Weekend Update

Our weekend started off with a bang. Which was good since the 4th of July celebration here was a bit subpar.

Our neighbour had the grand opening of her salon Friday night and the whole family was out in full force. I'm still not sure how everyone is related, but young and old came out in force to wish Som good luck with her business. The party was also for Skyler, one of the neighbour's grandsons, who is returning to America in a couple weeks. Skyler, who is about 4, lives with his mom in San Jose, CA, but comes to Laos in the summer to be with his family. There was a Buddhist ceremony to wish him safe travels. It was quite something to see about 15 little kids circled around the small shrine waiting for white rope to be tied around their wrist. I think this is a sign of good luck, but cannot remember what it is called. After Skyler's ceremony commenced, the food was served. We had at our disposal the largest pot of sticky rice I have seen to date, heaps of lap gai, penang curry, papaya salad and pork sausage. It was all quite delicious. Oh, and of course there was lots of BeerLao and lots of music. Hanging out with the neighbours is always a good time, and Friday night lived up to our expectations. They are so welcoming and open with us that you can't help but like them. Recently, I have really been upset I don't know more Lao because I'd love to have more of a conversation with these great people. After a bit of dancing, in front of and inside of the salon, I sat down with the men and enjoyed some sticky rice and goat's blood with herbs. Congealed chicken blood and congealed goat blood is in a lot of the soups here, but this was my first time having the blood on its own. After a few dabs with the sticky rice, I was offered a large spoonful of blood and herbs. Keen to try new things, I gladly ate(or maybe drank) the blood. Due to my adventurous palate, the neighbours have deemed me khaeng haeng laai...very strong. After the blood treat, it was back to dancing.

The party got going around 7:30, and around 11 just about all 60 pint size bottles of BeerLao had been polished off. It was a good thing that Jase and I had purchased a reserve crate earlier in day should the party start to dry up. Unlike our last trip to procure a crate of beer, this time we successful drove to and from the beer shop on the motorbike. I say motorbike because we only took one. While Lao people - men, women, children and adults, are capable of carrying just about anything on a motorbike, we were not quite up to the task yet. So, I drove while Jase held on to the crate. This entailed the crate of beer between my legs and Jase's arms wrapped around me holding onto the crate. Not exactly Lao-style, but get home with everyone and everything intact. It did not take long for the reserve case to run dry, so I hopped back on a bike, this time a nice automatic moto, and went to the store with Boum. This was my first trip with a Lao person where I was the driver, so the pressure was on. Fortunately, after about 9pm traffic is almost non-existing, so the drive was fairly easy. Due to the weight of the crate, not my driving, Boum took us home, and the party was able to linger on a bit longer. We, as always, had a great time with the neighbours and were the fortunate victims of their never ending generosity and hospitality. This might be a strong statement, but they definitely are up there with Southerners in their hospitality.

Saturday saw the arrival of July 4th a bit earlier than most of my friends in other parts of the world. While it might come earlier, the fanfare was a bit lacking. Hardly any of our Laos friends knew what the 4th was or what we were celebrating. So, my 4th began with a bowl of noodle soup for breakfast. Not exactly bacon and eggs, but a very nice meal to start the morning. I bumbled around town on my motorbike and ran some errands before we headed off to an afternoon party at the home of the one other interns' colleagues. This house was a bit outside the city, but very nice. They had a big kitchen, a large living room and a large front yard. The food, drinks and sound system where set up in the front yard. I figured the owner worked at Speaker City from the abundance of sub-woofers and other a/v equipment scattered about. The food was great, as usual, and the BeerLao abundant. The party also featured keyboardist and the vocal stylings of whomever was keen to sing. Not having any words or backing vocals, I opted to be seen rather than heard.

The party was geared up to stretch into the evening, but we had to go around 3:30 to make a 4th of July picnic at the Vientiane International School. Keen to bring more American attitude to the party than my US soccer kit and Cubs hat, Jase and I did what we thought would show off our American pride more than anything else; at least anything available to us. We quickly cleaned up most of our beards and sported some fine mustaches. As I'm sure you can imagine, we looked great. We showed up just as the ambassador was arriving, and I could see his look of approval as he gazed upon our symbols of freedom.

The 4th of July party was pretty good. It was tame, which is what we all needed after the previous night's party. Throughout the afternoon, a raffle was held and numerous US history questions were asked, with prizes being doled out for correct answers. The first few giveaways were your average tchotchkes, and we held off on answering. However, when the red wine began being offered for correct answers, we were up there in a flash. Between my flatmates and me we took home 3 bottles. I also took home a sweet Tigo (local mobile phone company) t-shirt, a toiletries bag and my bottle of wine. We ran into some people we had met the week earlier at a party, so it was good to catch up with some new friends. Hopefully they'll take us out to see a different side of the city. They're apparently high society girls here in town and frequent some of the classier establishments. It was somewhat nice being around westerners for a while, but I for one was keen to get back to some activities that were a bit more local. Fortunately I did not have to wait long for the local experience.

After the 4th party, with winnings in my hand, I headed home in time to head out to the nightclubs. So, our independence day celebration continued at a nightclub full of young Lao people. Boum took Simon and I to meet her friends at Novotel, one of the clubs that can stay open rather late. We got there around 10:30 and the place was already pretty amped up. In almost every club we have been to in Thailand and Laos the same Sean Kingston, Akon, FloRida, etc. mix is played. Usually on repeat.
I knew Simon and I were in for a fun night when the music right away did not feature any of the above mentioned western hitmakers. The music featured some great Lao grime, Lao ska, Thai hip hop and random animal noises (elephant and cow) thrown in by the DJ. The place was really fun, but after about an hour, Boum and her friends were ready to head to another disco.

We were all keen to head to MeeNa, and did not let the fact that it was raining stop us from our motorbike trip across town. A little, but ready to dance, we headed into the packed club.
I was almost deterred by the notice of banned items on the door, but figured I'd be safe inside. The club was hopping, and packed to the gills. Unable to find her friends, Boum went to a quiet corner (aka the restroom) to call them while Simon and I hung around the crowded tables. While we were waiting, I was asked by a woman if I needed a table. To explain the club situation a bit, there are high-top tables everywhere inside. Everyone stands at their table and dances in the close quarters. So, this lady asks me if she can get me a table. I told her I was just waiting for my friend and I didn't need one. She reluctantly walked off, but returned a few minutes later, before Boum had come back, and offered me the table once more. She also let me know that if I was keen after the club closed, she and I could hang out and do whatever. Having listened to numerous interviews with sex workers, I did the calculations pretty quick and realized what was going on here. While the proposition was pretty tame, it was there nonetheless. I again told her I really was alright, and she left to advertise elsewhere.


By the time we met Boum's friends we had just about dried off. Her friends were great. Full of energy and keen to dance. A few of the guys spoke some english, but it was nice to have Simon around to talk to and point out the hilarity that was going on all around us. Around 2am, the music cut off and the lights came on. At this point, MeeNa looked like any other bar or club I have ever been to. A stream of people heading out the front door and a sea of spilt drinks and bottles. Having worked up a good sweat from dancing, the rain that had continued to fall did not deter us on our ride home. We went slow down the road to our house and Simon and I did our best "Sitting on the Dock of Bay" rendition. A little wet, but still hot, I got home and jumped in a cold shower before heading to bed. No fireworks this year for the 4th, but I enjoyed each and every way I celebrated the day.

Sunday we treated ourselves to a western breakfast at the Scandinavian Bakery. The food was okay, but what really killed me was know that I could have bought about 4 noodle soups for the same price as an egg croissant and cup of coffee. After breakfast, Simon and I headed over to the market near our house to look for towels. You would think that finding something like a bath towel would not be difficult, but of you are in the wrong part of the market it can be like asking for sweet tea in Boston. People look at you like they have never heard of such a thing and have no idea where such an item can be found. It helps to remember that you can get anything at the market, you just have to look around. Eventually Simon got his towel and I troubled a fruit stall owner for some bananas. The stall owners usually are sleeping next to their fare, so at times you need to make a bit of noise to get their attention. After the bananas were purchased I picked up some sticky rice to make back at the house.

When we got back home, I headed over to the neighbors salon and hung out there for most of the day. It turned out to be a good decision as I was able to catch up on the village gossip, eaten some good noodle soup, get a haircut and receive an invite to dinner. I learned that the guesthouse across the street from our house is a brothel, and the guy who works in the clothes store next to the salon is the mamasan. I was also able to work a bit on my fledgling understanding of the law language. Before I knew it, the sun was setting and it was time for dinner. We were doing siin dard, which Boum and Som said was similar to grilling meat. I thought we were going out to eat, so I went home and changed into something respectable. I met them around 7pm and immediately realized I had somewhat misunderstood the plans for the evening. Our dining experience was in the form of home delivery, kind of like pizza. The delivery guy showed up with a stone cooking stove filled with hot coals and a tray that we placed over the flames. The tray was metal and had a small reservoir around the sides and was convex in the middle, with slits around the dome. The reservoir was then filled with soup broth, and the small pieces of meat were placed on the convex dome. We cooked morning glory, mushrooms, noodles and eggs in the broth and pulled off the meat with chopsticks when it was ready. It was a really good dinner, and much better than pizza delivery. After dinner, Boum helped me with my Lao a bit more and then I helped her with the dishes.

It was another fun weekend. While there is not a whole lot to see in Vientiane, there is heaps of stuff to experience, and I am enjoying all the experiences immensely.