Laos: The Unpleasantness

I've made these pictures extra large so you can see all the gory details. For those of you who might vomit at the sight of bloody pig parts, please skip this post.

Unpleasantness #1: Roosters. Here is the view from my hotel room window. Wherever there are chickens, there will be at least one rooster. I was lucky enough to have 2 right outside my window! You might think that roosters start crowing at sunrise. But that is not true. They start crowing well before sunrise. Perhaps as early as 3 am. They like to crow loudly every 2 or 3 minutes from some disgustingly early hour until the time you finally decide to get out of bed. Then they stop. (You don't need an alarm clock if you travel to Laos.)

Unpleasantness #2: Nasty animal parts. As if I don't get enough of this in Okinawa. I visited an outdoor market in Laos. In the first picture, you can see pig feet and pig faces. If you look closely, you can see the teeth. In the second picture, the green bag is full of water buffalo bile. The folks in Laos use this to tenderize their meat. Don't ask me what the rest of the stuff is. Especially the large tan thing that looks kind of like a brain. But you can use your imagination.

Laos: The Peace and Quiet

I went on a sea kayaking trip in Laos. There were 6 of us in the group. My kayak is on the left. I shared it with a Buddhist nun from South Korea. She was spending a year traveling around Southeast Asia. She kind of freaked out when I told her what my name is. She had been thinking that I looked like her friend who is also named Amy.

In my pictures, you can see what the typical house looks like in Laos (and Cambodia too). Cheap to build. On stilts as protection from flooding.

Laos: Temples and a Baby Monk

I went on a temple walk around Luang Prabang, Laos. There were more temples than I had time to visit. All were beautiful. And one had a particularly friendly novice monk. Novice monks are usually quite young. Often they become monks because their families are too poor to pay for their food and education. The novice monks receive food and education without cost to the families. The one I met was 16 years old. Our encounter went something like this:

MONK: Hello! Where are you from?

AMY: I'm from America.

MONK: Do you want to see inside the temple? I can open the door for you.

AMY: Thank you! *sees the inside of the beautiful temple*

MONK: Do you have free time? I am studying English, and I want to practice with you.

AMY: Umm ok. Maybe for half an hour or so.

MONK: *takes out his English study materials and starts asking for help with pronunciation*

AMY: How long have you been studying English?

MONK: About 2 months.

AMY: 2 months?? That's it? You know more English than my students in Japan!

MONK: *points at a dimple on my cheek* What is the English for that?

AMY: Dimple.

MONK: Can I touch it?

AMY: Ummmm....

MONK: Can I give you a hug?

AMY: No. We just met. I have to go now.

MONK: Will you buy me a Coca-Cola?

AMY: Ummm no, I don't think that's a good idea. Keep studying English. Bye! *hurries away*

I was puzzled by this un-monklike behavior until I realized that this kid probably doesn't want to be a monk. And even if he does, he's 16 year old boy first, monk second.

Angkor Wat and Friends

I'm a little behind with my blog postings. Let's see how quickly I can catch up. Look at some pictures of temples in Cambodia. (Angkor Wat, Bayon, Ta Phrom, and Banteay Srey)