A few months back, instead of jumping on a plane and losing myself in India..I decided to head back to Laos to discover forest dwelling..a peek through the crack, so to speak..
Here, I was able to experience things I hadn't before and had a few experiences and sensations I could have truly done without!! (i.e. walking barefoot leaves you open to spiky bamboo, living with termites leaves you open to being bitten and so on.)
Though I turned out not to be the wife in this story..my two months here taught me creation is simple..maintainence, enjoyable,, and forest dwelling, supremely rewarding.
Family owned, the property is run as a business rather than a community, still, there were snatches of a potential community to come. The whole environment is calm and green..white trails surrounding thatched roofed buildings..each one designed using local materials and labour..people, trees and bamboo.
With no need for a large income, no labour saving devices, or electricity to speed things up, the pace of daily life slows considerably and here a minute seems to stretch for longer..work and leisure are blurred..and community is an everchanging myriad of family, kids, local staff (and family), strangers and friends all coming and going.
Days were spent mixing work and play..mountain biking stoney tracks or across silt powdered roads..walking around the land..pumping water for washing and bathing, sweeping, cleaning and maintainence, work in the kitchen and the land..mingled evenly with reading, writing, drawing, painting, building and socialising.
Here, I was able to experience things I hadn't before and had a few experiences and sensations I could have truly done without!! (i.e. walking barefoot leaves you open to spiky bamboo, living with termites leaves you open to being bitten and so on.)
But the incredible things I saw, heard and felt will stay in my memory forever..and miss. True darkness..a caterpillar in snowflake disguise, bizarre bumblebees...alien predator insects..fluorescent dragonflies..soldier termites marching on patrol in long black lines like a sea..the popping and crackling of voracious fire as it devours paper thin bamboo..howling packs of jackals in the night..the ridiculous 'pooop pooop pooop' of the cuckoo..magnificent ancient trees..
Long slow days, some cold some hot..
Long slow days, some cold some hot..
some contented, some confusing..
..but all now a dream..
