Lucky 13

At the beganing of may I stayed with a homestay family for 10 days. Took a local bus and got dropped off in a remote village called Kong lor in Lao. I was walking around looking for somewhere to stay when I stumbled upon house number 13. There were loads of people hanging out outside talking eating mango and laughing. I said saaawa-deee and made a sleeping singal with my hands. The pulled me inside showing me a room and gave me food. 

The view from my front door. 

My three crazy homestay sisters. 

Mai(with the peace sign). Om(in the middle) and Ai(little one on the right). 

I had so much fun with these girls! 

We had a photo shoot one day: 

The parents were tabaco farmers so the girls and I would run around the tabaco fields all day. They had just harvested before I got there. So during my stay I helped them lay out the leaves to dry and then bundle them up. It was quite the process. 

We went fishing, hiking, hula hooped, and played endless games at the local school. Every evening around 4 or 5 we would take a bath in the stream. Everyone from the village would bathe at this time and it was the highlight of my day. It was so much fun splashing around. Even the elderly people would be in the water splashing eachother. I love how playful and fun Lao people are.  

On my last night my family had a basi (traditional Lao party for a family member who is arriving or leaving) for me. They dressed me up in traditional Lao clothes with a beautiful sin (silk wrapping skirt) and a scarf you wear laying on one shoulder. There was a priest who said a bunch of prayers in Lao wishing me good travels. Everyone in the village came with money attached to strings. After the priest talked everyone tied the strings with money around my wrists while they said a prayer. 

It was such an amazing experience to live with a Lao family for 10 days.