After about thirty total hours of travel (dallas-tokyo-bankok-udon tani + bus to Vientiane)...Victoria and I were WORN OUT. Sitting on a plane sucks. But we finally reached Ginny, the destination. Ginny was one of my dear roomates in college. One of my best girlfriends on the planet, she's been living in Laos as a marketing manager for 3 years now. Nobody has ventured to see her life there yet so who do you think was willing to go with TWO whole months off work? ...yep, me. And a teacher I work with, Victoria, loves travel and Asia, so she came too and it ended up being great to have three of us.
When we arrived Ginny took us straight to this spa place for a traditional Lao massage and facial. I'm pretty sure that was my first facial ever and it was AWESOME. I just laid there for an entire hour while they put stuff on my face, and sucked it off, and more stuff, and peeling and whatever they did my skin was in its best shape ever at the end....then we went in for the hour-long massage. I've had a couple of massages in my day. We had massage therapists on staff when i worked at the cvc...but these little Lao women were much stronger than they looked. This lady used all 4 of her appendages on me at one time...when the meat-Carisse-tenderizing session was over you could have probably cooked me and cut through me with a fork. But even though i was sore the next day...it was surprisingly a great feeling at the same time. Like I'd had months of tension chiseled away.
Everything we ate on this trip is a blur to me. Some of it was really good. Some of it was really gross. Especially since I'm not a huge fan of spicy or curry. I'm not picky, i can survive on anything for a couple weeks...but man, American Asian food is not even a little bit the same as Asian Asian food.
The next day we rented a moped and went with Ginny's friend Ning to see some sights. Buddah park was cool, they had a TON of sculptures...which shast and i usually spend time mocking and taking pictures with...Victoria and I did this a little bit (as seen above)...but tried to be discrete seeing as how some people take their religion in those sculptures seriously. We spent the whole day riding mopeds and seeing various parks, palaces, and temples that Vientiane had to offer. It was a great day and I came out of it REALLY wanting a Vespa. Seriously, those were so fun...if only i didn't have to take the highway to work I might be tempted to sell my car and buy one!!!
Driving a moped in a foreign country is a whole other story. Mom, you totally would have geeked out the entire time. Other countries, especially 3rd worlds, don't have the same traffic laws that we obey. 2 lanes easily becomes 3 lanes, honking is more a friendly sign of your presence rather than a rude insult, you can get cut off anytime by a goat, a cow, a pedestrian, car or fellow biker...it makes no difference who has the right of way, its every man for himself out there! So even though i was scared to drive a moped under these circumstances...it was still exhilarating!
I learned a little about the monks in orange robes too. Buddhists. I was under the impression that monks were devoting their lives, sort of like nuns do. But in actuality, people go there for all kinds of reasons and different lengths of time. I think every boy is required to go there for a time. But people also become monks to perhaps heal from grieving, they might go in for a couple of weeks and then back to their jobs. They arent allowed to touch anyone. The food they collect from people in the streets every morning is the only food they get to eat for the day. As much as my curiosity was peeked, Ginny says its quite different seeing the inside of a temple when people are actually there, using it, serving a god other than my own.
Day 3. We took a 3 hour drive to a city called Vang Vieng nearby. Ginny and i were in the back of this suv and i had no idea how bumpy this mother would be. I caught air several times and everyone should be grateful that I didnt blow chunks everywhere. Geez, 3 hours of up and down mountains, in and out of pot holes, over and under stray cows. But it was worth it when we got there.
We went with Ginny's roomate Kaylee and her cousin Katie, and this Lao girl that Kaylee works with named Pu Nong. She only gets to go home about once a year so this was a big deal for her to get a free ride. Her family made us lunch when we got there...like literally went out back and killed a chicken. Her house was a one room brick with an upstairs. No need for air con with all the windows. Her family seemed to be really close and they were so sweet to make us a meal and offer the freshest pineapple ever!!!
After lunch we went to the "water park". Again, no regulations or rules. So there was a zipline and swing and slide and some kyaks and tubes on this big brown river. I was super scared when we got to the top of climbing this big wooden staircase. Victoria and i went up there to use the trapeze swing, but it was so heavy and there's nothing to brace yourself on so we just did the zipline instead. I guess I hit my foot on some rocks at the bottom of the river because I had a swelling in the arch of my foot the size of a peanut shell. It was pretty much healed by the next morning though, so thank You, Lord.
I had my first drink of the trip that night. It was a "BeerLao" beer. I guess it was good? I dunno, beer is beer to me and they mostly taste the same if their lightly colored.
Went to westerner church sunday night and the C.O.P.E. visitor center Monday. We spent a lot of time at Cope. Its this prosthetic leg making place that has a museum about bombs in Laos. We watched this video called "Bomb Harvest" that was interesting. I almost bought it in the gift shop but I didnt know if it would work in american dvd players (australian dvds dont). Apparently, Laos is the most heavily bombed country in the world. And of all the bombs we dropped on them during the war, 80 MILLION of them never detinated and are STILL lying in Laos. This is a major problem because children dig them up so they can sell them for pricey scrap metal. People who live in the mountains frequently step on them unknowingly and suffer either injury or fatality. The whole center was very informative, but very sad. I think a lot of innocent people were caught in that war. And its even MORE sad that new generations are still paying for it. The bomb harvest video showed a situation in which a bomb had been uncovered, sticking out of the ROAD between TWO elementary schools. In the road! Someone could just drive over it and set it off.
The work the people at C.O.P.E. are doing is incredible. Kids that get to go there are very fortunate and sometimes travel 26hrs or more in a car to get to it. Much like the gruesome bumpy ride in the car I had to endure for a mere 3 hours. I cant imagine going through that for 26, and while injured at that!
Laos might have been my favorite leg of the trip. It was great to see what Ginny's life is like there. There is a smell that 3rd world places hold, and also a tension. There is a tension that rings in the air when everything is a little bit dirtier, a little less convenient. A tension between pining for more, and being content with whats given to you. But then again, I guess aside from the smell factor, this is true of all cultures, poor and wealthy.
Next stop. Kual Lumpur, Malaysia.
