Abe, Jill, and Easton Sobczak

Weekend in Luang Prabang

Last weekend we had meetings in Luang Prabang, which is about 8 hours north of us.  It is the old capitol of Laos, and considered to be the spiritual capitol of the country today.  We loaded up at 5:30am to make the big drive north!   We had been told that the road was an old, winding mountain road with tons of potholes. Nothing could have been closer to the truth, yet that simple description seems so lacking.  The rainy season pretty much destroys the roads here. Huge potholes riddle every main street and side street, dirt or paved, here in the city.  Once you leave the city, the roads only get worse.  All that to say, the 8 hour trip north was terribly long and exhausting BUT totally worth it because the drive through the mountains was absolutely beautiful! Watching the buildings of the city fade into beautiful, green mountain tops was like taking a deep breath of fresh air!

Our view on the drive up to Luang Prabang

Once in Luang Prabang, we enjoyed going to a beautiful waterfall and river, although Easton wasn’t too sure about the COLD water.   Living in the capitol city, we don’t see a ton of trees, except in our yard.   While the trees at the waterfall were different, just being in the mountains in the “fall” so reminded me of being in East TN.   I miss the changing colors on the trees and the cool nights of the fall season.  It has cooled off here.   It gets down into the 70s at night and only the low 90s during the day!   Not exactly the same as home, but the trip to the waterfall was a comforting reminder of home and I loved it!

Enjoying our time at the waterfall

We also went to the night market and had a lot of fun!   We actually know enough language now to have conversations and feel more comfortable meeting new Lao friends.   We met a new friend at the night market.  He was so fascinated with Easton’s light skin and blue eyes.   We bought a ton of stuff from this little guy!  He was just too fun and friendly not to buy things from him.  He actually asked if he could keep Easton and raise him . . . wait. . . . come to think of it . . . . maybe he was asking if we would raise him!  Well either way, guess we definitely better plan on staying in language school a bit longer.

Our friend from the night market

On the trip home, we were tired and the mountain road really began to wear on us.   Easton was a trooper but it definitely exhausted him!   We were driving home on a Sunday, which must be bath day in the villages along the mountain road.   No one seemed to have running water in their little houses, but we saw them taking dip baths at every well and watering hole along the road.   The houses are built right beside the road so driving basically went like this . . . dodge a herd of cows . . . . round a corner . . . don’t hit those chickens and dogs . . . round another switchback corner. . . watch out for the kids playing in the road . . . hit a crater size pothole . . . now follow another hair-pin turn in the road. Exhausting!!!

The other scene of the mountain road was the constant manual labor going on in the villages. Because there is no running water, it has to be carried up the mountain to the houses.  On the long drive from Luang Prabang back here to Vientiane, I know we saw a total of at least 300 kids, ages 5 -12 yrs old, carrying LOADS of water, fire wood, potatoes, and fruit.  It was mile after mile of kids carrying gallons of water and tons of heavy firewood and fruit, usually without shoes.  I’m sorry to say we couldn’t get a picture of these kids. The road was just too narrow and winding to try to stop and get pictures.  As I’m writing this blog, we have no city water coming to our house today.  For some unknown reason they have randomly turned our water off with no warning at all.  I was in the shower trying to get the conditioner out of my hair this morning and all of a sudden, there was no more water. That was frustrating.  Just as soon as I started to complain, I remembered the MANY children who were carrying gallons of water up a steep mountain, barefoot.  They don’t even know what a free flowing, much less hot, shower is like. In a few weeks, we will all celebrate Thanksgiving.  So today I’m thankful for running water and electricity!  Sometimes it’s good to just stop and be thankful for the little things.

Roadside convenience . . . not so much