Before I left for Laos, I knew I was going to Asia, I was
going to a warm place, I was going to see Jeffrey and Kaarina, and I was going
to a place where brown skin and black hair was the majority. After waving
goodbye to mom and dad at the airport- before going through security, I was hit
with a wave of overwhelming emotion. Thankfully the security guard had to
re-scan my bag- due to an unopened Jell-O and joked about my horde of Pringles
I had packed as a choice for plane snacks, therefore distracting me from tears
that threatened to flow. The plane rides were fun; I made small talk with my
seat-mates, those who spoke English. Making it all the way to Thailand was
easy, but then I did the ONE thing in the whole trip I was NOT supposed to:
Going through Thai customs, getting a stamp on my passport- which cost me a
night in the airport instead of a night inside a day-room. I had seven hours to watch over my bags, and
hang out. So I bought two Cokes, and parked my baggage cart between the
passport check officials and the tourist police. Then next morning I was able
to re-check my bags, and hang out in the Bangkok airport before my final flight
to Laos.
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| Bangkok Airport |
My first week in Laos was spent in the capital city of
Vientiane. Kaarina had some fun activities planned. One of my favorites was the
Lao photo shoot. We went to a photo shop, chose traditional Lao outfits, and
had our hair, make-up done. Then came time for photos: Kaarina and I felt like
we were models, posing this way and that. The photographer didn’t speak English
and had a hard time “showing” ways he wanted us to hold our hands, and “tilt”
our heads. It was really fun to dress up
and experience a little of girly-Lao culture! Another activity we did was go
bowling. But this bowling alley had a twist- some of the lanes were uneven and
had bumps on them, which had an interesting twist on the game.
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| Lao Models |
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| Traditional Lao Getup |
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| Bowling |
In Laos I have experienced many ways of transportation:
One mode of transportation was a scooter- many people
rode these, and it was very interesting to see women in very A-line skirts
riding mopeds. Some ladies rode
side-ways which is actually easier. You’d see families of four on one scooter,
and people toting large hardware pieces.
I experienced a bumpy ride on a scooter and the best way to ride was pretending
I was on a horse by anticipating all the bumps.
Another crazy ride was on an army truck, through roads, that weren’t
even roads! They were muddy trenches, and ruts! It was a 10 hour trip and Jeffrey
calculated that we traveled an average of 8 miles per hour! Many a time the bus
“crew” got out the winch and “pulled” us out of the mud. I remember looking at
the next curve and wondering if there was a smooth road after it, most times
there weren’t. One stretch in the
middle, the road turned to a darker mud, different than the usually red
clay-sludge. At this point we went a
little faster and therefore caught a little breeze, that normally creeping at
an ant’s pace, we wouldn’t normally feel. What seemingly was an endless trip,
finally ended when we reached our destination, Tha Thom, Jeffrey and Kaarina’s
village.
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| Scootering |
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| Mud...Mud Everywhere |
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| Biking Home |
It’s pretty amazing thinking that it’s been three…almost
four weeks that I’ve been here in Laos. It’s been fun seeing Jeffrey and
Kaarina, spending time in their village, and meeting the people they work with.
I’ve also gotten to see a LOT of wildlife- When I first got to Jeffrey and
Kaarina’s house I felt like I was at the zoo- with chickens, roosters, geese,
ducks, turkeys, dogs, cats, and cows ambling through the yard.
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| Staff Game Night/Welcome Party |
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| At the Plain of Jars |
