Minority Village Homestay

---

On Friday morning as I returned to my room from my free breakfast I was beconed by a friendly face. Sylvia from Holland had just arrived on the night train and wanted to know whether the guesthouse was any good. We started to chat and after she learnt that I was off at 9.30 that morning on a one night, two day homestay she decided she wanted to come as well. We made the arrangements and then we were off.

In comparison to my previous 2 days the walking was what I considered to be a light stroll. We walked through several minority villages with many ladies tagging along trying to sell us their supposed handicrafts (mass produced, tacky stuff) by 2pm we had arrived at our 'homstay'. We spent the afternoon chatting to our guide about life before tourists, spiritual beliefs and practices within the villages and the transition between traditional life and western life with the influx of tourists and their dollars. Once Zin got talking the flood gates opened and she kept us entertained all afternoon.

Around 4pm we walked the 5 minutes to the river and took a dip. After a beer o'clock drink at a different homestay we headed back and enjoyed a yummy dinner of pork, chicken, rice and vegetables.

Overall the homestay was a let down. Of course I knew I proabably wouldn't get what I wanted which was a real family with which we would sit together and share an evening meal but this was so far from that it is almost funny to write.
We were totally left to our own devises, literally no interaction with the people who owned the place. It was just like being in a village dorm room. The family ate inside and we ate outside. It was pathetic. We were happy to get out of there the next morning.

Saturday's trek was slightly more challenging than Wednesday's but only by a smidge. We got back to the guest house at 2pm ready for a shower but of course as luck would have it the town's water had been turned off and so that was out of the question. In resignation I lay on the bed, ate a Snickers bar and promptly fell asleep.

Later on Sylvia, Jessica, Scott, Emma and I ( the other homestay guests) had afternoon tea at Baguette and Chocolat to console ourselves and debreif about the shitness of the homestay, even though we all agreed that we wanted to find this out for ourselves.

Afterwards we sought a local place for dinner which was pretty cool and then headed to the square for the Saturday night 'Love Market'. This weekly celebration was tradionally where men would woo women with music played on traditional instruments and women would charm their way into the men's arms with their umbrella twirling and enchanting dancing. Nowdays it's all done on a massive stage and is just for the tourists. I think the idea is cool... it's just like their version of speed dating!

We headed off to bed early-ish but I had trouble getting to sleep. It had been a full on couple of days.

---