OCIP to Laos

 My first ever OCIP was to be a very lovely one but before I embarked on it, I was actually quite skeptical due to the fact that I only h...



 My first ever OCIP was to be a very lovely one but before I embarked on it, I was actually quite skeptical due to the fact that I only had one proper friend in the team and I was still quite tired from Bangkok as well. But most of my worries were for naught. Me and Ash managed to make some good friends from the trip and also many wonderful memories!! This is the story of my 14 days in Laos.

 This is such a honeymoon photo gross HAHA. That was also the first and last time I used my selfie stick.

We took Lao Airlines to Laos which was around 3 hours if I remember correctly. I remember the entire plane was filled with ocip teams- Hall 9 + Hall 14 and a group of Hwachong students. Later I would find out from Peter, our chaperon, that Laos only became a more popular choice for OCIPs only a few years ago when this korean star came to visit and filmed a series of videos of him doing community work. Which kind of spurred more people to come and help out as well. Before that most people would usually go to Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines and such.

Anyway, we arrived at Wattay International Airport in Vientiane, which is the capital of Laos, in the afternoon. Our first day was spent in a hotel called Mercure, also in Vientiane, before we headed off to the village the next day.
 Checking in
I roomed with this girl called Jia Qi, who was pretty friendly to talk to! We didn't know each other beforehand but I didn't really feel awkward with her which was nice. Minutes after we got our room key we somehow managed to lock ourselves out of our room haha. There was only one key per room and we didn't know the door would auto lock when we shut it so we were both outside and the key inside and.... HAHA. Had to get the staff to open it for us gosh. 
cr: isaac

At night, we went to visit the night market near our hotel beside the Mekong River. Apparently it was invested in by Koreans. Most of the tourists there were koreans as well, apart from the ocip teams. Most of us bought elephant pants for our next few days in the village from this stall above cuz buying in bulk is cheaper hehe. 

Watched a video today by Oon Shuan about the irony of privilege- we go to these less developed countries and partake in a sort of perverse bargaining spree that leaves the shop owners flustered and stressed. Some would say its the Singaporean mentality of wanting to find the cheapest cost possible but most of us do not exhibit such actions in average shops in singapore, or other european countries. At least not as much. Is it the run-down, dingy looks of shops in LD countries that contributes to such mentalities that we should bargain for a lower cost? Food for thought. 

The next day marked the beginning of our journey to the village and also the start of wifi-less days. Which was really really blissful actually, not having to care about messages and responsibilities and all for a little while. We stopped over for lunch at a random place otw, where as usual my table's food came last amongst all the other tables haha. My luck with waiting during the trip was so bad, like at the airport when we had to queue to check for passports, I could be the first to get in line and one of the last to leave... am bad at choosing queues.
 A peek in the kitchen

After 5 hours on the road, we finally arrived at the village we were going to stay in- Pa Bong. When I reached there I was so amazed, the place was sooooo beautiful.
cr: isaac
The one thing I couldn't take my eyes off was the mountain behind the house. You don't get to see such big mountains up close in sg ya know haha. Below the mountains there were caves which were pretty cool as well. 
The villagers welcomed us with freshly cut coconuts! The juice inside was very concentrated to the extent that we thought they added alcohol inside hahahaha. It was good. 

We spent the first evening playing with all the kids that came to visit us foreign people. 

Muang was my favourite kid hahahha this photo was taken when she ran out from the house to greet me as I was walking back. Then she walked back with me! So lovely. She's deaf and mute btw the only sound she makes is her name you know like Game of Thrones Hodor. I think that's how her name came about. But she has really beautiful eyes.

Being pulled by wildchild Mon. He actually peed at Sayfong omg hahahahha but fong managed to dodge in time if not he kena the pee alr. Mon was banished to his house after that hahahhaa he only came back on the last night.


More honeymoon photos with ash






With the convenience store lady! It was pretty cool that she would help us cook the maggi noodles we bought on the spot, tasted so fab.
hahaha they hung the singapore flag outside the house so patriotic


These are my class kids! They come from the Mong village which is beside Pa Bong. Pa Bong lies on the lowland which is easier to farm and raise cattle because the land is flat but Mong is further up on the midlands, where the slopes made it harder to do so. So the lowlanders are considered more well off? Lucky? I'm not too sure how to describe it.

Did a photoshoot for these boys hahaahah











They dispose of rubbish by burning it 
These are strings of blessings tied by the villagers during the Baci ceremony! Basically we sit in one circle and the villagers will come and tie strings on our hands while muttering blessings. Even the kids did it. I was honestly quite touched, like I only knew them for slightly more than a week but they still blessed me, my family and everything. It was a lovely ceremony. After that we hung out with them as best as we could with beerlao as usual hahah I got a bit seh cause I drank too much. But all was well. 

On the last morning when we left the village I was damn sad haha. Some of the rest were quite happy to leave but wah I think I grew too attached to the people there alr. I teared on the bus ride back HAHA although no one saw luckily. Sigh miss them. 
Oh ya on the way back to Vientiane this happened!! Their van was travelling behind this heavy truck and apparently one of the stones it was carrying fell loose and hit the window omg lucky it didn't shatter. My heart would have died.
Tbh, I think OCIPs are quite redundant in the act itself lol like there's only so much you can do in 2 weeks. You can just give them the money hahahah. But it's more for the experience la, for both us and the villagers. I had a superb time. So glad this trip happened.





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