12-21-10: Luang Prabang, still

Today we met more Lao people than ever before. It was like a theme, by
the end of the day four different Lao guys had struck up conversations
with us! It was crazy.

Lao Friend #1: Sai

The day started with us getting breakfast, then coming back to our
guesthouse to shower and use their very slow wi-fi connection. While I
was waiting for Robert to shower, I sat out in the common area. The
guesthouse attendant, Sai, came to look at the Pad and I tried to make
him play with it. He refused, but I pulled up the Cut the Rope game
and then tried to hand the pad to him again. This time he couldn't
refuse; that game is like crack. I enjoyed watching him learn how to
play and helping when he got stuck. I also liked trying to say his
score in Lao, which thankfully shares the same number words with Thai.
Our investment in learning the Thai numbers definitely paid off! The
two languages are actually quite similar in other ways as well, but
different enough for my longer phrases in Thai to be pretty useless
here.

Eventually, the Sai surrendered the pad to Robert who wanted to send a
few emails and Sai and I chatted. We talked about where he is from,
how old he is, the similarities and differences between Lao and Thai,
etc. He is pretty adept at both languages because Lao doesn't have
much media itself; they watch and listen to Thai TV and radio and news
for the most part. I asked him a million questions, "is this phrase
the same in Lao?" "how do you say xxx in Lao?" We concluded that the
languages were "same same, but different." This was amusing in and of
itself because all the cheap t-shirt sellers have shirts with this
phrase on it: same same (front), but different (back). We never
understood them and our new friend didnt either, but the phrase
captured perfectly the relationship between lao and thai. we also bust
out a map so he could show me where he is from. I enjoyed it
thoroughly as I hadn't actually "met" anyone that could or would talk
to me in Laos, or Thailand for that matter!

Change of Plans

The rest of the morning passed uneventfully. We booked a ticket to go
to Vientiane, had a baguette and a beer, got some real Internet, etc.
The only exciting bit, maybe not exciting, but necessary, was that I
changed my flight home. One of my interviews falls before we were
scheduled to be home, so I will have to come home sooner. I now fly
back to Houston on Jan 14, but Robert is going to stick it out and
finish the trip, staying until our original return date Of Feb 22.
Crazy, but at least my ticket was easily changed.

Lao Friend #2: Khamloun

After a midday siesta, we ventured out to explore the city a bit more
and were amply rewarded. We discovered the other side of peninsula! It
was like a whole new city. I hit a sugar low, got grumpy and Robert
took over finding us a snack. He picked well because the green salad
and laap salad we got were excellent. Robert is such a sticky rice
fiend (and me too) that we confirm that the restaurant serves sticky
rice before agreeing to sit down. This usually makes us look crazy
because sticky rice is ubiquitous here. When we ordered, the waiter
jokingly reminded us to order sticky rice.

We hung out for quite a while there, playing cards and captioning
pictures. The place was dead and the waiter came over to chat. Our
second Lao friend! His name was Khamloun. He, too, was fascinated by
the pad, but came over just as it started downloading pictures from
the camera card, so we couldn't show him how it worked. He came back
later though, interested this time in our card game, so we taught him
how to play! He was a quick study, needing to watch only once before
he started playing on his own. We also made him teach us the Lao names
for the suits: spades - beek, diamonds - low, clubs - jep, and hearts
- guh. In return, he asked us what the letters meant - in Laos, people
just call them by their English letter K is "kee," Q is "coo," and J
is "jay." He also taught us the colors red and black, which after we
opened our ears, were the same as Thai, dam is black and dang is red.
This was great fun until other customers came and he had to work.
Bummer. When I went to pay, I asked him how to write his name in Lao.
He was happy to show me, but it was awkward because there was another
worker at the counter, looking at us like we were crazy. I wrote
Robert and Jenn down and then he tore the paper in half so we could
each keep the other's name. Awww - cultural exchange.

More wandering, then pricing sticky rice bamboo steamers at the
market, causing three stalls of sellers to get involved trying to
answer our questions in English. We wanted to know if you can cook
sticky rice in the little containers or are they just for serving.
This was a detail that was not easily translatable, even when the
older girl in school uniform tried to help. The old woman selling the
container went on and on in Lao to us though and it was fun that she
was trying so hard, most people - ourselves included - get really shy
at the language barrier, but I liked her method better, just talk.

Lao Friends # 3 & 4: Sisavanh and Keo

Final story for the day. Our food schedule was so messed up that our
bodies couldn't decide if we wanted more food for dinner at night. We
ended up stopping to get a sticky rice "snack," but when the food
came, it was hard to finish it. Don't worry, no sticky rice was left
behind. Then we made two more friends! Sisavanh and Keo, our waiters.
Vanh, as we heard his friends call him, tried to teach me "you're
welcome" in Lao and perhaps was encouraged by my repeated requests for
him to say it again so I could hear it and write it down. He kept
coming back to chat, so I made him translate more phrases for me.

Bo pen young - you're welcome
Ahaan dai lao - food is ready
Coy co bin dai baw? - can I have the check? (i have tried
unsuccessfully to use this phrase several times now, my accent is
terrible!)
Coy ko Thai hoop tinii dai baw? - can I take a picture here?

He also told us that he doesn't live in Luang Prabang; he commutes by
bike 7km each way to come to school, then work nights and study
English on the weekends. At this point we were bushed, so we shook
hands as Sai taught me is how young people say goodbye/hello instead
of wai-ing (bowing with hands clasped like in prayer), which is the
old way. Anyways, it was a long day of cultural learning and it was
time to pass out.

Thoughts for the day: Teaching English could be an excellent way to
learn about a new culture. Traveling requires you to be tolerant of
everything and nothing; nothing is exactly how you would like it, so
you get over it, but you can always leave.