After waiting for a long time and the bus not arriving, we decide to take a tuk tuk to the school site instead. In the tuk tuk there is an old Lao woman who says that one of her grandchildren is a student at Ramsey's school. She shows us a piece of fabric around her neck and indicates that she weaved it herself. She is old and nearly blind these days. I think she's lovely and the fabric is nice so I ask to take a picture of her with it.
Scenery from tuk tuk.
We arrive at the school late as the sun is just about set, so I don't get a good look at the place. Some of Ramsey's students come out to quickly greet us and help us with our bags. I don't get a formal introduction since we are all tired. Ramsey told me earlier that the students are usually gregarious and natural with him and So because they are used to them, however, they will be very shy with me and this will cause a new extended shyness towards Ramsey since I am his (foreign) friend. He said I will have to do something quickly about that so that they will feel at ease with me, and (more importantly) him again...but right now I am too weary to worry about that - tomorrow I will cross that bridge.My more pressing concern is finding a toilet. I've been holding it in for the last five hours! I semi-dread the character builder awaiting me...yep...figuring out how to use a raised squat compost toilet in absolute darkness while urgently needing to use the facilities. Ramsey hands me a very faint and malfunctioning flashlight with the instructions to bang the toilet about (toilet = two raised planks above a large plastic bucket) to dislodge any scorpions and centipedes that may have taken residence there during their one month absence from the school. He says it's the centipedes that are the worrisome ones. At this news I am a bit anxious but prepared for the challenge until I open the door and shine my fritzy flashlight into the toilet. I dimly see something moving inside the bucket on top of the compost corn husks. I take a closer look and it's two fairly large lizards stuck in the compost. They must have gotten trapped because they couldn't climb up the plastic sides once they had fallen in. I can't do my business on top of them...they're alive! Ramsey tells me to deal with them or remove them. I am unwilling to do either, so Ramsey comes and changes the compost for me. Then it's time to squat for the first time on my vacation. Yep, it's all about the squatting in Asia. I carefully alight the wobbly planks bordering the bucket. It's at this moment that I wonder if I've been so conditioned to need the amenities and comforts of home that the lack of them will compromise my enjoyment of my trip. I know I'm tired, and everything is strange and new, so I shake this unhappy thought aside and tell myself that I will get used to things.
In the dark we head down to the river to wash off our travel weary and dirty bodies. It's been over 30 hours since we left our inn in Khao San to get here. I gingerly shuffle my way along the nearly pitch-black and uneven dirt path heading downward toward the babbling stream that will be our bathing area. Ramsey and So seem to be able to find their footing without the aid of any light but Ramsey is using the dim fritzy flashlight out of consideration for my inability to navigate the darkness. Even in the dark I can tell that the river is beautiful and it cups the entire school site like a large horseshoe. I am looking forward to a nice dip in the river to cool down and get clean. As we get near the river, Ramsey and So make it clear to me that we will be washing with our clothes on, and that next time I can come wrapped (and remain wrapped) in a sarong. I am a bit dismayed. I was just planning to go skinny dip style...it was dark...but they say that the Laos culture is such that nudity or bathing in a bathing suit (let alone either of my bikinis) would be unacceptable. I can't believe it. We are in this natural gorgeous paradise, but I will have to bath in the most modest fashion ever. I have a dress and my underwear on, and yes, they stay on. The wilderness that surrounds me beckons me to be my animal self, without the trappings of clothes, but the Lao culture requires me to keep these trappings. I wade into the water over slippery and uneven rocks. I slip and fall in - I feel a strange disconnect and want to laugh out loud in half amusement half frustration. Ramsey tells me that a French girl came to visit before and in the middle of the day and in front of the passing villagers she bathed completely nude. It was scandalous.
Both using the compost toilet and showering in my clothes has left me a bit dismayed and worn out. Am I in the paradise I had envisioned? I'm too tired to eat so I decide to turn in.
A sleeping mattress has been placed for me in the first floor of the library and So and Ramsey get the second floor. A bug net has been provided above my mattress and So warns me to tuck the ends under when I'm inside. I ask why and get my answer when she crouches down quickly and points under the desk and says "scorpion!". I begin to look around my surroundings...ahem...I don't see a scorpion but I see a wasp nest hanging off the ceiling in the corner of the room. Wasps crawl lazily over it. I didn't think to bring my Epipen with me on this trip - bah...yes...I'm one of those people. I decide it is prudent to do as I'm told and tuck my net in under my mattress very carefully. I station the flashlight next to my head. Tomorrow will be better I assure myself. It's 10pm...I am finally exhausted and fall into a stone cold dreamless sleep.
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