Lost in Laos

I like to hope I have some faithful readers out there who have been missing me desperately. If not, I'll just pretend.

I did make it down to Southern Laos earlier this month, Paxse and Savannakhet. I visited two provincial clinics and got to know the staff.

I apologize for the absenteeism this month. I'd love to say I've been swept up in exciting new adventures but truth be told I've just been working and trying to stay cool. The good news is that I received my ID card today. It's a little red book, how very fitting, that is an intermediate step in my receiving a work visa and being able to leave the country. Our visa guy, who is employed specifically for the purpose of getting visas for the expats, says I should have my work visa by the end of June for sure. So, with that in mind I'm planning my holidays.

I'm taking my birthday week off in June to travel up to Northern Laos. There is an environmental project called the Gibbon experience, www.gibbonexperience.org, where you trek into a nature preserve, sleep in tree houses, zip around on zip lines, and hopefully see some gibbons. I'm pretty excited about it. Then I'll take a boat back down the Mekong to Luang Prabang for a couple days.

I've found a couple amazing looking yoga retreats. One outside of Angkor Wat in Cambodia and the other on a little island off Phuket in Thailand. They both look great and pretty affordable so I'm planning to take a week in July to check out one or the other.

I promise to be more diligent in the near future and make some good use of my camera.

National Parks Laos style

My housemate Zoe bought a car this weekend. An old school 1987 Isuzu Trooper for $12000, ridiculous but apparently cars in Laos maintain their value.

So Zoe, Rory and I took a road trip Sunday to the National Park/Protected area north of Vientiane. It's a good 2.5 hour drive but worth every minute when you finally arrive. A day of lounging, swimming, tanning, and enjoying some much needed nature.

Sunbathing after a swim.....now this is how life should be.

Four little monks climbing in a tree. I think we scared them off when we stripped down to our bikinis.

Can't beat this!

Living in Vientiane, it's amazing how much I miss going on hikes, even in the ridiculous humidity.

Low tech bridges.

Laos Wedding

I'm wrapping up a busier than usual weekend in Vientiane. Rather than the usual pedicure, massage, yoga and napping, this weekend I actually made it out of the city for a bit.

Saturday, a coworker had his wedding. My first Laos wedding was quite the experience. Keeping with the theme lately, the weather was insanely hot, which led to wedding of minimal dancing, excessive sweating and ridiculous consumption of liquids of all kinds.

As you enter a Laos wedding, you are greeted by a couple girls holding a shot of whiskey. So every guest at the party drinks from the same little shot glass as they enter the party (a little unhygienic if you ask me). Then you drop your envelope into a great golden container (the envelope has your name printed on the front so they know exactly how much money you give them). You're then seated, handed a glass of beerlao and invited to enjoy the buffet of all the standard Laos grub.

Your second mandatory whiskey shot comes when the bride and groom walk around with the same shot glass (yet again) on a platter full of money. You place money on the platter and take the shot of whiskey while congratulating and greeting the bride and groom. Amazing what a drinking culture Laos is. All social events revolve around drinking and forcing your friends and family to drink as well.

After a couple more shots and maybe a beerlao or two, you find your way to the dance floor for some good old traditional Laos dancing. You must be asked by a man. You then stand in a line across from your partner, avoid making any kind of eye contact, casually step side to side while moving your hands up and down. It's pretty much mandatory, despite the heat and the strangeness of dancing with a straight face (smiling seems to be a no no). 

Luckily, this Mung wedding was an afternoon ordeal and wrapped up after a couple hours (lots of Laos weddings go all night).

My coworker, Bounma.

Some Laos women putting on a show in hopes of catching a man...single women are forced to participate (yuck).