The people of Ban Phon Song live a simple life. They grow rice, vegetables, fruit, and herbs, and raise ducks, chickens, and cows. They make a living by selling surplus, baskets, and cloth. One of the women interrogated us about our love lives, trying to tempt us with one of her daughters or sons, even offering a couple cows for a dowry!
On July 12th, the SAILers and I travelled to a village about two hours North of Vientiane, famous for its preservation of traditional rural living and subsistence farming. We rolled up a road carved with potholes and stepped out into the rain to greet the little town. The house that welcomed us must’ve held a large extended family. It was spacious and each room was open to the outdoors in some way. A handful of women in the kitchen lead us in stripping herbs from the stem until we left for the rice fields. It rained the entire time, which was nice because it kept the mosquitos away. The rain dappled the water of the fields and everywhere seemed to be alive. Through the brown water swam tiny frogs and grasshoppers, while giant stripped spiders and water bugs skimmed the surface. We teetered across thin grassy strips of land, flanked by calve-deep pools. When we arrived, villagers taught us how to pull up young rice plants. The young plants need space to grow large so we were to pull them up, and replant them in another field. The process was as follows: grab at the base of a couple plants, pull them up with a twisting motion, and once you have a big clump, hit it against your bare feet to get all the mud off the roots. It was a messy process for us unskilled foreigners, though the locals seemed to remain quite clean. Then we took the bushels over to another field and planted the rice in “neat” rows by just pushing the roots under the mud on the bottom of the pools. We were worried our field was so ugly it would not grow, but the villagers assured us it was fine. Once our little field was planted, we returned to the house for a traditional meal followed by longyan for dessert and basket and fabric weaving. Again the locals zoomed effortlessly through the motions, but we struggled to copy. The most difficult part was the basket weaving – the pattern was extremely complex and no matter how hard I studied it, I could not figure it out. Click this link to watch a video showing the process of basket weaving: http://youtu.be/QpYZRWzZYN0
The people of Ban Phon Song live a simple life. They grow rice, vegetables, fruit, and herbs, and raise ducks, chickens, and cows. They make a living by selling surplus, baskets, and cloth. One of the women interrogated us about our love lives, trying to tempt us with one of her daughters or sons, even offering a couple cows for a dowry!
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There seems to be only one religion in Laos and it’s so entwined with the culture that one could argue that its name is Lao Culture. Religion seems to be consistent across the people of Laos (except for rural minorities that follow their own forms of Animism), and if a person chooses not to partake in a respectful way, no one minds. Religious practices come from three main sources: Animism, Brahmanism, and Theravada Buddhism. Animism shows in the form of ancestor worship and belief in spirits. Brahman influence seems to show in ceremony and ritual. Buddhism is probably the most obvious – extravagant Buddhist temples are sprinkled amongst the neighborhoods like churches would be in the Minneapolis suburbs. You can see monks of all ages sporting their neon orange smocks on the bus, in the market, and just about everywhere. Every Lao male is required to become a monk for at least three months before he is married. Sometimes you’ll see little boys in orange, but with such young ones their education is considered more of a summer school. Boys are encouraged to become a monk sometime after high school. Even still the position of a monk demands outmost respect and you must regard them higher than you would an elder, even if they are nine years old. Women can become “monks”, but they are rare and do not share the same position in society. Women can only reach enlightment after they are reborn as men. Laos is a country full of domesticated animals – the further from the heart of Vientiane, the more varied the animals become. In the city, cats and dogs abound, and the difference between strays and pets is difficult to discern. Sometimes an animal will have a collar, but I doubt that denotes “owned”. These animals are dirty, and some have wounds or bald spots. Yet they are adorable and generally very friendly! None are neutered and most of the females look like they’ve nursed many babies. If the heat is blaring the dogs lay on the ground in a death-like state. If the day is alright, they prance around, panting, tails-a-wagging. In the country, small chickens with long legs are constantly dashing away for cover. Cows and goats graze alongside major roads and can sometimes be spotted on a medium. Multicolored ducks and geese with grotesque wattles are also represented. These animals run free, but I’ve been told the communities are close enough so that no one dares steal livestock during the day, and at night the animals return to their shelters.
Not soon after entering Laos, one can determine this country loves the convenience of plastic bags. Bags come in every color, and most are the perfect size for small purchases. Many foods are homemade so the best way to sell them is to sai tohng (put in a bag). I was most surprised by the fact that soups and drinks pretty much all go into bags. Lao people have developed a refined technique to wrap a plastic bag to be liquid-tight.
It's been almost two months in my current hotel room and soon I will switch to a hotel near the National University of Laos, where I’ll live for the rest of the year. Although I’ve grown quite accustomed, I can’t say I’m not a bit eager to leave. The thing I may miss most about my hotel room is the company of all my critter friends. From bright green mosquitos to cockroaches, I never feel alone. These creatures live on my bathroom walls and for over a month convinced me they were just chunks of dried organic material. One day I noticed a large one swaying in a breeze that did not exist. I immediately began investigation. Turns out it was a larvae household casebearer, or plaster bagworm, dragging its pod-house around. The animal is a moth that needs a humid area to mature. The most interesting thing about this friend is that when I poked its head, it just came out the other side of its pod! Check out this video to see the bagworm inching around: http://youtu.be/Q0MR1jGVXf4 When the insects get too out-of-hand, the lizards have my back. These nocturnal beings are rampant throughout the nighttime in Laos. You can spot them by every light that attracts bugs – in the city or the country. They love to hang upside-down near ceiling lights, which may explain why they are always above my head before I fall asleep. They are typically well behaved, but as of two days ago one of them started releasing a piercing call in the dead of night.
For my first five weeks in Laos, the Study Abroad in Laos (SAL) Program held my hand and walked me into the unfamiliar waters of Laos, its language, and its culture. Equally as important, the program introduced me to amazing friends to share in my experiences and teach me even more. Now the program is over and half of these beautiful people have returned to America. I miss them all! If any SAILers are reading this now, make sure you come back before I leave!
The SAIL program is a study abroad program in Vientiane, Laos, headquartered in San Francisco, CA. Students have classes five days a week and cultural activities throughout. Teachers from the National University of Laos came in to teach us language, history, and culture. We studied at the Lao-American College, the only American college in Laos. The college has a small high school and currently offers Bachelor and Masters Degrees in English, Business, Hospitality, and Information Technology. The school was founded in 1993 by an American woman with a big heart for Laos, who then became the first American to gain Lao citizenship. First, I apologize for the lull in posting! I graduated from the SAIL program and have become increasingly busy settling down and establishing my social network within the city. My four-day vacation to Pakse ended a long time ago, and I didn't spend that much time in the actual city itself, but I’d still like to share a few pictures and videos of the area. Here is a video of the main market in Pakse: http://youtu.be/n52AYSb1640 Here is one taken from our van as we went through the outskirts of the city: http://youtu.be/sCJXMYrEj44 For a quick ride to and fro, its best to hail and haggle for a tuktuk. A tuktuk is a tricycle motorbike with space for as many as the driver can fit. The ceiling in the back is usually fitted with a collapsible hammock for the driver’s naps. A one-way 15 minute tuktuk ride can range from $0.60-3.70 per person.
Welcome home! My first 5 weeks in Vientiane I’ll live in the Sengphachan Hotel II with the other members of the SAIL program (Study Abroad in Laos). So far it’s been about two weeks and we’ve come to know the lobby, it’s intermittent Wifi, and it’s halls as our home space, recognizing every person of the family that works here. It’s been interesting watching the tourists from all over Asia and the Western world come and go (maybe most notably the army of tall beautiful Thai boys that were probably all models). Some foreigners working in Thailand come for daylong VISA runs so that they can renew their stay when they cross the border. Come the school year, I may have to go to Thailand for the exact same reason – stay tuned. The hotel is just around the corner from the Lao-American College, the only American college in Laos and the place where I will be attending language and culture courses as part of my SAIL orientation. …takes some adjustment for an American girl coming straight from exams in American academia. Switching from Boston to Vientiane is like sprinting to a stop. Laos moves at a relaxed place – here we refer to it as “Lao time”. Time points are flexible. Sometimes the flies move so slow you can poke them. The Sengphachan Hotel II’s Wifi is the fastest found thus far and it has a packet loss of 52%. The Weather. The locals of Vientiane describe the weather in three seasons: hot, hotter, and hottest. It’s July now so apparently Laos just finished her hottest season and she’s blessing us with the light “hot” season where the temperature fluctuates between 81° and 91°F and the humidity is 94%. The “hot” season is also the rainy season. When it rains it either mists or vomits at high speeds for short periods of time. The mist cools the air and we like that. The vomit is nice too because it cuts the heat – even if you get caught in it, its warm and refreshing. I estimate the air fly content may be about 0.2% regularly and can get up to 32% nearby rotting fruits or grilling meat. The People. The people of Vientiane are kind, reserved, and diverse. The largest group of people is the Lao, followed by the Hmong and Khmu minorities. Laos has about 100 minorities in total, but due to a national effort to unify its people under a single Republic, Laos does not celebrate difference in ethnicity. Laos is landlocked and migrants from the bordering countries China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar contribute to the population as well. The people of Laos don’t seem too distracted by foreigners and they certainly don’t stare or take pictures like the locals in China. Depending on where you are in Vientiane there is actually quite a few foreigners. Despite this, taking solo trips as a female stills attracts me a lot of attention. The people are centered on the family; so much so that the institution of the family is inseparable from daily life. Most businesses are houses bought by a family and the front is transformed into a restaurant or store. When there are no requests from customers, daily private life continues as though there wasn’t an audience of strangers present. If a door is ajar, one can see into the living space of the family. At the DaLat Sao (the largest market in Laos), people do not live in their stalls, but daily life still picks up and moves over into the mall and onto the street. It’s now summer vacation for the children so the shopkeepers all bring the kids to play together in the halls. Oftentimes you’ll see children as young as 10 or so working their parents’ stalls. People bring bowls of noodles to others at lunchtime, and even the public bathrooms will turn into a kitchen (rice cookers bowling green herb stews). I’m not sure if all the coworkers at a particular stall are family members, but they certainly look after each other as if they were. Some General Lao PDR Insight. The Lao PDR is one of the two Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in Southeast Asia, and much of the population, especially in rural areas, lack access to clean water, electricity, adequate nutrition, and healthcare. Recently the Poverty Reduction Fund has become the largest development project in the country, and is working to combat the destitute living conditions of certain rural areas. Laos receives a lot of foreign aid as well as foreign investment, both public and private. A lot of the social institutions are foreign donations – example: Japan gave a bus system and Korea gave a state-of-the-arts children’s hospital. Lao food and other products are very cheap but almost everything is imported so living, especially in Vientiane, is sometimes surprisingly more expensive than the nearby countries like Thailand. The Lao PDR’s main sources of revenue include electricity and minerals and through export the Lao economy has grown quickly over the past decade. Policy is environmentally progressive – as of this year the government has prohibited the construction of new dams on the Mekong, new mines, and the initiation of new deforestation projects – but practices like illegal logging continue to make the situation on ground less than ideal. The Noms.
Lao food can be describes as fried or fresh, and the level of sweet, salty, and spicy is adjusted as desired. The condiment bucket oftentimes takes up a person’s place at the restaurant’s table. When I say fresh I mean physically fresh as well as the flavors – mint, lime, lemongrass, sorrel, and cilantro are common. Street food is hot strange meat on sticks and snacks are tropical fruit and fruit smoothies. The classics are papaya salad, phe, laab, and sticky rice. Lao menus show influence of the surrounding countries’ cuisine, as well as France. I think most foods are non-GMO so when the fruit is in season, you’ve got to get it! |