Before we enter there is the slight problem of getting 840 pounds of luggage in. Actually more. The 840 pounds is just Tony's parent's.
But there are no difficulties--not with Tony's aunt, who happens to be the manager of the airport. The luggage is quickly ushered through without any unnecessary formalities like searching it. The $30 Tony's mom slips the security officer probably helps with that.
Outside, we are met by at least 20 smiling, laughing, chattering Asian people, from little kids to old fogies. Tony's extended family. Hugs are exchanged and such, you know the deal. And then we are off....
Ahhhhh, that glorious period of culture-shock. I experienced the same thing in Europe (Cafes! Uncircumsized penises! The men all look like homosexuals, but THEY"RE NOT!). It's always just the first few days--after awhile you adjust to the new norm--but until then you're like a kid in a candyshop. Or as I say, a pedophile in a playground. Everything is new and exciting and fresh.
There was also the frequent wild dog fearlessly crossing the street in the heart of the city.... the chickens running around outside of restaurants... The constant stream of motorbikes carrying Grandmas, families with babies, young professional women in heels...
And then ten minutes out of the city, tucked off some unnamed dirt road, we arrived at our accommodation.
Tony's parents built this a few years back as a vacation home. They are supposedly both "pharmacists", which I find to be a rather convenient alibi. By U.S standards it was incredibly cheap to build--don't quote me but ballpark 180 grand. Considering those pillars are solid marble, etc, I don't know what it would cost in the states, but it's somewhere around "a shitload."
What a fucking paradise. Coconut and mango trees spring up in the yard . Butterflies flit around aimlessly. And the view ain't half bad either.
I met most of Tony's family that day. About a dozen of us sat outside drinking beer in a little hut.
Tony speaks Lao reasonably well and acted as a translator. We bridged many cultural divides. I received many compliments on my nose (which looks like a beak) and my luscious white skin, which they compared to Micheal Jackson's. I felt very welcomed and special. Being a minority isn't so bad, I don't see what everyone is always complaining about.
Meanwhile, that 840 pounds of luggage I mentioned? It was quickly being divided up among Tony's relatives. Most of it was clothes--American bluejeans, shoes, whatever. You can get incredibly cheap name brands (Northface, Lacoste, etc) in SE Asia because they are made there and frequently "misplaced" by factory employees and sold on the street. But anything American made is very expensive (subject to large import taxes) and thus a status symbol.
Interestingly, this applies to Cheetos and Coke as well, which Tony's parents also brought a shitload of. There is little international shipping infrastructure in Laos so anything made outside of SE Asia is automatically expensive
So we settled in and took naps and took pictures blah blah blah--let's get to the good stuff. Vientiane City.
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