Ban Mano Highlights

Well,  I'm now no longer living in Ban Mano. Not sure the exact name of the village I'm residing in.  My friend came back from her trip abroad and I had to leave her  house in Ban Mano, understandably.  I had a GREAT month there.  It was a quirky little house, settled upon a pond. But the highlights of it were an amazingly lovable and smart dog named Leon and super great neighbors. Ai Lit (Ai means older brother) a silversmith by trade, is the kind of guy who is always happy. Never too shy to invite me to kin lao (drink beer) or eat with him and a whole crew of neighborhood guys who regularly get together to play petanque, eat random foods and, of course, drink beer lao.

I'm pretty bummed to leave both Leon and the boys, though I plan to visit regularly.

Below are some pics from my stay there.  Most have been tweeted about but for those not in that loop, here's a different medium.

Turtle soup and dog with the neighbors. The dog wasn't so tasty, but the soup was saep lai (delicious)

The head of the turtle, not my favorite cut of meat, but it's rude to say no.

i was sitting on the deck reading one morning when I noticed the neighbors goats were eating off our lawn. I was completely ok with it at first but then realized that this meant they got loose. I went to grab them and they ran away so i chased after them. A big foreign guy chasing run away goats on a street in Lao. I'm sure the neighbors and passerby's loved it.

 if you open this up to the bigger view you'll notice in the middle of the view is a man on top of a cut in half tree.  Ai Lit was selling some of his coconut trees for their wood.  I didn't see it all but the "lumberjack" climbed the trees and cut them as he climbed down to make it, I'm guessing, safer??? It was pretty cool to see him up there. He was also swinging back and forth on it just for fun.

Rain Rain Rain.  Well, a hard rains a gonna fall.  After a few days of steady rains, the levy broke and the pond became much bigger.  The brook next door ran high and into our pond.  The whole area was flooded, even Ai Lit's driveway.  Luckily water never got in the house, but it sure was close.  Leon loved it as it meant he could get muddy for fun.