Classroom in hill village

[The_Traveler]

Twenty eight km north of Udomxai, along the main road to Phongsali, there is a smaller dirt road that turns right across a concrete bridge over small river and goes up 32 km up into the hills.
There are several small, fairly ragged, fairly typical villages strung along the higher parts of this road.
This schoolhouse wasn't there in those villages; this schoolhouse was back on the main road, almost next to a very elaborate small resort that catered to rich Europeans and was part of a 'culture village'.
These 'culture villages' were always much neater and cleaner and, although none of our guides said this, I am certain that the government had something to do with presenting a nice face for tourists - probably a bit of pressure and a bit of money.
This was certainly one of the nicer classrooms I had seen, relatively new and un-battered - in distinct contrast to those in the villages higher up the hills.

 

[tirediron]

Nice!

 

[qleak]

Love it! Thanks for sharing Lew

 

[The_Traveler]

Please note that I looked at this picture and it looked odd (too nice and clean) to me so I went back and looked at the time stamp and realized I had misidentified where I took it - and then the cleanliness made sense.

The text now is correct.

 

[Amocholes]

Very Nice. I really enjoy your work.

 

[Mattis]

This is really nice. It has a very homey feeling to it if that makes any sense.

 

[The_Traveler]

Very Nice. I really enjoy your work.

Thanks.
I always like it when people say pleasant things.

This is really nice. It has a very homey feeling to it if that makes any sense.

Of course, it makes sense.
The odd thing is the picture looks homier than the actuality.
It was hot and dusty and smelled both of wet cement and dry wood matting.

I must admit that I was really disgusted to see how the 'cultural villages', where most casual tourists go, are neat and clean and the people look 10x better than the real villages.

Compare the 'cultural village' here. If you are not familiar with the term 'Potemkin Village', it is particularly applicable to villages in the Peoples Republic of Laos.

to the real village below.

 

[bribrius]

Very Nice. I really enjoy your work.

Thanks.
I always like it when people say pleasant things.

This is really nice. It has a very homey feeling to it if that makes any sense.

Of course, it makes sense.
The odd thing is the picture looks homier than the actuality.
It was hot and dusty and smelled both of wet cement and dry wood matting.

I must admit that I was really disgusted to see how the 'cultural villages' where the casual tourists go are neat and clean and the people look 10x better than the real villages.

Compare the 'cultural village' here. If you are not familiar with the term 'Potemkin Village', it is particularly applicable to villages in the Peoples Republic of Laos.

to the real village below.

big difference. Very interesting thanks for posting.

 

[FITBMX]

Please note that I looked at this picture and it looked odd (too nice and clean) to me so I went back and looked at the time stamp and realized I had misidentified where I took it - and then the cleanliness made sense.

The text now is correct.

I like the photo, but your right it's to clean.

 

[FITBMX]

Of course, it makes sense.
The odd thing is the picture looks homier than the actuality.
It was hot and dusty and smelled both of wet cement and dry wood matting.

I must admit that I was really disgusted to see how the 'cultural villages', where most casual tourists go, are neat and clean and the people look 10x better than the real villages.

Compare the 'cultural village' here. If you are not familiar with the term 'Potemkin Village', it is particularly applicable to villages in the Peoples Republic of Laos.

There always has to be a nice front, to hide reality!