.

We had an interesting experience negotiating our boat fare while drifting across the river. The locals all pretended to pay 20,000Kip so that we a tourists would be convinced that this was the right price (the ticket seller then gives the money back to the locals after we would supposedly pay for our raised tourist-fee). Luckily, Andy has been traveling in SE Asia for over a year, and was onto this scam, and insisted on the 5,000 that he knew the ferry boat price to be. The ticket-taker sheepishly took the money from us, and gave back the change of 15,000 to the other local ticket payers who had participated in tricking us.

Events like this have become commonplace and even amusing to me, though I do not enjoy being tricked per se. Luckily, the amounts of money we are talking about are small, and I tend to find out the correct price before I can be vulnerable to such schemes.

Upon arriving to Chumpet a few minutes later, we rode our bicycles leisurely through the town after our slow drift across the river. We stopped every few minutes at a local food stall for Pho, and some leaf-wrapped sweet rice concoction, as well as a frozen bubble-tea (Taro, of course!) and communicated with the locals in whatever way possible to find a smile and a connection. The guy next to me shared his Pho with me when there turned out to be no more available, it was quite sweet, and the woman running the shop shared hers with Andy.

For the rest of the afternoon, we drove on rocky and dirt roads at a slow pace, climbing up long staircases to different temples, walked through forest to a local monastery, and then tried to find a local sugar-cane farm that Andy was intent on finding for some late-afternoon sweetness.

We didn't find the sugarcane farm, but we did find some excellent kids on beautiful country roads. When we stopped a few times to ask directions, we wound up accumulating a small crowd of children that were following us, and saying the word 'Pen' to me repeatedly, which, I did not know what this Lao word meant, so I just shook my head at them, and wondered what they were asking for. Pretty soon thereafter, I patted the back of my bicycle where there is a section to strap a bag onto, or to seat a person, and offered rides on the back of my bicycle. A brother and sister pair jumped onto the back of my bicycle a number of times, and we all laughed as I pulled this extra weight up and down rocky and bumpy dirt roads. It was so much fun!

A bit later, when I asked Andy what 'pen' meant, he said 'It means pen. They are asking for pens. They need pens here, they don't have them.' I laughed at myself for the misunderstanding, having expected that they were only speaking to me in Lao, and I looked to the kids and asked them "Oh! You want PENS???' and they nodded their heads with smiles and excitement. Who am I to turn down children asking for pens? So with two kiddos on the back of my bike, and nine more running and following behind, we went down the hill to the local shop where they sold all sorts of goodies, including pens.

I counted the eleven kids following me into the store, bought eleven pens, and handed them out to the waiting and eager hands extended. A father with his two children sitting at the store picked up his kids and held them out towards me, asking silently with a smile for pens for his little ones as well, and, I bought two more pens and gave them to them. The store owner was smiling, her daughter was smiling, the kids were smiling, Andy and I were smiling. It was a very sweet moment, and I felt quite happy, as well as melancholy at the fact that a pen, something so small and inexpensive to me, was a glorious gift and sought after item by these children in this village. I know that this experience will continue to effect me and develop my growth and intentions along the road of life.

We rode our bicycles back to the dock, and made our way back on the evening ferry (a small drifting raft with an engine, really, but strong enough to carry a truck, which it did) driven by an 11-year old boy. It was a sweet day, and a sweet ride back across the Mekong. I parted ways with Andy, went back 'home' to take a shower, and went to the night market for my ritual street food. I shared a table with a Japanese man who I had met the night before, and we ate our whole-fish dinner with chopsticks on its plate of a banana leaf. I came back to my guesthouse happy and looking forward to the next day, quite possibly my last in Luang Probang.