Luang Prabang, Laos – February 20, 2000
The group went for a three and a half hour walk. I opted out, I think wisely, and instead spend the morning catching up on my e-mail and shopping. I ran into Rebecca, whose recent travel sickness had kept her from the morning trek. She told me that last night, when she’d returned to the guesthouse with Wendy, there had been a 14-year-old kid in the bushes. Wendy had rousted him and he had run away.
So I had given a kid a show the previous night. That was a little creepy.
At 11am, a jumbo showed up and took Rebecca and I to the Kuang Si waterfalls. We met the rest of the group there – some had weathered the walk better than others – and then drove back to Luang Prabang.
Our group meeting of the day was at 5pm to fill out Vietnam visa forms. It was pretty hilarious, with Wendy carefully spelling out each word and monitoring us closely, like schoolkids. Still, a lot of people needed help and we will no doubt be quite grateful when we get our visas.
At 8, we all met for a ride to a local wat. It was some kind of Buddha anniversary – of his birth or ascension or something – and there were small mini-festivals at wats all over town. We all hopped in a jumbo and spent a few hours chasing festivals and just missing them. Finally, we hit one at the right time. All of the local people showed up dressed to the nines. They all carried candles and flowers and circled the temple three times, clockwise.
Afterwards, Anne, Wendy, and I went to the disco. It was more like a bad high school party in somebody’s parents’ basement. The Lao women in sleeveless tops were all either prostitutes or easy women, according to Wendy. The dancing was very mellow and more like swaying than anything else. The band played slowish, Laotian tunes and cover tunes of western songs in Lao. We watched the women sway in a really easy line dance, kind of a Laotian Electric Slide, to “Run-run-run-run-runaway” in Laotian.
When the locals danced in a traditional Lao style, they swayed slowly and held up their hands like squirrels, moving their hands slowly from side to side.
Back at the guesthouse, I closed my curtains before changing into my nightshirt.
