Blind Man's Buff and Barbeques

Sat 24 Jan 2015

I’m sitting on the balcony waiting for the morning mist to rise in the valley and for the temperature to go up a bit. It’s 16 degrees now, at 10 o’clock, but by midday it’ll be 25 and rising. Interestingly, yesterday morning the cloud was low and persistent. It wasn’t exactly raining but water dripped off the leaves and the thatch, pinging on the bathroom roof. Although the sun broke through at about 11 it was still cold with a chilly breeze up on the balcony. Yet when I went down and sat on the lawn below, just 20 yards away, it was a full 3 degrees warmer – and very pleasant!

And here comes Lianne with our morning treat – Lipton’s tea for Trevann, thick black Lao coffee for me plus a couple of small bananas each. Break.

When we spent our first three months here two years ago I was afraid when we left that if we returned it could be drastically changed. Such is the pace of development in Laos, with Chinese money flowing freely and tourist numbers expanding exponentially, I feared that every plot of land along the dirt road in this green valley would soon be bought up and built on. This hasn’t happened. Yes, a few new houses have been built, and the productive fields in the bottom of the valley have been dug out and converted into fish ponds, but development has been slower than I expected.

Some of the new houses in Ban Na Dad.

The Chinese-funded fishponds.

One of the special features of Khoun and Khone’s bungalows are the moths! They come in all sorts of shapes, colours and sizes, attracted to the balcony lights. I’ve no idea what their names are, but their ability to mimic constantly amazes me.

How amazing is that!?

When we arrived two weeks ago we decided – given that we had the choice of any of the six bungalows – to try Number 4, which has a big light room and tiled bathroom, rather than our usual Number 5 up the top of the garden. It sits behind the family house in front of the family’s spirit house.

Number 4 bungalow - with resident artist.

"Mak Beng" - little cones of banana leaves and marigolds offered to the spirits to keep them peaceful.

A few days later we were woken in the morning by the sound of roofers removing the old thatch from the family house. I remember this thatch being put on just 2 years ago. Obviously not very durable. This time six barefoot chain-smoking workers – nimbly scaling the roof with the aid of just a couple of bamboo poles cut from the garden – removed the thatch, nailed on a layer of corrugated tin the thickness of Bacofoil, and replaced with fresh thatch panels. It only took two days in all.

Some of the bungalows are in dire need of rethatching.

This is how it's done - nimble-footed and fast.

Meanwhile Mimi invited a gaggle of 15-year-old mates to have a party in the next door bungalow. Much giggling could be heard and I wondered what they were getting up to. We were amused to see them innocently engaged in a riotous game of Blind Man’s Buff on the lawn! No alcohol involved.

Most evenings we head down to town at about 6.30 for a beer and a meal. If we get there early enough we can sit by the Mekong and watch the slow boats tying up at sunset.

One evening Khone invited us to join her and Mimi for a Lao barbeque at a locals restaurant in town. Khoun turned up as well. A Lao BBQ is an interactive affair. The food is cooked in the middle of the table on a hotpot filled with glowing charcoal with a hubcap-shaped griddle on top. Thin slivers of chicken, pork, fish or tofu go on the dome, while green veg and noodles cook in a stock boiling in the groove around it. Delicious!

Khone and Mimi.

It’s great to see and hear the bungalows coming alive again. Having been closed for several months the place was looking decidedly unkempt with floors unswept and rubbish piled up. But now there are guests again and it’s gone back on Agoda so everything is getting care and attention. We’ve been helping out by sweeping leaves – and handing over dollars!

Butterfly and bourgainvillea.

And this week we moved back up to our favourite Number 5 bungalow, where the view is wonderful and the sunsets spectacular.