This morning started off well, but I became really annoyed within 30 minutes. The same children that were hanging around last night, came to visit us again this morning. They were just screwing around with the fire & each other most of the time while James & I sat around the fire. The kids didn't do anything directly to make me upset, but I just stopped talking (which is what I do when I'm angry). James asked me what my issue was, and I couldn't explain it right away.
As I thought about it more, I realized that I was upset at the children and the villagers. This village is one of the few that are partially supported by tourism dollars. The adults & village elders didn't make a point of ensuring that the children were in school. All I saw was a huge opportunity being wasted - they were gifted with tourists a couple times a week. Not that the tourists do good things for the community, but their dollars help the village purchase items that westerners think of as basic needs (such as clothing, food, etc.). All I saw was these damn kids thinking that we were more fun than school. I think the thing that put me over the top was that several adults had walked by or stopped by our hut. They saw that the children weren't in school, but no one instructed them to go. The teacher didn't come to re-enforce that they should be in the classroom. One of the kids pulled out a pen & a flashlight - I can only assume that they received it from a tourist at some point in time. Putting myself in the kids' position, I can see how cool gifts from foreigners is much better than sitting in class and doing something that isn't fun.
This morning was had another mediocre breakfast - a damp baguette with sweetened condensed milk. I ate about half of it; I couldn't force myself to continue eating it. I reminded myself that I had been eating for two people all week, and that a small breakfast was probably a good thing for my stomach.
As I thought about it more, I realized that I was upset at the children and the villagers. This village is one of the few that are partially supported by tourism dollars. The adults & village elders didn't make a point of ensuring that the children were in school. All I saw was a huge opportunity being wasted - they were gifted with tourists a couple times a week. Not that the tourists do good things for the community, but their dollars help the village purchase items that westerners think of as basic needs (such as clothing, food, etc.). All I saw was these damn kids thinking that we were more fun than school. I think the thing that put me over the top was that several adults had walked by or stopped by our hut. They saw that the children weren't in school, but no one instructed them to go. The teacher didn't come to re-enforce that they should be in the classroom. One of the kids pulled out a pen & a flashlight - I can only assume that they received it from a tourist at some point in time. Putting myself in the kids' position, I can see how cool gifts from foreigners is much better than sitting in class and doing something that isn't fun.
This morning was had another mediocre breakfast - a damp baguette with sweetened condensed milk. I ate about half of it; I couldn't force myself to continue eating it. I reminded myself that I had been eating for two people all week, and that a small breakfast was probably a good thing for my stomach.
My feet were tore up today - I had two places where skin was starting to wear away, another place that had a blister, and several places that had red wear marks. I covered all of the spots in large swatches of moleskin, hoping that it would keep my feet from becoming any worse. My feet weren't in a lot of pain on flat ground, but the straps on my sandals dug into my feet as we were trekking down steep hillsides.My mood improved after we left for the morning; it was an 'out of sight, out of mind' sort of thing. I tried not to think about it after we left, as there wasn't anything that I could do. When I brought it up to Pon, he gave an indolent response.
Day 5 was to be another hard slog up & down the mountainsides. I welcomed the exertion though, mostly because James and I had become somewhat slothful. We were walking many hours each day of our trip, but we lacked cardiovascular exercise. After 5 days of hiking through this national park, I understood why it had become protected. The landscape was beautiful; rivers ran along each valley floor, birds lived throughout the tree tops, and there were a lot of different plant species. I wish that I could have seen more animals, but it's difficult to see animals in the wild at any place on Earth that I've visited before. We (humans) make a lot of noise, and the animals are alert to our presence long before we come within seeing distance of them.
After lunch, we stopped for a break. Pon pointed out some thick tree vines that we could climb. Having talked about climbing vines earlier in the week, James and I both jumped on separate vines. James easily surpassed me - he had climbed to nearly 15 meters while I stopped somewhere around 3 meters. Pon took some photos, and then we continued onwards.
We reached camp at a reasonable hour - we stayed with a former village chief & his wife. His children had been lucky enough to go to secondary school, so the house was pretty quiet. This village was fairly modern; everyone had solar panels which provided enough power for a few light bulbs, and an occasional radio. The chief and his wife made a wonderful meal for us; there was bamboo salad (made from the core of young bamboo plants), fish (not sure if it was tasty - ask James), sticky rice, chili paste, and ginger green beans. They even had a lime cut up and placed in the water bowl where we washed our hands. The exquisiteness of washing our hands in lime-laced water it seemed very out of place...it felt like something that would happen at a 5 star hotel. Regardless, my hands were zesty fresh for a few seconds after washing them.
After dinner, we sat around talking. The chief gave us some berries (that Pon assured me were good to combat hangovers) - it was probably the most curious food that I ate all holiday. The fruit was about the size of a blueberry, green like a granny smith apple, and as hard as an uncooked potato. There was a seed in the center, that you had to gnaw around. The berry was extremely sour - more sour than a lemon...until you drank water. There was some sort of chemical reaction with the water - it produced a smooth, sweet taste in my mouth. I was flummoxed by the fruit - I had never had anything like it. I ate another one, puckering the entire time I was eating the flesh. Afterwards, I had a sip of water, and instantly the inside of my mouth turned sweet. I wish the fruit had an English name, because I don't remember what the Lao name was...
Afterward, the chief also served us pickled tea leaves. I took a leaf, put a hunk of ginger in the center, sprinkled the ginger with salt, rolled up the leaf and chewed it. Pon mentioned that you could chew the same leaf for hours if you wanted to, but he warned against doing so because of the caffeine. I wanted to sleep tonight, so I swallowed it after a few minutes of chewing on it. The leaf had a slightly sour taste (from whatever is used to pickle it), but the salt and ginger made the tea leaf savory. It was a nice flavor that I hadn't had before.
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