Trip to Sopjam Village

The trip to Ban Sopjam started with a tuk-tuk bus ride with a bag of potatoes resting on my feet and an old man resting his hand on my knee. I knew I was leaving the westernized city of Luang Prabang for the real Laos. A village with 200 people. My companions for this journey were a fellow English teacher, Tricia, and a novice monk named Sayphone.

We switched from the bumpiness of the tuk-tuk to the serenity of a slow boat after a bit of lunch in Nong Kiau. Somehow words are lacking to describe the river... groves of oranges, water buffalo, kids playing, the green lushness, splashing a novice with water, and then seeing the most beautiful beach and thinking, "I hope we're staying there." We did.

The first night was amazing... Meeting kids setting traps for rats (yes, to eat)... Dinner with the headman... Drinking lau lao whiskey... Teaching the alphabet to village kids... The kids and dogs and chickens running around the village... An old woman stoned out of her mind chewing betel... Drinking lau lao with the men into the wee hours...

Day 2. Some villagers took us on a hike to other nearby villages. A Khmu village. This was first time meeting Khmu people, they don't speak Laos (or at least it's not their first language). It was amazing to be there. The village was busy weighing bags of rice. Two men held a stout piece of bamboo on their shoulders while 50 kg bags of rice hung from the weighing mechanism. Unfortunately the lau lao from the night before was taking its toll on me...

We saw the jungle path that the villagers were quite proud of, they had been widening it so they could use their new hand cart to move heavy bags of rice. We ate lunch by the rice fields, fresh fish served on bamboo leaves in the hut. This is when I realized something was more wrong with me than just a hangover...

Back at Sopjam I opted out of the Baci ceremony the village had prepared for us in order to sleep off the stomachache. Fortunately, Tricia and Sayphone were able to participate and take heaps of great photos!


I wanted reality and I saw it. Wow! The rawness of seeing villagers living so close to the land. So close to their food sources. When was the last time you slaughtered a pig for dinner? Or even gutted a fish for lunch?

I plan to go back and spend a little more time in Ban Sopjam when I get the chance.