Sao Darly

We had another rainy afternoon again after lunch due to storms in the neighboring countries and Laos was getting by the tail of the storm (what was said on the news). I was anxious about the up and coming Boun That Luang being under water. This was the last day of October and it should not be raining after the boat racing festival.

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We didn’t stay too long at the hospital because I was crunching for time and wanted to visit both Dannavieng Elementary School and NongDong Elementary School in the same day. Aunt Kian bought me khao phoon nam kati and I told her she didn’t need to do that since it was a hot and humid day and it might spoiled by the time we got to Muang Phonethong. I didn’t want to hurt her feeling so I took the food with me and we went to park by Harn Fer Thavone to wait for my Aao. While we waited aunt Phone told me to only stay away for one night so we can leave on Sunday for Savannakhet. It was Friday and Aunt Phone wanted to go back on Sunday so we can make a stop in Savan for one day to visit her relatives and to take me to That Inhang.

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Another day of more stories about my two months adventure in Laos. It was October 17, 2008 and my 12th day in Laos. I woke up early as usual with not much sleep and was not feeling well at all. It was a humid morning and the temperature kept rising and was predicted to be about 40 degree Celsius that day. I packed a couple of outfits and trip to Muang Phonethong.

By 8:00 AM I went next door for breakfast. Aunt Phone had a craving for tum green banana so she made that to add to the left-over. I only ate a banana and a cup of tea and we headed out to Houaylao Elementary School first before going to the hospital to visit Grand-Mama and say goodbye to the relatives since I won’t be seeing them for a couple of days.

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I got up at 3:30 AM and took a nice cold shower and got ready for the airport. When my father saw me ironing my clothes, he asked me to also iron his clothes, which I did, along with my mother’s clothes. We waited until 5:00 AM for aunt A to come downstairs. When she didn’t my mother called upstairs to make sure aunt A is ready to go. I then asked the maid to lock up the dogs so I can load the truck with the suitcases. It was a nice drive to the Wattay International Airport. Many people were walking and jogging on the streets. Merchants are also pushing carts to the local market. Aunt A said it is a trend for people of Vientiane to get up at 4:30 or 5:00 AM and do their morning exercise by either walking or jogging on the streets before going to work.

When we arrived at the airport there were no one in front of us. It was a smooth process checking in. We were one of the few Lao people at the gate. There were so many farangs that they had to divide the passengers into two flights, with our flight leaving 15 to 20 minutes later. The flight to Pakse was comfortable. I was afraid of getting motion sickness since I forgot to take my motion sickness medicine with me.

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After a few hours of sleep I woke up early and got myself ready before my parents woke up. When the maid got up to put the dogs back in their cage my parents got up. We then walked back to aunt V’s villa. After a shower, I gathered all the dirty clothes so I can do laundry. The washing machine in the house was broken and I was prepared to wash my clothes along with my parents’ clothes my hands. After we all took a shower and ate breakfast, my parents went to meet some people, whether for a friendly visit or to deliver things and to meet my father’s uncle and his wife from the US. The couple went to Laos a couple of weeks before my parents. We were supposed to go to Pakse and to Wat Phu Festival together and a decision must be make whether or not we will take a bus or go fly to Pakse. Since there was only enough room in the truck for three people I was left all alone. It was not a big deal since one uncle lives next door and his wife is home during the day.

I was cleaning up around the house when aunt K showed up. She was checking in on me and brought fruits that I like for me. My uncle B and his wife also walked over to visit me. Later uncle X showed up as well to see if I want to check out his place and his business. It was around lunch time and we decided to go have Fer or Pho for lunch. Aunt K teased uncle X saying that he should be the one treating us for lunch. We then followed him and for some reason he just took off in the wrong direction. Uncle B and his wife saw us and said we were going to the wrong Fer restaurant.

When we got to the Fer restaurant, we waited for uncle X to appear. He was a no show and so uncle B called him up to see what was going on. As in turned out uncle X had something to do. I thought it was odd and rude to change a plan at the last minute without saying anything after an agreement was made. Aunt K and I would have gotten lost if uncle B didn’t see us on the road by accident.

After we got back from lunch, aunt K went home and I was left alone. My uncle B and his wife told his daughter to stay with me. But after a few minutes she went away to play with her friends. There was nothing much to do, except to wait for my parents to return and watching television. My aunt V had cable installed before she went back to the US so I was able to watch a few channels in English.