Diary Stories 2021

Have you ever had this moment where in a split second you know?
You just know. You are in the here and now and all around you lighten up for just that moment that everything falls into place.
You know what step to make. Right now.
I had that moment when I entered Laos 18 years ago in 2002.
I studied Cultural Anthropology and did not want to do the traineeships the University advised.
I remembered South East Asia well. The humid forests in Northern Thailand….that I fell in love with 5 years before that. 
A feeling of being alive and free inside me I had never known existed.
I wanted more of that.
I planned a trip to Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia for three months to find a place where I could start my traineeship.
I never made it to Vietnam and Cambodia.
The moment I entered Laos I knew I was home.
I traveled for three months through Laos. Finally, I came back at the place I entered Laos and there one evening there was just magic in the air. That was the beginning of a magical experience in the deep ancient forests of Laos for 4 years.
I never finished my studies. I learned so much more in those 4 years.
My magical forest experience was the beginning of the path I was going to take after that for a few years.

Arriving in a bamboo hut village after a couple of hours on the back of a dirt road motorbike on the dusty roads of Laos in the heat, smelling the heat in the air, smelling the moist of the land smelling the aliveness of the ancient forest was intoxicating.
There was a ritual going on in the village. That was supposed to be a good sign. Me, arriving on the day of the ritual.
In those days there was no wifi signal or telephone signal in the village so nobody knew we were coming.
I was welcomed in the house of the chief and the villagers accepted my stay.
I stayed there for some time. One week? Two weeks? I lost track of time. I was here in a community together. By myself. In a village I only knew in dreams existed. No English-speaking people around me. Not knowing the language just yet.
Just looking, observing, experiencing.
No tap water.
No toilet.
No shower.
Just a river and the woods.
The villagers woke up early and went to the rice fields early because of the heat. They went to their fields to grow vegetables and when they came back they fetched water.

This moment marks the beginning of my love story with Laos.

The first steps of creating Project Kajsiab Laos began when I met Nzoua Vue en Zjong Vue in 2006.
Read below my stories......that I would love you share with you around the campfire as before......for now.....online....see you soon around the campfire!