December 20, 2018 – Thursday
Weather: 32 Celsius – Sunny and hot
Today was a day to recover and adjust the plan for the rest of the trip. After a hearty breakfast at the Banneton Bakery, Ken and I were very busy writing emails to John, Debra and others. We prepared the banners for the Na Yè school inauguration. We had to order some to a printer.
Then we reserved the hotel in Vang Vieng. It’s a popular time of the year for travelers – we had to shop around. Soon after we phoned to the reporter to remind him to send us the links of the SKL interview – once received we will post them on our website.
In the mid-afternoon, we took a walk around. We had a nice soup nearby. Ken offered me to learn a little bit about his childhood neighborhood. It’s been seven years, since his last visit in that specific area.
Quite a few things changed, but there are still back alleys, buildings built by his father among others; the temple backyard where he played as a child; the neighborhood of Sengkeo, the wife of Ken, when they were youngsters; the neighborhood of the Phanlouvong family, where some members are still living, like a cousin and the sister of a childhood friend we met; the site of his primary school. A touch of nostalgia was in the air, in a nice and very good way.
We arrived at Ken’s brother house around 5 pm. After a short conversation with his family, we took a Jumbo ride back to the hotel. I started to work on the blog. Ken and Sengkeo went to meet friends for supper.
John Loewen and his son Sam will arrive this evening at 11:30 pm. They are coming from Seoul (South Korea). We are quite excited and lucky to have their company for the inauguration of Na Yè school, near Vang Vieng.
John and Sam will represent the Wasabi Group and friends from Manitoba (Canada). They accomplished a remarkable work, succeeding to fundraise the complete amount needed to build a school with furniture, washrooms, deep well and playground (value: $58,000 CAN), in three years.
