Lao Village

The bridge to the Lao village.

The Lao people use concrete and tin more to build their houses. They have more money because a lot of them work in Luang Prabang, especially with tourists. The concrete lasts much longer so they don’t have to keep repairing their houses.

Mung told us that the village is like a big family. Everyone supports each other. When there is a wedding or a funeral which are expensive, everyone helps pay for them. He said that people are lonelier in the towns because they don’t have their community.

It was Saturday when we went to the Lao village, and there was no school so all the kids were playing together. It reminded Mum of Riverside or BP Compound in Saigon – kids playing with kids. 

There were 3 monks in the village, two boys who were about 11 or 12 and an older monk. They live in the temple grounds.

Every village has a boat – like a dragon-boat – which they use to compete against all the other villages in boat races once a year. The boat at this village won the race last year.

We saw lots of young teak plantations. Mung told us that teak wood is wanted and is worth money but it takes 25-30 years to grow to a full sized tree. Mung said that a lot of villagers are planting the teak for their children to have, and also to give the children something so they will look after them when they are old. Mum says it’s like a superannuation plantation.

RIVER USES

There were piles of stones at the village which had been collected from the river. They are smashed into small pieces and used with cement to make bags.

The river is also the washing machine. We saw lots of women taking loads of washing to clean in the muddy river. Mum said she washed her trousers the same way yesterday because they were soaked from our kayaking.