a homestay in Ban Sopjam

It was fantastic staying in Ban Sokjam, a small community of 40 families. Ruby and Anouk instantly made friends with all the children which broke the ice and we all got to join in village life and to play with the kids. Fantastic that words are not the only way we communicate, lovely to experience so much joy and laughter.
And so relaxing with nothing to do, just to be, observe life and admire the beautiful scenery. I could see that in reality life is pretty tough here, the families were incredibly poor, working hard to keep a roof over their heads and feed the family. lovely to see a primary school, the village's children do have the opportunity of an education until the age if 10, after this it's off to work in the padi fields for most.
I loved walking with the villagers to their rice fields, we tried to help with the harvest, it's back braking work.

We stayed with our guide's mum, when we arrived at her home she sent everyone to the Nam Ou river, us to wash and her family to catch fish for dinner. Dinner was delicious and the locally brewed laolao was a perfect accompaniment, it's obligatory to finish the whole bottle! oh well it helped us to sleep.
There's no electricity so it was pitch black and very peaceful at night. Space was tight in muma's house so I was sent to the neighbours. It was only 8pm the family were already fast asleep, how to describe my mattress? mmm, a hard, lumpy table! I woke through the night when various parts of me were numb. In the morning I met the family, they were snoozing and grinning, 4 grown ups and 4 children, we were nattering away in our respective languages but I did understand they wanted me to buy some of their woven silk and cotton fabrics. 

The women of Sokjam are know for their weaving and to support the village we spent all the cash we had. 30 minutes later we witnessed the villagers spending the cash, great to directly see the cycle of economy