Happy New Year!

Hi all. I'm in Luang Nam Tha in northern Laos now. We got into Luang Prabang by plane on the 26th. I was a bit nervous since Laos Airlines has a less than stellar reputation (actually, one of the worst in the industry), but apparently they've been upgrading all their planes, so we went for it. The flight was totally fine though and we even got little fruit-cakey things in the meal, which was the only Christmassy thing I ate this trip.

I had expected Luang Pabang to be like Chiang Mai, but it's not at all. It's an odd blend of sleepy old town and gentrified tourist haven. Zoo and I got rooms in a spartan little guesthouse for 5 dollars a night (her desire to save money demanded we not spend the extra dollar or two for a private bathroom.) But then we'd go out for breakfast at a posh little cafe and spend more than that on coffee and croissants. Go figure. I didn't really sleep much the whole time because the evil inherent in roosters. I have never enjoyed eating chicken so much before. The annoying things would start crowing prematurely at 3am, get bored after a while, then start up again an hour later.

It was fun to explore the area though: less touristy than Chiang Mai, but still not the the mythical "authentic" experience that every traveller dreams of finding. There's a ridiculous night market with slightly different tourist junk from the markets in Thailand but the same from stall to stall. This is truly where the "same same, but different" phrase comes from.

We'd met a Canadian named Kalil in Chiang Mai and met up with spent the first day wandering through the city and the big wats at a leisurely pace. On another day, we hired a tuk-tuk and went off to Kuang Si park where there are some beautiful waterfalls. Zoo and I hiked up the steep slope to the top and waded through the stream abovehim again in Laos. We basically the falls. Ever mindful of safety, the Lao authorities had placed a tiny sign that read "Danger - No Entry" hanging from a tree out over the 30m or so dropoff with a single rickety wood rail to stop the utterly stupid. The water had clearly changed its course and recently, as the ground was coated in layers of rock, like a mass of stalagmites. Even twigs that had fallen in the water, were quickly covered before the unexposed end had time to weather. After the hike, we took a dip in the freezing milky-blue water with natural massages from one of the waterfalls.

Not agreeing on what we wanted to do, Zoo and I decided to split off. She's heading down to Veng Viang to look at organic vegetables or something, while I headed up to Luang Nam Tha. I hopped on the overcrowded night bus -the only foreigner. Though everyone else seemed to avoid me, a Hmong university student named Vong sat next to me to practice his English. He pushed me to join him and his friends in Oudum Xai for Hmong New Year celebrations and a wedding party. So I got off the bus with them and went.

The friend's family was relatively wealthy so their house was large and concrete, with cars and motorbikes outside. Tents were up with huge speakers in preparation for the wedding party. But inside, the walls were still thin woven bamboo and the kitchen was an outdoor fireplace. We got there around 1am and they fed us traditional Laap (minced meat and glass noodle salad), pork soup, chunks of chicken with heads and feet and all, and loads of Beer Lao. Bi, the older brother who was playing host, kept pouring more and more until the others hid the beer while Bi's back was turned. Only three spoke much English (Vong, Ning and Bi), but all were eager to practice and translated. Finally, they put me in a room with Vong and Ning and we slept on floor pads with heaps of blankets.

I woke up early to the sound of party preparations and, of course, roosters. Vong, Ning, and I walked over to Ning's other uncle's house (The relationships were complicated and unclear. They refer to close friends as brothers so I gave up keeping track after a while) where they were still celebrating the Hmong New Year. This house was considerable more modest, though still concrete and the uncle is apparently the city mayor or some equivalent. They had just finished slaughtering a pig in the yard and were starting to cut it up on a big blue plastic tarp. As far as I could tell, this involved expertly slicing off the various parts and then whacking them endlessly with huge cleavers into a minced pile. Nothing -and I mean nothing- was wasted. At first, I was welcomed then relatively ignored, but once they had finished, I was brought out again for English practice. I must have been asked the same questions a hundred times. Most spoke no English; a few spoke some; and one or two spoke pretty well. I was very surprised to learn that many of the older generation had visited the US, while none of the younger people had. Apparently, the US is more willing to give visas to older people who they don't feel will try to stay. The uncle had even visited DC. When Vong asked him what he thought of it, the first thing he mentioned was the traffic. Seems appropriate. I wish I could have asked him better though about the culture shock he must have felt and compared notes. It would have been nice to know the opposite perspective.

***Warning for the faint of stomach. You may not want to read the next paragraph***

After chatting for a while, they unveiled the first dish, which was a special soup made of a leafy veggie like spinach, pig lungs, heart, liver, kidney and -the crowning glory- fetus. Yes, I ate pig fetus. They had impregnated the pig in advance so that it would be ready when slaughtered. It doesn't taste bad, but the squishy texture was a little much for me. I almost lost it when Vong spooned a chunk of torso into his mouth and slurped up the tail. Having watched it made, I knew what I was in for, but I was feeling adventurous and didn't want to be insulting. I decided I would just have to ignore the screaming warnings in the guidebook about foods to avoid. We ate standing around a big communal bowl and toasting each other with lao lao, or Lao whiskey. That's what they called it, but actually it was more like vodka or soju. After the third round, I had to plead foreigner and decline.

I thought that might be it, but it turned out only to be the beginning. I was then moved inside to the head table. The house again was simple but nice inside with posters of Lao, Chinese, and Korean pinup models and calendar girls all around the room. There were about thirty-some people there so I felt a little odd being brought to the table while many people were just eating on the tarp outside, but they insisted. As part of the celebration, people tie strings around others' wrists and make wishes. I felt a little left out until I noticed that all the strings were going to the uncle and his family. He sat there in his chair with the posture of important men and accepted blessing after blessing. We then ate (pork laap, soup and salad), and continued the blessings in toast form with loads of Beer Lao. I again had to plead foreigner to avoid getting too drunk.

We eventually tore ourselves away from "breakfast" at around 3 and went to a traditional Hmong flirting ritual. The guys told me they have a very hard time meeting Hmong girls and these few weeks during the New Year celebrations are the only real time to do it. I was a little surprised since I had thought Vong was happy enough flirting with Ning's little sister, but we went off anyway. The ritual is pretty simple: the boys and girls dress up in traditional dress or at least look nice, stand in two lines, and toss balls back and forth. The idea is to try to toss the ball with the person you think is cute and talk while you do it. Meanwhile, little boys light firecrackers and gamble in a kind of dice game. This was the last weekend of the season so the crowd was pretty thin and the guys were all disappointed. Most of the people there looked about 16 or younger and it seemed reminiscent of a middle school dance.

In a clear sign of how few tourists make it out here though, I was swarmed. Everyone who knew the slightest bit of English came to practice on me and those who didn't, just stared. I'm pretty used to being stared at from Korea, but this was far more than I cared for. Vong made me join in the ball tossing and took pictures, which I didn't really want to do. In the one place with no other tourists, the last thing I wanted to do was make it touristy by whipping out the camera. Unfortunately, that means I have few photos from that day.

Thoroughly disappointed, Vong led me off to another cousin's house. This one was tiny and clearly very poor. The house was built on stilts in the traditional style and the woven bamboo had come undone. Near the fireplace, they had stuck kitchen utensils through the holes in the wall as storage. Even in this poor house though, they had a TV blaring low-budget Lao music videos on VCD.

Finally, we went and joined the wedding party. Unfortunately, it really wasn't as special as it had sounded before. In fact, except for the menu (roast water buffalo, more laap and soup) and music style (think synthesizer stuck on Bossanova beat), it could almost have been an American wedding reception. The actual wedding took place privately days before and this was just a party to announce and celebrate it. I guess the dancing was a little different too. There were two kinds: the slow tradition style in which partners kind of shuffle in a circle, facing each other for a few steps and then facing forward, while gently swishing their hands in front of them; and the modern dance which made me think of a cross between a church revival and a mosh pit. Not quite my style in either case. And again, there was endless Beer Lao. Despite my attempts to brush aside most offers, I still had to down many glasses and return many toasts. As before, many people either stared or came over to practice English. Naturally, they also wanted to share a drink or five. By the end of the night, there was an enormous pile of empty bottles under our table. I don't know how I managed to avoid a hangover.

So this morning, I declined their invitations to another wedding party, said goodbye, and caught a van up to Luang Nam Tha. I'd planned on going straight on to the even tinier town of Muong Sing for trekking, but I met some other travellers who reminded me that tonight is New Years so I'm sticking around here for now. I'll probably be off to do a trek in a day or two. I'll post again when I get back. Happy New Year!