Last time through we met a local man called Thout who runs a business called Big Brother Mouse. He trained as a teacher but has a business selling books for children. He is sponsored by a Swiss company with the aim of improving literacy amongst Laotian children. Tourists visit him and give donations so he can buy books for schools. He has written some of the books himself.
We visited Thout again and he invited us to his village and to meet his family. His son was only 3 days old so we were privileged to be invited to see him as the first 3 days are set aside just for family to visit the newborns. Thout felt our presence would influence his son to be comfortable with foreigners.
After the birth the mother has to sit with her back to the fire and bathe seven times a day in special herbs. The name of the boy was to be decided by the elders and agreed to by the parents so he did not have a name. The baby weighed just under 3 kilos ( a normal birth weight for Lao babies) and they couldn't believe our daughter Kerri weighed four kilos. We spent the evening eating sticky rice and dried buffalo meat with green chilli paste and fermented local river fish and sharing birth stories!
The next day we went to a bakery we had visited previously and the Chinese owner remembered us and chatted like we were old friends. While buying bus tickets we met 14 year old Muk from Muang Sing and he was on his way to Vientiane. I had given him an English lesson when we were in Muang Sing. We found Luang Nam Tha such a friendly place!
