Blog Post #39 - Cuso Volunteer Conference in Vang Vieng

My final weekend in Laos has come to an end, and I could not have asked for better people to spend it with. The Cuso-Lao field office organized a great volunteer conference in Vang Vieng. Despite the reputation of Vang Vieng as a backpacker and Korean party town, we managed to have a full day and a half of presentations without any wild interruptions. With all fifteen Cuso volunteers converging on Vang Vieng, we had the opportunity to learn more about Cuso volunteer projects across the country (with no shortage of fun in the evenings). Everything from chicken husbandry in Attapeu to teaching English in Vientiane to Khao Kai Noy from Xiengkhouang (by yours truly).

View from the hotel room.
No shortage of karst topography (my dad is now smiling from my geology terminology)

The Lao interns are an impressive group.
Always working hard, doing an awesome job to help the volunteers, and SMILING!

Our first night, I wanted to take the team to my favorite restaurant in Vang Vieng....

The second night we had dinner with a view.
Way more impressive than my choice

The team celebrating a great conference

Staring into their eyes or the mountains?

The best celebrations were saved for Sakura Bar.
Talk about a lot of dancing and even more Koreans!

Not relevant to the Cuso volunteer conference whatsoever, but after returning to Vientiane on Saturday afternoon, I spent Sunday fishing with SAEDA work colleagues and eating A LOT of the catch.

The day started with a bunch of small guys 

Then the 'big' guys started biting

Some of the haul

Then the professionals brought out the nets

Working on my net toss

I might prefer fisherman over rice farmer 

Cheering for a successful throw (despite no fish)

Still all smiles

The BBQ was never empty