Chompet: so close and yet so far

Across the Mekong river from Luang Prabang is the town of Chompet.  To get there you can take a ferry and then walk up a hill to get to what seems like a remote village, no paved roads and there are the terraced rice patties on the side of the road.  At the secondary school CLI is building a dormitory which will house 150 girls.  The reason for the trip was because Andy McKee, a representative for a group that works with CLI, is in town.  He is a British fellow who has been to Laos before but is getting a refresher course on some of the things that CLI is doing and his group is supporting.  We met him at his guesthouse then sauntered down to the water to catch a ferry across the river.  The first ferry came, a monk got on and then it left, with the rest of us sitting on the dock. As it drove away we saw a bumper sticker that said "Don't Monk it unless you have tried it".  Not really I just thought it might be funny if it did.  I just wonder how many of you actually read what I write.  The next one came and wasn't going to the correct dock on the other side of the river so it too left.  The third came and I was hesitant about its motives but picked us up and we got to the other side.  One of the athletes we coach happened to jump on the boat with us.  Surprisingly this is the first time we had seen any of them outside of the stadium.  It ended up he was also going to the school to see a friend so Tom and I walked with him while Bob, Andy and Sirivanh (who flew up to help show Andy around) walked behind discussing Laos. 
I will let the photos do the rest of the talking about the school.  Remember you can enlarge any photo by clicking on it.

 This was us waiting on boat number 2.  Wrong location boat.  Some lady, Bob, boat driver, Andy and Tom (left to right).

 The view from Chompet across the Mekong to Luang Prabang.

 A view of the classroom buildings.

 The unfinished dormitory.

 The shanty town behind is currently where some students live.

 Tom, Sirivanh, Bob and Andy look inside one of the current houses for students.

 Aerial footage provided by Tom's complete and utter lack of sanity.

Tom climbing down from his perch.

We glance at the school and headed back.  Always interesting to see projects and how much it could improve the current situation for students. Just to remind you a 150 female students would be staying in a single large room that is about 20 feet wide and maybe a 100 feet long.  Not exactly like the dorms you stayed in college are they. One thing to remember this school holds about 2200 people in it and those who come from out of town have to live in these dorm or the little huts in the photos.

Comments are always appreciated.  Goal for the week 5 posts of different bumper sticker ideas using the word Monk in it.