Yesterday was an adventure, one we can smile back on but are relieved to be out of.
The morning started late as mornings often do with us. Went down the wrong road, stopped every few minutes to take pictures and got stuck in the rain by early afternoon.
We stopped 3 times for shelter but had to keep pressing on because there were many kms between us and then next guest house.
We were drenched and anxious to get to a town for some hot coffee and a meal.
By 4pm we were warm and full after a bowl of noodle soup and 2 cups of coffee lao-some of the best in the world and grown in this plateau we were exploring.
We realized that we only had a few hours of daylight left but looked at the map and thought we could push it to the next town with a hostel. After all this little town had nowhere to sleep so we didn't really see a choice.
Rain came again and our body temperatures dropped with it. We had one moment on the road where the sun came out in full force behind us-giving us strength and encouragement on this cold rainy day.
A few minutes of warmth and the sun quickly began her descent, dancing in and out of grey rain clouds.
Brian drove on as quick as he could on these slippery red-dirt back-country roads.
The more we drove the farther we seemed to get from civilization. The lush jungle was on either side of us and daylight was running out.
We saw few people and the people we did run into knew not one word of English and we only knew hello and thank you in Laos. So they couldn't tell us distances or anything at all.
Our map had missing roads, and had mis-guided us several times now. We were expecting a paved road at any moment now. We figured that once we hit pavement our headlight could guide us the remaining 30kms to a guest house. We started to wonder if the distances on our map were wrong as well.
We weren't expecting a flat tire. The sun was gone now, the full moon was rising from behind the mountains, casting her light down upon us and awe into our hearts.
Lighting was striking in the distance, the thunder continued to get louder. We prayed fervantly. Our survival modes kicked in-what could we use for a shelter, how long until the next house, should we go back or keep going-we decided we should keep going, we hadn't seen a house in about 30 minutes, surely we would see one soon.
Somehow our motorbike continued to drive down this slippery dirt road.
Nothing else seemed to be on our side. We had with us an extra t-shirt each, soap, journals, a 1st aid kit, our camera, mozzie net and Bri's guitar. Nothing to cover us, keep us warm or put on the ground.
Our only hope was that we'd find a house before our motorbike would stop, leaving us in the jungle for the night-wet and cold in another thunderstorm.
I took control of my mind-the only thing I had control over at this point. I decided their was no reason to fear for I was fearing death itself and I knew God wasn't going to let that happen. I decided we could survive the storm, the cold-the elements. I pushed my body closer to Brians for warmth and thanked God we were together.
Then we saw another headlight on this now darkened road. It was 2 girls from Spain, scared, bleeding and lost. They told us their map was wrong and that there was nothing in the direction we were heading for the next 2 hours. We decided to turn around, we knew there was a hut within 30 minutes.
We went to the first hut we saw. The entire family stood on their porch peering down at us. There was a complete language barrier so we motioned to one another by flashlight and the oldest woman seemed to be telling us we could stay. We parked our motorbike under their wooden shack and went inside.
Their home was lit by a single candle.
We sat on their floor made of old wooden planks and smiled at one another. Before us sat an old woman with the biggest smile of all. Beside her sat 2 young children, a boy and a girl who seemed to take on the joyful spirit of their grandmother. Beside them sat another mama and her husband, both very young. This woman held an infant in her arms and nursed him by the candle-light. Both the man and the woman had a look of simple contentment on their face, they didn't seem overly happy or sad, just accepting of the life they have and the way it goes.
Brian broke the silence and played a few songs. The children giggled with excitement and we all continued to smile.
Afterwards the candle was blown out and we fell asleep on the floor next to the grandma and 2 children under a mosquito net with a blanket and pillow given to us by them.
By this time the wind had picked up speed outside, the rain was falling fast and hard and the lighting flashed through the spaces of the roof and walls following loud thunder.
We fell asleep thankful beyond belief to be inside, protected from the elements, sleeping on the floor with this beautiful family.
When we awoke the next morning, just after sunrise we went outside to find the young man fixing our flat tire. We hadn't even mentioned it and he was dirty on the ground taking it apart.
We left shortly after, leaving them a photo of us. On the back we wrote Lao Family, Thank you for saving our lives. Love, Brian and Katie. We tooke a few pictures and said a lot of thank yous (kop jai lei lei). The old woman pointed at me, at her and then the sky. Perhaps she was teliing me she was an angel but I believe she was saying I'll see you in heaven. I pointed at my eyes, at her and then up at the sky as well. We both smiled.
