dark side of the moon

06.11.2008-033-kongLo

June 12, 2008
I went on a boat ride yesterday. There were limestone cliffs all around, a rocky river bottom. At times, we hit some rapids, and the motorized canoe trembled before the two boatmen took control and steered it in the right direction.

And I shuddered throughout! After all, it was on a river running 7 Km through a pitch-black, winding cave.

As Nadia found out two weeks ago, after a 30-minute, steep, rocky, slippery climb, I am not a “cave” person. I couldn’t go further than about 2 meters into the cave, just when it becomes a real cave (even with its golden promises of a reclining Buddha and a swimming lagoon!)

I get claustrophobic, and can’t wait to run out to the open skies.
So there I was, trying to soothe my nerves by listening to dance music, while struggling to recollect synonyms of 'fear' to look them up in my Lao phrasebook, so I could tell the boatmen to not stop in the middle of the cave to look "closely” at the stalactites and stalagmites. I saw enough for my lifetime in the first 15 minutes of the 90 minute ride, well, as many as I could in the dark.

Finally, it got over , and it was time for the good part. I was going to live in the village for a night.
Feeling the real Laos, Lonely Planet says, is through a homestay.

I am put up in a home with 4 beautiful little girls, Ta (12), Te (9), Dali (7), Ami (1) and their mother Teng.

I walk around the village, following the kids racing their “bottle” cars, have café Lao in the village noodle shop, while taking in the views, and spend the rest of the evening trying to learn Lao and teach the three girls English.
After an early dinner of noodles with cabbage and egg, everyone is in bed by 9.

A few observations:
- Men and women sleep in separate homes (maybe my host family was well-off to have two houses)
- When a kid gets sick, there is an endless stream of neighbors inquiring about the kid’s health.
- Everyone watches a lot of Thai television.
- The older children get up before dawn. The 12 year old goes to the paddy fields by 5, the 9 year old helps in the cooking and then walks to the field, with the breakfast.
- A quick baasii ceremony is performed if a kid is sick, to help her attain equilibrium or for falangs, who are clearly crazy to be taking photos of their bed and food served to them, among other things

The roosters wake me up at the break of dawn to a rainy morning. At 6 AM, I am fed a lot of fried rice, all of which I ate (because it was yummy!). Then I take their leave, with 2 white threads on my left wrist and a pocketful of memories.

Would I do it again?
The cave – Never, Homestay – Sure (but won’t eat up all the fried rice), Baasii – that’s something I need most – equilibrium !