Another Traveler with a Great Story

The other night I had dinner with a friend of a friend of a friend. yeah, third cousins twice removed. he he he.  His name is Daniel and he's traveling in what I find a very interesting and great way to do it. Each month a different city/country/culture. The idea is to spend a more extended time period in just one place.  Sure you don't see all the country or area has to offer, but you get to experience more of the culture and more of the people.  He also is doing volunteer type work or home-stay helping gigs in each place.  He started on January 1st, 2011 (which I think is truly just wonderful and a perfect way to start) and for November he finds himself in the Luang Prabang area.  I could tell you more about it but it's probably better that you read more about him yourself at his blog site, http://www.danielbaylis.ca/ 

I hope you enjoy it.

Better Living Through Corduroy!!

In honor of today being the day that most resembles corduroy (11/11/11) I thought I'd share a recent story about how small the world is and how wonderful a place it is. 

I met Pieter in Vang Vieng, Laos at the blue lagoon. I had gone alone there as the friends I was spending time with there didn't want to go and I had heard it was very nice.  Shortly after arriving to the lagoon I found myself in good conversation with Arne and Pieter, two travelers who also were traveling alone but met along their trip.  We swam in the lagoon, explored the cave and then after we left the lagoon we helped some local village people with a little construction type work in moving some big cement pieces into place. It was raining and we were hungry so we stopped into a place for some food and then we went our separate ways, after we exchanged contact information.  And this is how travel is a lot. You meet people, connect, talk, share and then go. But of course these connections are always sort of with us, right?

Flash forward 7 months and I get a message on Facebook from Pieter. "i've got a little bit of a weird question since i thought i recognized you on a picture.... are you a member of the corduroy appreciation club???"

well, of course I am, and it's something I'm proud of, but how does a person in Belgium know of this club and further more how would they know I was a member?  so i asked and received this answer.

"this is a great story!! i was with some friends thinking of starting a club for carnaval, i thought it is mardi grass in english... and then we came up, after some beers, with the idea to call it corduroy club and all wear red corduroys... a few days a go a friend of my google corduroy and he went to the wikipedia website and saw that 11!11!11 is also a holy date for corduroy, this is also the holy day for carnaval since this is the start of the season, so we were amazed by this fact. then we saw the website of your club and could not stop laughing, it was so nice!!! after a while i saw your name and though i know this name.... and then i recognized you on a picture!!! this is so great!!!"

better living through corduroy!!

Here's another little story (though not corduroy related). I had planned to do an Anusara yoga training in Chiang Mai in January but due to newer developments I won't be able to attend. I let the instructor know my plans had changed and how I was going to be working with this place that I'm working with a little longer. Turns our he knows the head chef there, but not from being in SE Asia but from Bhutan years ago.

And of course another little story. I had written this post earlier in the day but wanted to check with Pieter to make sure it was ok for me to repost his letter.  Well, in the time that I wrote it and got permission I ran into another old connection. Last January when I was in Hanoi looking to buy a motorbike I was sharing a dorm room with Adam, Kaja and other travelers. Well one was this very sweet Israeli girl who spent about 3 or 4 nights with us before heading back to India.  Today I was having lunch with my friend when I turned around to leave. Who was sitting there? The Israeli girl of course.  It was just another one of those moments you experience in travel and in life.

I am constantly amazed at how small a world it is, but how wonderful a place it is as well.  I love seeing our 6 degrees of separation break down to 2 or 3 or less. I love sharing and connecting and I look forward to one day finding a mutual friend of yours, yes you the person reading this right now, and sharing with you our new connection point.

love from laos

Boun Ok Pansa

Last month I was fortunate enough to be in Laos for Boun Ok Pansa.  Here is a description I found from another website. 

Held to celebrate the end of Buddhist Lent, the nationwide Ok Pansa Festival starts at dawn on the first day with donations and offerings made at wats around the city. Then in the evening candlelight processions are held at wats, and in a ceremony known as boun lay heua fai (equivalent to loi krathong which the Thai people celebrate in December) hundreds of colourful paper boats decorated with flowers, incense and candles are set adrift on the Mekong River to pay respect to the river spirit and eradicate bad luck, bad deeds and disease.

I originally didn't want to go as I was in sort of a funk, but ended up checking out the parade and had a wonderful evening.  Each village builds lavish boats, usually with naga (river dragons) themes. The boats are judged and a village is crowned winner, enjoying the street-cred that comes with it. Candles are everywhere as is the spirit of merriment. I ran into a friend from a different village and walked in the parade with him and his son alongside other villagers of his and their boat.  Near the end his son got tired and I had to carry him all over.  Needless to say, carrying kids is tiring. :)

After the judging, the boats are put in the water to float away.  People also offer up little boats made from banana leaves with incense and candles.  The city is ablaze with lights and good feelings. Paper lanterns are also offered up to the heavens. 

Ask and ye shall receive...

I took Leon for a nice long walk tonight. I had to go to the night market to get a gift for a cousin as well as maybe a t shirt or two for me as I'm teaching more yoga classes so need a few more t shirts.  On the way back home I saw something I've been looking for for a while, a beer lao hoodie.  It's getting colder here and I don't really have cold clothes, not that serious cold clothes are needed but sleeves could be nice. And lord knows I love a comfy hoodie. So I found some tonight. But they wanted 120,000 kip, like $15. Not much, but I didn't have too much money on me. Fact is, I hardly ever carry cash on me. Don't have, don't spend is my motto and it works great till I run out of gas somewhere.  Anyways I ended up getting it down to 100,000 kip but then there left the problem that this left me with 5,000kip for dinner. Not a lot of options so I figured I'd go home and get a little more kip and then eat around my area.  I started to get really hungry and then I saw a friend eating dinner with her friends. She invited me to sit and eat with them. It was like something from the universe giving, how could I resist.  I sat down and food started being poured on my plate. Leon was also given meat and bones, making for two happy beings.  One thing I will say about the Lao people (and most asian for that matter) is that when it comes to having a guest for dinner they will out do themselves to make the guest feel like royalty. They can be exceedingly giving for sure.  I ate a fair share but was getting tired so I said my thanks and goodbyes and headed home.  No sooner did I step in the door then I got a call from a friend inviting me to her friends bassi (lao celebration). I was dead tired but decided to make an appearance for maybe 30 minutes.  No sooner do I get there but freshly cooked pork and buffalo is being thrown down my throat. Never mind the fact that I was already full from the duck at the other friends dinner.  Maybe the universe listend too much, as my belly feels even bigger.  My last post may have  seemed a bit harsh on the Laos people and I hope to try to shine a positive light as well.

So thank you Laos and thank you universe, for listening to my grumbling and poor stomach.

This really sums up Laos to me

“We will have an urgent meeting between the four operators next week to find a solution.”

My phone hasn't worked properly in a week.  I could call people on my network but not others. Turns out there are 4 telecom companies in Laos and my provider pissed the others off so they all cut service to my provider, Beeline/Tigo.  Finally, I switched to a new provider but as no one knew what was really happening I decided to do a little research. I found out the reason and found the above line sort of hysterical and totally Laos. 

Think about it. Ok, you're a major provider and your customers can't use their phones how they want to. They can't contact most people they would like to but everyone else can. You really think they'll wait it out when sim cards and minutes elsewhere are cheaper and work? (well, yeah... it's Laos and so they probably would because common sense hardly comes into play here on any issue, but that's besides the point) Instead of fixing it soon you wait another week. How many people out there think of the word "urgent" and then think "yeah, next week works." Urgent means soon, means get it done now. Of course, except in Lao. Land of the kii kaan (lazy in lao language). 

And they wonder why things just never get done here. But then again, they also just don't care.  Baw pen nyung, man, don't worry about it.