One evening, we spontaneously shared a few beers with two coΓΆrdinators and their friends from the restaurant next door. Now while that sounds like fun (it was), ‘simply’ having a beer is an entire experience here. If you randomly walk past a group of people having drinks, no matter if you know them or not, you’ll get an invite to come join. You sit down in a circle on the ground, on either a pillow or a tiny plastic chair, and within seconds you’ll be holding your first drink. You’ll learn not to ask for a Lao beer, but for a BeerLao. Your glass will, remarkably, never be empty and you’ll say cheers about every two minutes, clinking your glasses together with the entire group.Β It’s the nicest, warmest thing. It’s a rare moment where it doesn’t quite matter that you don’t speak Lao and they don’t speak English. Beer is an ok language too and we still shared loads of laughs, in between eating black rubbery eggs, chili and rawΒ instant noodles. I wouldn’t have experienced it if I slept in any regular hostel.
Just a little tip: saying you’re calling it a night, will simply not be accepted. That would lead to cheerful shouting and pressure to stay. The Lao way to go, is to say you’re heading to the toilet and then simply not come back. That way you can sneak off in silence and let figure it out after a while.
I’m not going to spoil the entire program too much with my detailed ramblings, but I’ll just say the daytrip to Vientiane city was fun, in which a visit to Cope Centre was the biggest surprise. Turns out, due to being unfortunately located next to Vietnam during the Vietnam war, Laos is the most bombed country in the world. They dropped more bombs here, then they did in all of Europe during WWII. I was clueless. But what I also know these days, is the story of how the Buddha was born from a white elephant and how to make spring rolls. You can say it’s been a fairly diverse week.
For me, this week has been about the little things. It’s in the challenge of enjoying sticky rice as a meal every day. It’s in the exact moment you walk into a gorgeous temple and discover fourty monks in their orange cloths proceed in their chants, that just instantly hypnotises you. It’s in hearing a guy sing insanely off-key in the karaoke bar many miles away (his screeching had the power to travel way over the big rice field next door). Laos isn’t known to be filled with super famous cities or the next world wonders like Angkor Wat, but it’s the country to visit if you want to see the quiet, Asian life, where people wear a band t-shirt over their traditional skirt. For me, the longer I stay here, it’s a country that grows on you through observing the details and its warm-hearted people.
