Weather: 32 Celsius - Sunny and very hot

John, Sam, Ken and I had a big breakfast at the Banneton Bakery this morning. Then we prepared our luggage for the trip. We also spent some time helping John with his itinerary. 

December 26, John and Sam plan to leave Laos for Cambodia, visit around and return to Seoul for the New Year’s Eve celebration. They will be back to Canada January 3rd.

At 11 am, we left our hotel. At noon, our driver, Somphet, invited us to have lunch (soup, fish, vegetables) with a group of his former monk friends. It was a small – sort of New Year celebration. Now many of them have families and jobs. They have even formed a football team.

At 12:30 pm, we were on the road again, stopping here and there to stretch or buy things such  as «Khao Lam», sticky rice cooked in bamboo tubes. Around 3 pm, we decided to do a spot check Viengkham Secondary School, our 5th project which was built 3 years ago in 2015. We were pleased to observe how well they took care of the school, washrooms and deep-well.

After another three hours on damaged rocky roads, we arrived to Vang Vieng. At around 6 pm, we arrived at the Grand Hotel Riverside 2 by the Song river where we will stay for a few nights. It’s a big hotel, quite modern and very comfortable.

At 7 pm, we walked around the night market, saw a variety of very interesting articles. At 9 pm, we treated ourselves by having our dinner at Le Crabe d’Or, a chic restaurant by the river. We were back to the hotel at 10 pm to rest and get ready to go to bed.