Day 11

We arrived in Brisbane at 11:40am and used our last duty free opportunities before heading through immigration to collect our baggage. Once we all had our bags we began to say our goodbyes and departed. I am surprised to say how sad it was to suddenly say goodbye to the fourteen other people I have lived with and shared the same experiences over the last eleven days.

I believe together as a whole group us student leaders of the Griffith Business School have bonded very well and developed friendships that will last a lifetime. For it was this amazing volunteer experience and the ability to help others that has brought us closer together for the purpose of developing villagers in Laos. This was a unique opportunity and has taught me more than I could have anticipated about giving back to the wider community. Furthermore, I would recommend for anyone to take an opportunity such as this, for the experience is invaluable and one I will never forget.

Day 10

Josh, Richard and myself had breakfast at our favourite Joma Bakery Café before heading back to our room to clean up and pack for our departure at 11:00am. We had a group photo with Khankeo at the new Laos airport that only opened a week ago and said our thank yous & goodbyes to him. He was an excellent tour guide and I look forward to giving detailed feedback on his high level of expertise when I return home.

We arrived safely in Bangkok and had a six hour gap between when we had to be back at the airport. We went to MBK and The Paragon, two seven storey shopping centres. I’m not sure about the girls but us guys were beginning to have had enough of shopping after a few hours. I found that MBK was more of a market shopping centre where as The Paragon was a higher class with famous brands and retail stores.

We were on our flight back to home to Brisbane by midnight, set for a eight and a half hour flight. Unfortunately that night and on the flight home I started getting sick with flu-like symptoms.

I think this whole volunteer experience has helped me to gain a greater understanding of my university studies. I have found that on this trip I have used and implemented theories & concepts learnt in classes to teach the local community, committees, boards and officials to further grow further in their designated area. 
Conversely, putting these theories/concepts into practice has made me better understand the purpose of studying them and how widely they can be used to benefit others, even from a volunteer experience.

Day 9

Today a group of eight of us students went to the Waterfall and Bear Sanctuary whilst the other half went elephant riding. The bears were great to see and were surprisingly smaller than I had expected. We proceeded to walk further up the hill where we discovered multiple small waterfalls followed by a large waterfall at the very top. At the main pool there was a rope swing tied to the end of a large tree that people were swinging off and into the water from a height of around 3-5 metres. Although many tourists were wearing bikinis and no shirts we decided as a group to remain covered whilst we were there even though it involved completely wearing our clothes. We thought that by doing this we would be respecting the locals and their culture. Josh, Elísabet and myself all climbed up the tree and swung off into the water multiple times, even though Elísabet almost hit a group of tourists in the head with the stick used to grab the rope.

I thought these waterfalls and natural pools were absolutely amazing and is not something you can see or experience very often in Australia. The theme parks at home or any man made amusement ride does not even compare to the natural beauty of the waterfall. Whilst climbing up the tree and swinging off into the water was stepping out of my comfort zone, I am glad I did it and had the courage to try something new.

We departed back for our hotel and had a small car accident where the bus driver stalled on a hill and reversed, knocking over two concrete posts. Luckily, nobody was hurt or injured.

I decided I wanted to spend a bit of time with Amelia and Jo (as I have mainly been spending my time with other students) and so went shopping with them at the local night markets. After purchasing some items we headed over to the nice restaurant across the water only to find that the bridge to get their had been washed away only a day after we were walking it last week. The food at the restaurant was delicious and the setting was incredible. The tables were very low on the ground where we sat on cushions with our feet and legs in an enclosed pit underneath. Jo gave a lovely speech on how proud she is of all of us and what a great time she had. For our hard work and good behaviour she allowed for us to have a few beers that night, which we appreciated very much.

Later we invited Abby and Elísabet to come back to our room to hangout. It was nice for the five of us to reflect and discuss our time in Laos and what this trip has meant to each of us individually. I really appreciated this as it gave me an opportunity to see what I have experienced through the eyes of somebody else and through a completely different perspective.

Day 8

After a six hour bus drive from Nong Khiaw we arrived at a restaurant on the Mekong River for lunch. After enjoying lunch with the magnificent view we departed on our boat to the other side of the Mekong River to visit the sacred Pak Ou Buddha. The caves were amazing despite the long walk up the steps to the top, which only a few of us walked up to see.

After enduring the heat and humidity we headed back on the boat to Luang Prabang and settled in to our hotel. Us boys collectively decided to pamper ourselves and clean up our dirty feet at the spa parlour, getting a manicure, pedicure and scalp massage.

Dinner was great as it was a self-serve BBQ buffet where you collect your desired raw ingredients and cook them using the coals built into the middle of the tables. We then spent the rest of the night at the local markets, purchasing gifts to bring home.

Reflecting back on my original expectation of Laos people when I was in Bangkok, it was not what I expected. Because Laos is considered to be one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia, I expected to be hassled by locals and begged to purchase items from their stalls. However, this was not the case. This goes to show that it is not necessarily the amount of money a person earns but rather their cultural values that characterise who they are as a person. This is something that I came to realise today and is why the Lao people are so easily loved and understood.

For example, tonight at the markets a lady was trying to over charge me for two necklaces that I was going to buy so instead I approached a lady a few stalls down with the same necklaces. The first price that the lady had offered me for the same two necklaces was cheaper than just one from the other stall. I had also ran out of Lao kip and the lady kindly offered to accept US dollars. I came back as she had waited for me and I saw her there with her son sitting on her lap and husband by her side. I tipped her an extra USD$1.00 for her patience and honesty when it came to giving me a price. The lady was shocked but gladly accepted the tip thanking me over and over.




I know we were told not too tip too much as they can be offended but I hope by doing this the lady will realise how much I appreciated her honesty and flexibility despite how desperate she may be for money to support her family. Although it was not much it still felt nice to do this as opposed to bartering down to the cheapest price possible. This supports my belief that everyday we should all engage in one random act of kindness without any hidden agendas, but merely just to give back and demonstrate kindness to others. This is something that should be adopted by everyone and something I intend to do at least everyday if I can remember, if not at least a few times a week.