Beccy and I didn't feel like ingesting opium tea or marijuana pancakes, featured menu items in Vang Vieng, a backpackers' mecca in northern Laos. We had just arrived on a bus from Vientiane, the lovely Laotian capital, and we already wanted out.
"Can you take us to Vangvieng Organic Farm?" I asked an idling tuk-tuk driver.
He didn't need directions. Since 1996, Vangvieng Organic Farm has promoted sustainable food systems near a riverside town notorious for drugs, booze and inebriated inner-tubing. About two miles upstream on the Nam Song ("Song River") from Vang Vieng, the farm produces goat cheese, tea and mulberry wine for restaurants in Vientiane and the UNESCO World Heritage site Luang Prabang. Farm staffers serve meals and teach organic techniques to Laotian farmers and curious travelers. We had come to volunteer for a while.
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