Traveling along the Lao country side.

On Sunday, the CLS entourage ventured out into the woods to commune with nature, a pastime that many local Lao people find bizarre and “unnatural.” We invited many of our U-graduates and language partners to join us on our little outing to Taad Moun, a small river on the outskirts of the city limits where brave venturous souls, (unlike myself) fared the small rapid-like water falls in tubes, plastic blow up life jackets and floaties. It turned out to be a nice day, we weren’t sure if we were going to go out to the “jungle” as it had rained terribly hard the night before and was still raining when we got up in the morning. It’s amazing we got up at all as the CLS entourage began our evening the night before at a karaoke club and sang our hearts out, (badly) to the tunes of American oldies, Lao and Thai ballads. There’s nothing grander and amusing than a bunch of tone deaf American singers, although Sandra held her own. After our soiree at the Karaoke club, we dared to continue the local night life and went dancing at a very popular club called Romeo, where all the music has the same thumping beat and the bass made your inner bodies vibrate. There were many different foreigners all gathered together along with the local people and jumping, grooving, body smacking and shaking to the music. There isn’t a designated dance floor, your group just circles themselves around a counter-like table where servers dressed like hip-hop dancers kept an eye on your group and collected empty glasses. I must say we were the most colorful or should I say the most creative and expressive dancers in the place. Of course, I couldn’t last as long as the young’uns. With ear drums busted and lungs filled with second-hand smoke, I was craving the comfort of my soft, (relatively speaking) bed. Samantha and I went home while the rest of the crew continued on to get food and returned home later. More power to the young at heart!

The next day we braved the elements and climbed into the van to take us to the river. As you know, it’s the rainy season and like I had said, it was raining when we got up. We had to travel on muddy quicksand-like roads and I could just imagine us pushing this van out of the mud if we got stuck. On many occasions during our drive there, I thought the van was a goner. The van driver was a maniac diver also!! What’s the hurry bop? He was speeding and would come right up behind these poor little motor bikes, blare his horn and fly by them. If I was on one of those bikes, I’m sure I would have a heart attack. The whole drive over was like riding one of the roller coasters at Six Flags Adventure Park, WITHOUT seatbelts. When we got there, it was a VERY interesting sight. The Lao people sure know how to have fun! It seems that they have the concept of Leisure down to an art. They played in the water, sang and serenaded swimmers and passer-bys, drank, and boy, do they eat!! At picnics, the Lao people eat bamboo soup, papaya salad, green bean salad, roasted fish, fruit and rice throughout the whole day. When do they not eat and how do they keep so thin?!!? I know how I keep thin, it’s called eating and upset stomach. The most extraordinary thing about swimming in Laos is that some people swim with all their clothes on. Shoes, socks, jeans and t-shirts. They just plop themselves in the water, sometimes with a cigarette, and sit in the water as if sitting in a Jacuzzi. It’s pretty hilarious of the mix of people; young, old, men, women, peddlers, and foreigners and the myriad of clothing articles. It’s like the circus meets Sea World. I would encourage anyone to join in the festivity and I hope I would be more adventurous in our next excursions. Cheers!