ilar languages, the locals look somewhat the same, and their food, a
cquired. We lived right beside the popular Mekong River and there is this community and economy built around the survival through the utilizing the river's resources; fish. Tons of street side stalls selling salted fish, fresh fish covered with tons of salt. I'm sure someone will get sick eating too much of that. But apparently it's supposed to taste really good. Pace over there is still somewhat slow like Brunei but more people can be seen walking around as this place has some tourists visiting. When we went to interact with this group of young girls at a fountain we saw this girl who was selling inflatable toys. Apparently she needed to do that to make a living. There was a very big difference between her attitude and the other girls who were around the same age as her. They could play the whole day after school but for her case she had to lug around all those inflatable toys just to help her family earn a living. Even when Pete handed her something, it felt like it she didn't even know how to smile. Like it took so much energy just to smile and show happiness. My perception was that she wasn't used to being happy about her life and her environment. I was just happy that we were able to make her happy even if for one second of her life. Like it mattered to someone and she was significant to a total stranger at that point of time.
We were drawing this old man which was holding little wooden cages which had small birds in them. For a moment I thought he was rearing these birds. Then I realized that people pay him to release the birds and let them free. I was just wondering, what if nobody pays for the birds? Wouldn't that particular bird be in captivity for very long? It's really amazing how the kind of things that can people be pushe
d to do just to survive.
Language barrier that we faced in Laos. I found out from Khamla, logistics officer from Laos Embassy that if you learn how to speak Lao for a month, you'll be able to understand Thai because they use similar words. “Neng, Song, Sam” 1,2 and 3 in both languages.
We made a new best friend after that, Mr Khamla. The Logistics Officer of Laos Embassy. He brought us to try some local food, by the Mekong River. He had an excellent sense of humor and he shed some light on the education system and look on education in Laos. He was saying that the children are beco
ming very dependent on their parents and the parents, showing care for their children will do anyt
hing to fulfill the wants of their children. So dependent the children become that they become lazy and therefore results in the disinterest in studying in school. This made me realize why over here in Singapore why education is so emphasized and enforced upon every Singaporean child. That's why I think almost every person in Laos stays in Laos their whole life because they become less marketable overseas due to the lack of education. I guess these are the kind of people that don't contribute to the improvement of Laos' economy.
On the night itself, the Deputy Ambassador brought us to this place with a live band. It was called, “Club Zai De”, if that's how u spell it. Quite modernized place in the middle of nowhere in the midst of rundown houses. A
fter being fed all those authentic Laos dishes which were all acquired, we finally got to eat old school BBQ chicken. That made my night, it was excellent, best meal in Laos sad to say. Speaking of that, I think the most memorable food that Pete had was the Laos burger that he had one of the days. Just the sight of it being prepared at the stall with all the flies buzzing around I really don't know how he could have eaten it. He had diarrhea after that. Spoiler for Indonesia.
We went to his house after that and let me tell u it was HUGE! It cost US1K a month of rent and its damn worth it i tin. Its only that he's living there by himself so it was such a waste. I now know who to look for the next time i go to Laos, IF i go, haha.
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