It was unbelievable how much we liked Lilith's grandmother. Actually, we got off to a bad start. We were told last night to be ready by ten this morning. Try more like seven, which is when her grandma showed up. We received seafood pizza for breakfast along with chicken and sticky rice, a favorite among our group. We were then whisked away from the main house to a branch of the families house so they could take pictures with Lilith. She decided to wear her hooker shirt today to meet her dad's family for the first time. Hope she doesn't regret that later on.
The first real stop today was at a temple. Part of a temple. Just the jeeti. Needed to pay to get into any other part but you already had to pay to get into the jeeti part. Plus it was hot. Not just hot but genetically mutated hot. Maybe it's because we are fresh out of Northern Vietnam where it was as a reasonable temperature but today was stifling. Another strange thing today was how many tourists there were. Vietnam doesn't have that many tourists, especially white ones. I kept commenting on how weird it was to see so many of them but Niko told me they were all German. Also stopped at the Asia Arc de Triumph. Got plenty of stares there. Thought that would go away once we left Vietnam.
Next stop was a long drive away. Thankfully we had a Chronicles of Narnia marathon going on today to help with the long drives everywhere. We were brought to a Buddha park. It was a statue garden but all of the statues were Buddhist themed. Some stories I recognized but some were either stories I did know or were some of the weirdest statues I have seen. One was a man throwing a hatchet at a woman while a bunch of onlookers did their audience role. Very strange. A man was playing a flute with his nose (not the oddest thing we have heard about since coming here) but he climbed up into a tree before I could see him. If you listened too long he threw leaves down at you.
Our final stop of the day was at Lilith's family BBQ. Everyone ate goat. (unknowingly at first) and then they served us beer. Now, they told us it was rude if we didn't finish our glasses. The problem: they kept filling them up even if it was empty or if we had only taken a sip. We were then forced to sing and dance. The van stopped at a grocery randomly on the way home and bought us all coffee. Not sure why but hey, coffee. Who doesn't need more of that?? Too bad most of our time here was taken up with this. It would have been nice to travel around and see some more of Laos.
Really missing my host family today. It was so weird not to ride around on a motorbike. Plus, their food was much better.
Picture Count: 50
Lizard Count: 32 They are everywhere in Laos...
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Saturday, March 30, 2013
My Sandwich!!
Another day filled with traveling. Well, part of it. First thing to do this morning was finish packing. Then a book meeting. We're currently reading "The Quiet American" (I keep calling it the unquiet American). There is a movie adaptation with Michael Caine and Brendon Fraiser. The characters are not very likable which never helps but thinking of Caine and Fraiser in their comedy roles then playing these guys is helping quite a bit.
Had a sandwich off the street for brunch. Since it had been raining earlier many of the sandwich places where closed but found one open. There was another lady there who I assumed was the vendor's friend or helper from the way they were talking to each other and to me. The lady asked me what I wanted and started making what I thought was my sandwich. When she was done the 'helper' grabbed the sandwich and took off running like the police were after her. The sandwich lady waited for me to recover before asking what I wanted again like nothing had happened. At least the sandwich was good.
Donna and I are missing the next book. In America it's called "The Sorrows of War" but in Vietnam the title of it is "The Sorrows of Love". Apparently Americans are more interested in reading about war than love. However, all the bookstores around our hotel were completely in Vietnamese. The workers, the books, the signs were all in Vietnamese. So instead I spent some of my remaining dong on shoes.
After we got through security at the airport all of us went shopping. Dong isn't used anywhere else so we either had to spend it or turn it into another currency. The airport was small but had plenty of shopping places. They were all the same shop, but there was a lot of them.
Had to sit by Lilith. Again. I'm starting to believe that I am put in charge of her, that Drexler thinks I can handle this responsibility. It's actually because our last names are at the end of the alphabet.Thankfully the flights are less than an hour or they have movies to choose from so it's easy to ignore her.
We are the first Asia Term to come here. It's all thanks to Lilith who's half Laotian and her dad wanting her to meet his side of the family. That's happening tomorrow. Perhaps getting sick suddenly would be the ideal way to deal with meeting a family of Nazis. This is her first time meeting her dad's family so we are expecting her to hate them immensely and the day to be awkward or they will make her their new leader. Who knows, maybe they'll be completely normal and fun and we'll have a good time. Following the catch phrase of this Asia Term, things change.
Happy Nothing Happened to Jesus Saturday!! When we realized it was Easter it was a major shock. There aren't bunnies and eggs everywhere like usual.
Picture Count: 48
Had a sandwich off the street for brunch. Since it had been raining earlier many of the sandwich places where closed but found one open. There was another lady there who I assumed was the vendor's friend or helper from the way they were talking to each other and to me. The lady asked me what I wanted and started making what I thought was my sandwich. When she was done the 'helper' grabbed the sandwich and took off running like the police were after her. The sandwich lady waited for me to recover before asking what I wanted again like nothing had happened. At least the sandwich was good.
Donna and I are missing the next book. In America it's called "The Sorrows of War" but in Vietnam the title of it is "The Sorrows of Love". Apparently Americans are more interested in reading about war than love. However, all the bookstores around our hotel were completely in Vietnamese. The workers, the books, the signs were all in Vietnamese. So instead I spent some of my remaining dong on shoes.
After we got through security at the airport all of us went shopping. Dong isn't used anywhere else so we either had to spend it or turn it into another currency. The airport was small but had plenty of shopping places. They were all the same shop, but there was a lot of them.
Had to sit by Lilith. Again. I'm starting to believe that I am put in charge of her, that Drexler thinks I can handle this responsibility. It's actually because our last names are at the end of the alphabet.Thankfully the flights are less than an hour or they have movies to choose from so it's easy to ignore her.
We are the first Asia Term to come here. It's all thanks to Lilith who's half Laotian and her dad wanting her to meet his side of the family. That's happening tomorrow. Perhaps getting sick suddenly would be the ideal way to deal with meeting a family of Nazis. This is her first time meeting her dad's family so we are expecting her to hate them immensely and the day to be awkward or they will make her their new leader. Who knows, maybe they'll be completely normal and fun and we'll have a good time. Following the catch phrase of this Asia Term, things change.
Happy Nothing Happened to Jesus Saturday!! When we realized it was Easter it was a major shock. There aren't bunnies and eggs everywhere like usual.
Picture Count: 48
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