The trek to the Eco Villiage began by taking a tuk tuk to a small local public bus terminal. They then guided me onto a Pickup truck taxi with a tuk tuk styled cage around the back. It was a taxi actually, as it drove down the road stopping for people who waved at it. I road it for a while, having no idea if I was actually going to the right place as I was he only foreigner aboard. It was a bit cold and a girl who was sitting next to me tried to give me her jacket. It was as if she wanted me to have it though, but it really didn't look like it would fit. She tried to give it to me again as she got off, which meant she really wanted me to have it, which was incredible, but I didn't take it. Finally the truck taxi stopped at a random spot on a dirt road and pointed down an even more rugged dirt road that ran through a wooden gate with a sign for the eco villiage on it. I was relieved that I was in the correct place but a bit surprised at how lifeless it looked. I had to walk down the path for a few minutes before I got to the buildings. I followed the signs to reception and found a small treehouse looking building with 2 beatnik looking guys playing guitar at a table drinking beers. One was the hotel owner and the other was a guest who worked part time to pay for his living expenses, both were French. They greeted me and checked me in to my hut, which was also treehouse like, but nicne. After checking in they fixed me an herbal tea concotion to help my stuffy nose, which was noticeably bad. I hung out in the reception area, lobby, or dining area, as they were all the same, for a bit. There were 2 monkeys tethered to some trees just over the railing, that I began to watch. Eventually I went down and tried to play with them but the male monkey liked to bite and would get jealous if you picked up the female, so it was sort of difficult, unless someone else distracted the male, who was totally a jerk.
There were a few other guests who showed up not long after I gave up playing with the Monkeys--maybe 4 others. 2 German guys, and an elder Israeli man with a Ladyboy. We all had lunch together and I asked them about their stay at the Eco Villiage. It sounded like they thought it was ok, but not worth the price, which was sort of the impression I already had. The facilities were much more meager than they were made to believe. You can't really call a 6 foot high fence a climbing wall and there was nothing to be seen that made this place look eco-friendly. Still, it was nice to be out of the city and out in the woods, and there were Monkeys.
After lunch the guests I had just met had to go, leaving me alone with the two French men and the two Monkeys. They (the French men) told me I could take out a kayak down on their dock that was made from a few chunks of sheet metal balancing on bobbing barrels. They gave me a 2 person craft but it was ok. Unfortunately I had to paddle upstream because they were unable to provide transport back. I paddled for about 20 minutes until I ran into some rapids. They were a force field that just repelled me. I was a bit let down that this was the kayak "adventure" they were advertising. More of a kayak stroll. I returned to the hotel and explained that the rapid was too much. They laughed in a way that showed they weren't surprised. The owner French Man suggested I take a hike through the jungle and then meet them at the local wedding that had been going on all day for some drinks. Now this sounded pretty cool, but I was a bit confused why the people getting married would want some stranger at their wedding. He assured me it was cool, since his wife was from the same villiage. So I went for the hike, accompanied, or led, by the guys dog and then popped out on a gravel road. I actually wasn't 100 percent sure on my direction so I followed the dog. After 10 minutes of walking on the gravel road I heard music. Then I saw a building full of people. I was a bit nervous about just showing up alone--some strange guy just walking into a wedding in the mdidle of nowhere Laos, but I didn't have to. As I approached the building I was literally grabbed by 2 older women and dragged inside. I feebly waved to the dog behind me, who seemed sad that he wasn't also being dragged in. The French guys weren't there, but that didn't matter, they didn't seem to care who I was. They shoved drinks at me and then dragged me out to the dance floor. It was quiet a spectacle. It was also pretty obvious that some people had been drinking for 10 hours. Noone really spoke English, except maybe a few words. I felt like I was recieving too much attention though, as it was not my wedding; I couldn't even tell who's wedding it was. Finally the 2 French guys showed up; I told them how crazy it was, this party. They weren't surprised. After some arranged Laos line dancing, the French guy played some music on guitar, a little classic rock. Then they pulled us over to drink from a giant urn filled with rice wine. The urn could have swallowed a 2nd grader, easily. The straws were made from bamboo, and there was tons of rice floating in the opening. They would fill a glass with water and make you drink until they could pour the entire glass back into the urn, thus replacing the volume you had displaced. It seemed like a lot of alcohol to be drinking. It didn't taste very strong, but that is no indication that it isn't strong. It most definitey was strong, we all found out about an hour later, when we (me and the 2 French guys), had to run away from the grasps of the Laos, who were still pressing us to drink. The eco villiage was about a 15 minute walk, but we drove. Normally, in America, I would not get in a car if the driver was so drunk he could barely stand up, but this was Laos, and we were in the middle of nowhere, and I didn't want to walk. We got back and they cooked up some eggs, then the younger French guy went down to annoy the Monkeys, who had been sleeping. It was revenge for stealing his hat earlier. After this, I stumbled off to bed. The experience of the Laos wedding was completely random, totally unexpected, and absolutely the best part of my eco-villiage trip. It was the best local culture experience I had in Laos.
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