Phoudinaeng Organic Farm and guesthouse should certainly make the cut of those wanting to meet local people and have an authentic travel experience. Though the farm no longer offers guest rooms in exchange for working on the farm or with other projects, the experience of staying in this extraordinary place will pay for itself. The guesthouses themselves are nestled on a trail off of the main entrance road into the farm and are simple (but nice), aligning with a backpacker’s budget. My friend and I stayed in room with a communal bathroom that was just down the pathway, and we were very happy with the accommodations. The farm also operates a simple restaurant for its guests (the counterpart café is in Vang Vieng). Both offer delicious mulberry pancakes and shakes, along with a number of other tasty rice and noodle dishes.
We ended up staying in on the farm longer than we had planned and discovered there were ways we could volunteer our time. For several days we helped build a youth center out of mud. At first the local workers were quiet and it took some time to figure out how to help due to the language barrier. But before long, they all took us under their wing we were helping with all aspects of the mud-building, including their favorite pastime of slinging mud at one another. Near the end of our stay, a few members of the crew invited us to celebrate their day off with them, during Full Moon holiday. Though I had been in the country a few weeks at that point, working side by side the Laotian workers was eye-opening and allowed to learn a great deal more about the any other aspect of my traveling had thus far.
Mr. T also hosts a number of student travel groups, and while we were there a group of Korean high school students were staying on the farm as well, and they put on several cultural performances that we were welcome to attend.

Phoudinaeng Organic Farm website: http://www.laofarm.org/

Nestled in the village of Phoudinaeng, Mr. T’s organic farm is still off the proverbial beaten path. The farm is a visionary’s plan for a self-sustained village in Laos. Within five acres of land situated on the rippling Nam Song River, a small English language school, a restaurant, several guestrooms, a silkworm house, as well as a farm with mulberry trees peacefully coexist. The owner, who likes to be called Mr. T, was a businessman from the capital of Vientiane and had bought the five acres of unwanted land several years ago. He began with a simple shelter and the silkworm house. He revitalized the previously unarable land with organic farming practices that were unheard of in the region. And then, he extended his vision to include several community projects. The construction of two village youth centers had begun ten months before I had arrived.

Any tuk-tuk or songthaew will know of the farm if you request to be taken there. (And it’s actually not a bad walk back into town if you decide to stay on the farm for awhile and need to go back into town to check email or make phone calls).