Lovely, Lucious, Lively Laos

It's been a crazy and a wonderful month! At the beginning of December I faced the challenge of getting my show, The Snow Day, up and running while packing up my life in Korea and playing host to my Uncle Chava. It was a lot to do all at once, but I got it done (with the help of my fantastic co-workers and friends). While preparing to leave and packing my things, I kept feeling the most beautiful, delicate kind of pain. It was like nostalgia, only for something that was not yet in the past. It was hard, but as Evan said, that's probably a good thing. It's better to leave a wonderful experience wishing it wouldn't end than feeling burnt out or let down. It could almost be compared to a really good book or film in that way.

It's hard to put into words how much the experience meant to me and what it did for me. I've grown so much as a performer, educator and individual and I feel confident that I'll always look back on it happily and nostalgically (ah, nostalgia! That great homesickness for the past...)

However, even leaving Korea feels almost like a distant memory after everything I've done since. Uncle Chava came to check out what South Korea and English Village were all about and then to take a whirlwind tour of South East Asia with me before returning back to the states for Christmas. And boy did we have fun!

Here are a few highlights of our trip:

-We met some friendly monks and I sang a song for them

-We took a great boat ride from Phnom Pehn, Cambodia to Siem Reap

-We saw Angkor Wat as well as many other, beautiful ancient temple ruins.

-I taught English to poor Cambodian kids at a special free school.

-We became seriously inebriated with the help of our Cambodian guides and the owner of our hotel.

-We rode an elephant.

-We saw a beautiful waterfall.

-We watched Thai hookers sing Karaoke by mistake (the watching happened by mistake, not the singing)

-We saw wild hawks, lizards, gibbons, monkeys and ELEPHANTS!

I'll post pictures and details later, but for now, photos and stories from my first trip to Laos (called "Lao," by it's natives and visitors, and this is how I shall henceforth refer to it), the wonderful country which I visited November 9th-14th:

I arrived in Lao in the evening. An eager tuk-tuk (three-wheeled motorbike rickshaw) driver helped me find a unique guest house and then informed me that there was a festival and he could take me there and that is what we did.

I had decided that I'd try out the local fair fare (Can I say that? Is that allowed?), but the first thing I encountered I decided I'd pass up:


These are bugs. Bugs for you to eat. No, Really. However, it didn't take me long to find something much more satisfactory:


The morsels pictured above are made of dough, stretched even thinner than a crepe and grilled. An egg is then broken into the center of the dough and the dough is folded into an egg-containing envelope like what's pictured above. Sweetened, condensed milk is then poured on top of the envelope in question and then it is cut into small, sweet, eggy squares, placed in a bag and eaten with a stick. YUM!

The festival itself was really neat. It was kind a combination religious festival, carnival and market.


I even got to see some Lao school children performing traditional dances. It was so much fun to watch. I could instantly who was the teacher's pet and who didn't take the dancing seriously at all and who had a crush on whom. It was far more interesting than watching professionals, I'd imagine.


Above is That Luang, the most important stupa in Lao, which is what the festival centers on. There were processionals to the stupa every evening.


Here are some kids enjoying a carnival ride. One thing I really liked about the festival was that it seemed to be attended far more by locals than by tourists. It had a very authentic feel. I went back to my guest house and got to bed pretty early, seeing as I was used to the time being two hours later. Also, I wanted to get an early start the next day...


Which I did. I went first to the large monument pictured above. It was pretty nice and featured a good view of the city from the top.


I had a little chuckle at this very honest informational sign. And then continued my walk through the city, stopping to haggle a little at the morning market, Talat Sao...


And enjoying some of the colorful tuk-tuks along the way, though I declined the many rides that were offered me in favor of using my feet.


I checked out the oldest stupa in Lao, pictured above. And took a look at the not-especially-inspiring Presidential Palace.


In my wandering I saw many small alters like the one above. People have these in front of their businesses, I guess to bring them luck and keep the gods on their side.


I was visited Vientiane's most famous temple, where I saw this Buddha all dressed up as if it was his special day...


And headed to a museum of artifacts where I narrowly avoided being devoured by the dragons guarding its impressive stair cases.

I then took a walk down by the river and found a nice spot for lunch.


I opted not for the Deep Fried Frog, garlic and paper but instead had papaya salad and stir-fried vegetables with delicious sticky rice. After a nice break I was ready to continue my exploration of the city.


I saw several more beautiful temples like the one pictured above...


Including a special one with big guys like this one guarding its gates.


I happened to walk by a school where a teacher had just instructed her students to pick up trash around the school yard. It was fun to watch them scurrying around picking up everything they could find, including leaves and twigs.

After my walking around the city I decided to rent a bicycle and ride to outside of the central area to a wooded temple where I could have a traditional sauna and massage.


Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera so I missed out on taking pictures of the peaceful, jungley path to the temple, but I do have a picture of my most excellent bicycle. When I arrived in the temple complex, I was greeted by a young monk who offered to walk me to what turned out to be the shack where sauna and massage were offered. This turned out to be a very good thing, since I not only enjoyed helping him practice his English, but also would never have found it on my own. The sauna and message were rejuvenating and only cost $5 total.


That night I had dinner at a wonderful restaurant where former Lao street youth learn cooking, serving, and other aspects of the restaurant business. They serve modern Lao food and it was ridiculously delicious. Afterward I went to a music bar where I saw the gentleman pictured here play some tunes. I wasn't thrilled with the light rock that he and his band played, was I was impressed by how well a person who didn't seem to speak any English could sing American songs with hardly any accent.

The following day I spent at a center where disadvantaged women are taught traditional Lao crafts so that they can make things to sell. They had a program for tourists to learn traditional Lao dyeing and weaving and I was all about it.



Here is a man dyeing some thread.


And here is the vat where I dyed my silk scarf.


This is the loom where I learned to weave...


And this is my work. I had a lot of fun at the center. It was a very laid-back and peaceful place. I was instructed by young Lao women who were patient but firm about how things were to be done.


The next morning was the culmination of the That Luang Festival. At around 6am, thousands of monks from all over Lao gathered near the stupa to receive alms from the citizens of Vientiane.


Here is an example of the offerings that were brought for the monks. Money, flowers, foods and packaged snacks were all game.


Here are the many faithful gathered and waiting to give out their alms.


And this is what the offering of alms looked like.


Here I am, dressed in a traditional Lao skirt or singh in front of the gathered masses. It was a unique event to witness and I felt so lucky that I had just happened to come to Lao on this particular week.

Later that morning, however, I was off to Vang Vieng, a smaller town about 3.5 hours (on small roads) from Vientiane. The van ride was bumpy, but I was excited to arrive in such a lovely, relaxed little town.


This is the bungalow where I stayed. It was cute and comfortable and cost only $4 a night. After booking it, I headed back to town to book a kayaking tour for the next day and then went tubing down the river, which is a bit of a rite of passage in Vang Vieng, where there are bars you can stop at along the river.


This is the footbridge that I had to cross to get to my bungalow from the central area of town. Believe it or not, people actually rode motorbikes on this bridge. Oy.

I had a nice dinner and went out to explore the various nightlife options (Vang Vieng is a bit of a party spot).

In the morning I rose early for my hiking and kayaking adventure. We hiked through a small village to a small cave temple with a rock formation shaped like an elephant. After another short hike we arrived at our next stop:


The cave in which we would be tubing.


Here I am with my waterproof headlamp, getting ready to head in. It was a lot of fun floating around in the cave, and if it hadn't been for a friendly, Spanish, fellow-adventurer, I might still be floating there now (I had a tough time paddling around thanks to the shortness of my limbs).

After the cave we had a tasty lunch and then hiked back to our truck, which then drove us to our point of kayak embarkation.

I had never kayaked before but I had lots of fun. The scenery was terribly picturesque, that is until my sunscreen melted into my eyes, causing me much more pain than I would have thought. Luckily, we took a stop at one of the riverside bars which had awesome rope swings and a water slide.


Above is one of my kayaking cohorts having a swing into the water. I personally opted for the T-bar and screamed all the way until I hit the water. After our stop we kayaked the rest of the way back to town where I grabbed more tasty food...


And had the chance to catch what I thought would be my last Lao sunset before heading out for a mellow night at some of the area bars.

The next day was supposed to be my last day in Laos, except that my bus to Vientiane arrived 1.5 hours late and I just missed the cut off for check-in for my flight. Luckily I was able to reschedule for the next day without any problems. I spent my extra day in Vientiane getting massaged, visiting the COPES center which helps fit poor, disabled people with prosthetic limbs and has a very interesting museum, and eating Japanese food.

My trip was wonderful.

I also need mention that the day I returned from Lao, I had my first try at stand up comedy. My friend and co-worker, Jason, wanted to celebrate his last night at EV with comedy and figured it would be the perfect time to face my paralyzing fear of stand up in a friendly environment.


So here I am. I look pretty scared, but I think that I was actually trying not to laugh at my own joke when the photo was taken. My material centered on the harrowing travel misadventure that I had on my way to Lao, a story that I'd be happy to tell another time...