Lovely Laos. Everything about it is amazing--the people are warm and friendly, the landscape is breathtaking, and of course, the food is scrumptious! My last night in Laos turned out to be one of my favorite experiences...
That morning we left Vientane (the capital of Laos) for the 6 hour bus ride to the border town of Lak Xao (Vietnam was our next destination). Lak Xao is supposed to be the "quintessential" Laos city. A.k.a... A model communist city where everything is in order and propaganda is played out in reality.
I wasn't feeling well that day, but once we arrived I pulled myself together and pushed through. After all it was my only night here! The first stop was the market. Every city in Southeast Asia has a market. Depending on where you are they can be tourist centric or more geared towards the locals. The "local" markets are of course the most interesting. Entering the market all you see is a sea of people under mutli colored tents. Stall owners (mainly women) are busy serving their customers and exchanging money. When the "visitors" come by they are quick to say "sa-by-dea ka" (hello) and offer you their merchandise at the lucky day price. As you wander through the market you get a glimpse at the neccessities of a Laos person's life: fruits, veggies, fish, rice, socks, hats galore. That day I was walking down a narrow aisle and I was stunned to see dead rats lying on the table. No these weren't rats caught foraging for food, rather they were there to purchase. Yes, to eat. You could get skin yourelf rats or skinned rats that were grilled. I was shocked, disgusted, but fascinated at the same time! Being a New Yorker, rats are only to be seen on the subway and never in a restaurant. I was disgusted at the site, yet I wanted to stare at them -- I think it was my disbelief!
After the excitement of the rats in the market, we headed to more tame environs... A local English school where we spent time with the students to help them practice their English. I was introduced to 3 teenage boys who were all eager to practice what they had learned in class. After we introduced ourselves and found out each other's ages--they were very sweet when they feigned being shock at learning my age of 35, they thought I was much younger--we got into real conversation. Their first question to me was typical of many Southeast Asians... "Are you married?" , me "No", "Do you have a boyfriend?", me "No." Usually it was women who asked this so it was a new experience to be asked this by teenage boys. Again their expression was shock, but in a nice, sweet way:) We used broken English and a little writing on paper but we found out a lot about each other. The boys all had mopeds, liked to play soccer. One was a guitar player in his spare time and wanted to be policeman. Another hoped to be a pilot someday. None of them had girlfriends...yet!
We only stayed a half hour at the school. It certainly was not long enough. It was very inspiring to see kids trying very hard to learn my language because they know it will only help them more in their future.
