Laughter in Laos
Vientiane, Laos & Bangkok, Thailand
By Luke Melia
January 2, 2002
It was the birthday party for Sombath’s friend Tho. I knew that he was the son of a Brigade Leader in the Lao Military, so I suspected his family was fairly well-to-do. We had some trouble finding the place and were about to go back to the main road and count dirt lanes to find the third from the opposite end as the way we’d come in, when we tried a smaller dirt path of the lane and saw a house with lots of motorbikes parked outside. Western music floated out the window, and I saw party decorations in dim light through the window.
We were warmly greeted at the door. Inside I saw a few low tables, but together in an L-shape. They were spread with various Lao dishes including papaya salad, rice and meat. Around them, in ornately carved high-backed chairs and benches that had a throne-like quality to them, sat about two dozen 20-something Lao men and women.
We removed our shoes, and were immediately absorbed into the party. It was a well-educated crowd, and many spoke a bit of English. I met a woman who planned to study in Los Angeles, a man from Myanmar studying in Laos for five years, and the birthday boy, who was very gracious and happy to have me there. On one wall, stencil English letters spelled out “HAPPY NEW YEAR”, and lights wrapped around colored streams provided all the light in the room.
For such a large group, the Lao style of drinking I described above had to be modified somewhat. At any given time there were two or three pourers, and they stood and circulated around the room. I took my turn to pour, which was a lot of fun. Amidst a debate between friends over whether one would drink the beer I offered, despite already being quite drunk, the glass broke. The lights came on and the beer was swiftly cleaned up; broken glass was carefully retrieved from the floor by barefoot partiers. A new glass was in my hand in minutes and the party continued.
It later gave way to dancing and a few trips to the bathroom, where a pair of communal flip-flops were happily donned to keep my feet off the wet floor of the standard Asian squat-toilet-and-the-room-as-shower-stall bathroom. Throughout the party, I felt incredibly welcome and cared for.
Midnight passed without notice, and when I headed home with Sombath at around 1:30, we noted that it was now 2002 and wished each other a Happy New Year.
Odds & Ends
I’m now back in Vientiane after a trip to Vang Vieng, which you may have seen profiled in the NY Times recently. Oxygen folk, the newspaper photo above my desk is from there. It was great. I played takraw, a game sort of like volleyball but with your feet, with some village kids, who were impressed with my abilities (who’d of thunk that all that hackeysack and volleyball experience would come in handy in Laos?). I kayaked (for my first time!) down the Nam Song and explored two caves where I had to wade through cool underground water up to my neck to get through.
I head tonight by night bus to Bangkok, Thailand, where I’ll meet up with Elbert and go off to who knows where. Our plan was to go north to Chang Mai, Thailand, but I’m itching to explore Laos some more, or maybe head up into Myanmar.
“Too Busy Living”
Now that I have a guitar, I was able to capture in a song the difficult time I have keeping a journal here. Guitar players can give it a shot and let me know what you think…
(I lost my pick, so this is written to be played with a simple finger-picking pattern)
[E]I try to make notes
I [D]want to recall
My [E]friends, lovers, places
I [D]cherish them allCHORUS
Got to [E]remember these sights
[D]remember those sounds but
I’m [D]too busy living to [A]write it all down
Yes, I’m [A]too busy living to [E]write it all down[E]Smiles from children and
[D]how-do-you-do’s in [E]all different languages
to [D]all different tunesrepeat CHORUS
Bridge (instrumental): [G] [D] [D] [G] [A] [E]
[E]Smiles in Singapore
[D]Laughter in Laos
[E]Dinner in New York
At my [D]grandmother’s houserepeat CHORUS
end with [D] [A] [E]
On to Thailand
As the song above suggests, I can’t even write down everything I’m experiencing myself, much less do it justice in email. I hope that what I can send back is enjoyable for you, though, and provides a bit of a window into another culture. Let me know what you think!
I made it to Thailand to meet Elbert, but within 15 minutes of his arrival at Bangkok’s beautiful Shanti Lodge, we decided to go explore Laos some more. A few hours later, we had our plans organized. We’re now back in Thailand, on the resort island of Phuket, where we spent yesterday on an empty beach, catching up with friends and planning a trip to explore some submerged caves by sea canoe and do a bit of scuba diving (Elbert) and snorkeling (me).
I’m feeling a little homesick around now, but not enough to keep me from enjoying every day and every moment here.
Movies in Style in Bangkok
We had a bit of time in Bangkok though, and so after spending the a day on foot, we decided to catch a movie.
We caught a cab over to Siam Center, a big mall with a movie theater on the top floor (a common arrangement in Asia – I saw Lord of the Rings in Singapore in a mall with a similar configuration). They sure do malls well here: creative architecture, great use of light and plants, and an impressive lineup of stores make for a very modern, hip feel. We saw lots of hip Bangkok teens in high fashion and funky hair hanging out at the mall that night.
We purchased two Gold Class tickets for Ocean’s 11 for 300 baht each (US$7.50) and got a bite to eat before the flick. I had pad thai from a mall fast food joint called Rider. Their slogan? “Good Guys Eat Noodles”.
Once it was time for the movie we showed our tickets and were ushered along a red carpet where a pair or translucent doors automatically slid open as we passed through into a plush bar/lounge area. We proceeded to the theater and were guided to our seats. I sat down in disbelief in a plush red velvet lazy boy that had a full recline mode. A table sat between my chair and Elbert’s, and a waiter in black and white was on-hand to take our snack/drink order before the movie started. The screen was as large as any theater in NYC I’ve been to recently. There were 25-30 seats in the whole place, and the audience was split between tourists and locals.
After previews and before the feature presentation, we rose to sing a song (well, listen, in our case) honoring the king of Thailand. Then I kicked off my Tevas, curled up in my chair and enjoyed the movie, ignoring the Thai language subtitles It almost made Ocean’s 11 seem like a really good film!
Read Part 3
