OK … I am having a slightly confused hour in which it is becoming more and more apparent to me of my growing country girl tendencies! So I am in Vientiane for some meetings etc and of course for the first coupla days worked in a continual rotation of dinners, gatherings, parties, coffee’s, wines, cocktail bars etc etc but yesterday I turned down lunch with a bunch of new Aussie people through town at a swish little French cafe and biked over to the local market to eat my favourite street food from the North while sitting on a dusty little broken stool with a couple of cute little old women. And I totally enjoyed myself and was pepped back up and re energised for the day! My personality is in a state of flux!!!
So I’m procrastinating and found some random flicks from the past … for your viewing pleasure …
fascinating, unusual and just plain really nice moments
… was just at the market talking to my favourite market ladies and they were asking me questions again about the beach … they have a constant fascination about this due to Laos being a land-locked country, and they find it amazing that I am not scared of the waves! Anyway I told one of the girls I might visit Australia in December and asked them if there was anything they would like me to bring back for them. Their answer? A bag of sea water. That’s right … not food, not clothes, not souvenirs, nothing of the expensive variety, just a bag of seawater. Continuing to learn so much about the appreciation of the small things …
… was talking to a few travellers over dinner last week and an AUSTRALIAN guy asked me which part of NEW ZEALAND I was from! What’s happening to my accent???!!! I have been practising the word “six” 10 times every day for the last week …
… went to my regular Wednesday lunch spot where they sell little bowls of pumpkin, beans, corn and all manner of other things … So anyway, I turned up today to find all of the pumpkin had gone (this is one of my current dining obsessions) … but no … this cute girl had saved a special bowl of pumpkin under the table for me. To use her translated words “the pumpkin is really sweet today so lots of people wanted to buy it … but I know how much you like it so I wanted to save some for you. Now that … is customer service.
… hitched a ride to the airport a couple of weeks back and got talking to the driver who was of Hmong origin. So we were talking about his family and where he was from etc and he was telling me how his wife wasn’t very happy with him at the moment. So I asked him why and he said because he only wanted to have one wife! My curiosity is of course aroused so I ask him more qsts … and in short, this is the deal. In the Hmong tradition, polygamy is allowed for men. However this sweet man only wants to have one wife because he says he loves only her. She however is angry with him and wants him to take some more wives! Why you ask? Because she knows that if her husband was to take another wife, the new wife would be expected to take care of the cooking and cleaning etc and she would get to rest back on her laurels and live a very luxurious work free life!
… someone asked me today how they could get a nose like mine … A nose like mine!!! I have been joked about many a time for having a big nose in Australia, but over here they all think it is beautiful and pointy! So anyway, I suggested a peg on the nose for one hour every night …
… drinking alcohol at any time of the day or night is a main occupation in these parts … and believe me, it is forced down one’s throat at any possible opportunity. Anyway there are a few key excuses I have worked out that are generally pretty water tight … one being “pun nyard nying” – “sickness lady” … which is basically the girls “monthlys”. So anyway it was Teacher’s Day a couple of days back and by 11am, the drinking had set in. Really not in the mood for that sort of action at 11am on a Monday, so I pull out the “pun nyard nying” excuse. Unfortunately for me, there were a couple of teachers at the table who had been with me a couple of weeks back at some other drinking event and remembered that I had used this excuse only 2 weeks previous … and … clearly after a bit of quick arithmetic, realised my blatent LIE!! Unfortunately, being a Monday and all, my brain wasn’t thinking quickly enough for a backup excuse and so the pre midday Monday beverage drinking commenced … I realise this sounds like a very decadent thing to be doing at work on a Monday, but believe me, it becomes unbelievably tiresome after a while! Oh the problems we have to deal with … !!
A few pics of recent events …
