Where the Buffalo Roam

This weekend I accompanied some of my friends, notably Num and Brian who I will describe shortly to Khon Khen which is in the Northeast or Isan region of Thailand. Brian is an runner at my school and speaks fluent Thai and Lao which he learned in Worcester, Massachusetts by befriending some refugees. When he first got to Thailand with no intention of working or going to school he learned (his words) "you can't just pick up your spear and march into the Lao jungle and expect a tribe to adopt you." So when he ran out of money Brian accepted a scholarship to run at Rangsit and is biding his time until his time has come to join the jungle. Anyway to pick up extra money he runs races throughout Asia and there was a huge international marathon in Khon Khen this weekend, which is why we went.

Khon Khen is Num's hometown. Num doesn't speak English and I don't speak Thai so our relationship is based on smiling and asking each other "how are you" repetitively, alternating between English and Thai. Meeting his family was really cool though. His mom runs a hair salon out of his one story house. They have a traditional Thai toilet (which is as horrible as it sounds) and the oldest Kobe Bryant poster ever printed hanging in their living room. They also eat all parts of a duck. Every part. We spent a couple of days getting toted around town in Num's father's pick up truck, eating weird rice pastes etc...

The marathon itself was really cool... lots of Kenyans obviously and I befriended a couple of the volunteers there who were my age and but looked 9. We picked up this American girl Kelley who gave Brian shit for only running the half marathon and only placing 4th in his age group. She was traveling by herself and decided to come with us to Laos. She's trying to set the world record for the youngest person to run a marathon on every continent. Give me a break. Maybe even more ridiculous was the Thai girl who came in first place for the females in the 11.5 kilometer race. She was 8 years old, ran barefoot and finished it in 45 minutes. There were also plenty of adults running that race with sneakers. Come on.

Crossing into Laos wasn't much of a hassle although the bus companies and the cabs have this system worked out where the buses abandon you as you're getting your visa and you're forced to get a cab to where ever the bus was supposed to have taken you. Luckily Brian knows everything so we knew to get all of our stuff off the bus before crossing in. 

I only got to spend about 2 days in Laos which is a shame but honestly, we were in the capitol city and it took about a hour to walk around the whole thing. The first escalator in the country was just built and it took people hours just to figure out how to board. Such is Laos. It's so nice though. Because it was colonized by France there is a lot more of a Western influence than Thailand. And by that I just mean they eat bread with their food. French bread. The pace is very slow, even compared to the small town I live in. It was nice though and I just spent the weekend wandering around, eating food that cost 18,000 gip. (I hate inflated money- it makes me so uneasy) and listening to Lao teenagers play hilarious western covers. 

According to Brian, because there are so many Viet-Lao people, it's the place to be for the Chinese/Vietnamese new year. The extent of the celebrations (which I think are probably all that Laos people can muster) was truck loads of toddlers dressed as dragons being driven around town, lighting horrifically unsafe fireworks in each other's faces. Which is all the celebration I need also... these kids were effing adorable. The government in Laos is pretty unstable and until recently all the citizens had an 11:00 p.m. curfew. Needless to say, the Laos nightlife has suffered. I do plan to go back though when I have more time, I really liked it a lot.

On the way back, I got pizza with bananas on it and met these 3 Israeli guys who I sat with and spoke to on the 13 hour bus ride home. I made it back at around 6:00 a.m. and realized I had left my cell phone, sunglasses and key on the bus. The worst part was, it meant I couldn't nap before my 9 a.m. class lest I sleep through it. So that is the fatigue I am stewing in right now and you'll have to excuse me if this post doesn't leave you in fits of giggles or pensive meditation. I'll probably think of more things to add to this Laos business when I'm in less of a daze. I just sat through 7 hours of class. If not, this weekend I will be staying with a Thai family volunteering up North so the chances of me having internet access are quite slim. 

I really do miss you guys so much and I'm sorry I'm so bad at keeping in touch. I really am very busy most of the time. 

xoxoxoxo

Sabaydee,

Esti