Guest house management continues....

10/5/11

Going a bit stir crazy being confined to the hostel we took the opportunity to spend a few hours away as all the guests were up and out early and were not scheduled to return until 4pm. With this in mind we set of with great intentions of seeing things but the heat and the humidity soon turned us into a sweating melting me. It was that uncomfortable that James uttered three sentences that I have never heard in the decade that we have been together

1) Can we walk on the shady side of the street
2) Can we walk a bit slower
3) Oh I wish it were a bit cooler

Once recovered form this shock we decided to cross a very rickety bridge and spend our time our reclining in the shade. When James suggested a game of monopoly it was my turn to surprised him we a responsive very rarely uttered in 10 yeas- yes! I soon regretted it despite playing with rules that sped the game up. Why of who do I never learn?

11/5/11

We have refined our communication with the house keeper who speaks no english and does not read or write Loas (originally I was going to translate things on the computer when I wanted to comunicate). My broken Laos phrases for airport/ bus station/ waterfalls tuck tuck pick up / drop off is vaguely understandable. I have realized that writing numbers on the board to show amounts or time is fruitless as Laos numbers are different so consequently I either point to the clock or money from my wallet. That said the house keeper still regards us with a certainly level of pained disdain as we never quite do things the right way. To begin with this was off putting but upon closer inspection we have found that Seng gives this look to most people who cross her path.

Chenapa acted as translator and we discovered that Seng was not having next Sunday off as "everything was a bit disorganized when she came back" (James face was a picture even though Chenapa assured him she was not being mean) that she considered us to be good workers (praise indeed) and that the yogurt that I made was of a good standard!

12/5/11

Working in a guest house is certainly harder then we expected and any quaint notions of opening such a venture in the UK have been well and truly quashed. Don't get us wrong we are enjoying ourselves and enjoying saving some money and earning commissions but by heck there are easier ways to earn money even if we were taking all the profit! Today was a particularly long day with 8 breakfasts 2 checkouts and check ins and two room moves combined with blazing sun, two trips to the bus station to buy tickets for gusts , preparation of bills, purchasing provisions and preparation for breakfast the next day. By the end of the day we were pooped and we hid in our room and wathced a DVD in air conditioned bliss.

13/5/11

Today was a sad day as 6 rooms worth of people checked out. You may think that this is not unusall for a guest house but these people had been a constant in our time here at Manichan Guesthouse. Most had not intedned to stay for so long but had remaided due to the layed back nature of the town and country if compared with its neighbors, the communal seating area of the guest house, a well sotceked honest fridge and the 5 star breakfast at $5 prices. From 7.30 in the morning a procession of tuck tucks ferried our guests away. Most ran smoothly but one driver have a very Laos approach to time keeping and required 5 phone calls and was unaware of the concept of a western minute (60 seconds) and worked only with Laos minutes (240 seconds).

As guests had left early and the one booked in new guest had already arrived (walk in guest only arrive between 3-5 pm when the boats/buses arrive) we set off for some more time in the town. We had learnet from our previos overestimation of our heat tolarance and headed streagth to a resturant for a spot of lunc, some wine and a game of cards. Upon our return we had a nap, well I did and JAmes played on his Ipod.

By five PM we have no walk in guests so sensing an opportunity to utilize the kitchen in peace I decided to make some scones ( yes yes you can take the British out of Briton and all that). This was of course the que for three groups of backpackers to turn up simultaneously and esquire about rooms. Having been in this situation before (and James having a well developed scene of fairness) we worked stickily on a first come first served basis. The only problem being that no one told the guests so they all clammered to see the rooms and reverser there spot. Once this was over and a could left disappointed as we could not accommodate them I returned to my cooking and turned out dinner including my scones and my first ever home made chips.

14/5/11

Today Liz left and clemants booked bus tickets for the follwoing day. James and I were unsere as to wether this day would ever come. Both had only intended to saty for a few days and indeed Clemants did leave for one day before ringing early then next day to enquire about a room. Both had only intneded to stay a few days but stayed of atleast 7 and both were much fun and shared many a an hour with us talking about a miirad of things. Both were to be gone within 24 hours of each other. The constants in our life were over!