subject: souvenirs
from Laos
sent: monday, november 26, 2001 7:59 am
I'm in Vientiane now,
the capital of Laos, 'a classic Indochinese city with an amazingly
laidback atmosphere'. amazingly laidback... that's exactly
what life in this country is like. and especially in Vang
Vieng, the little town I spent the last couple of days. no
internet connection? ok, try later. no water today? no, sorry,
no water in the town today. ok, shower tomorrow. things that
easily upset you in other places don't seem to matter there.
as if the mild days and the colourful sunsets would smoothen
people's moods. as if the slowly floating Mekong and Nan Sung
river would slow down everybody's life. make you stay longer
than planned. let you start the day with a relaxed breakfast
in the Lao-Swiss bakery, where refills are for free. make
you cut down your big plans and open your eyes for the small
things. for children smiling and greeting you with 'sabaii-dii'
just because they enjoy smiling and greeting. for finding
yourself smiling at everybody, starting to belief that Lao-smiles
are contagious. and for watching the sunset from the riverside,
another endless and unbelievable sunset.
the highlight of my journey
to Laos? to me, it wasn't a special place to see or a special
thing to do. it rather was flowing
through life the Lao-way for some days. living instead
of organizing life. smiling instead of trying to be polite.
so the souvenirs I hope to bring back from here are some portions
of this feeling, wrapped in banana-leaves, sealed with blue
and yellow plastic strings. but although you can pay in Laos
with 3 different currencies (the double room with inside bath
and hot water I shared with Bianca at a Vang Vien is 400.000
Kip or 200 Baht or 4 US$), I guess the currency for this Lao-feeling
has to be invented yet.
laidback greetings
D.
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