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the 12 days of Christmas

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

inspired by Rob…
Luang Prabang, Laos

Yep, we’ve been writing more Christmas songs!
You’ve got to promise to SING this one out loud – or we won’t publish it, OK!

On the twelfth day of market-mas
My true love sent to me….
12 sticky rice crackers
11 roosters crowing
10 bar-be-cued bats
9 sticky rice “patties”
8 bags of Mekong weed
7 caged sparrows
6 sticky rice bundles
5 fresh chilies
4 filled baguettes
3 dead ducks
2 pineapples
and some sticky rice in a bamboo basket

Which got us to thinking…..eighteen days in Luang Prabang meant…..

  • * 6 days no internet
  • * 2 days no electricity (6am to 6pm)
  • * every day intermittent water (if someone else in the neighbourhood starts a tap, ours refuses to run…and tomorrow there will be NO water at all!!!!)
  • * yesterday flickering lights
  • * not one HOT shower for Mama (some of the others managed to get a short hot shower, but not me)
  • * no comfortable chairs (just the floor, small wooden stools or concrete benches)
  • * too many days of snorting neighbours *hoick*
  • * 36 meals of sticky rice
  • * 17 days of fevers and/or V&D for someone (everyone except Mama was stricken)
  • * 16 nights of uninvited “guests” peeking into rooms, standing to chat
  • * uncountable: the number of times we heard, “One family, you my sister”

  • * two dishes politely declined: Mekong River weed (we stirred that one round the dish to make it look eaten) and one platter of pig’s brain, liver, stomach and intestines (a bit of Lao language got everyone laughing and us out of eating. In case we ever need to use that sentence again, here ’tis: Koy bo kin! Plus we added, “Today two families. One family eat, one family no eat.” Nothing like laughter to avoid an issue!)

  • * eaten: live maggot, grasshoppers, dried Mekong river weed, buffalo, baguettes, BBQed chicken and pork, divine chicken curry, fresh pineapples, papaya, oranges, bananas and coconuts (see, it’s not all bad!!)
  • * 2 pair of socks completed (which means we’ve been relaxing)
  • * 2 school visits (yes our children have now been to school!)
  • * 2 bicycles for the kids to ride
  • * about a dozen new playmates
  • * no rain (no not a drop, you Kiwis! Bet you can’t even imagine what that’s like!)
  • * temperature dropped from mid-30s to 12*C in the mornings…..brrrrrrr
  • * 5 motorbike rides (including one exhaust burn – it’s healing)
  • * 700,000 kip limit on ATM withdrawals
  • * 1 fashion show, 1 music festival

Posted in food, housing, money, postcard: Laos, recreation | No Comments »

not in a hurry…

Monday, December 8th, 2008

Mostly written by Rob
Luang Prabang, Laos

There is nothing like sitting in the middle of a “strange” culture to help you reflect on your own culture…to muse on the similarities and differences. What we value in our own culture is an expression of the worldview we hold and the values we prioritise. One thing that strikes me is just how multi-cultural New Zealand life actually is. It means that we recognise and accept a wide range of cultural practices, yet it also makes it oh-so-difficult to actually define what New Zealand culture actually is. After all, my expression of Kiwi “culture” is going to be different to my neighbour’s.
It has been a privilege to be able to have the time to settle into ‘normal’ life here in Luang Prabang for a couple of weeks and just live life alongside the Lao family that run the guesthouse, seeing what matters to them. But it has been hard answering the “what do New Zealanders think about xyz?” questions, because we are aware that, although we are kiwis, we are non-mainstream, minority kiwis.

Defining “the Lao-way” seems easier. Some striking features include:
People here have the time to sit and chat and share life with you. They are not busy racing around running errands, going to the supermarket or to the movies. (Man, I wish I could go and see the new Bond movie though! :-)) The pace of life is slower; it has to be, of necessity. There’s no Burger King for a quick snack – if you want to eat, you need to walk to market, buy raw ingredients, build a fire, and cook from first principles yourself. The only fast food around here is from the old ladies, who wander down the lane carrying sticky-rice and coconut wrapped in banana leaves in baskets over their shoulders. Mind you – you can buy a BBQ-bat-to-go from the road stall, I guess!

Actually, a lot of socialising occurs around meal preparation and eating. Once the fire is lit, they sit around talking while the food is prepared and cooked. By “they”, I am referring to people from any one or more of six houses down this alleyway, and perhaps other friends who might turn up as well. There are not clear set times for meals, yet we have seen a number of people appear and share food during the weeks we have been here. There does not seem to be the more formal practice of inviting people over for a meal (as we would in NZ), but ‘guests’ certainly arrive for impromptu meals often.
At other times, someone will cook up a big pot of whatever, and only one or two people take a plateful. But then others invariably turn up later to finish it off. There may not be TV-dinners to heat up in the microwave for late-comers, but sticky rice stays warm in its bamboo basket for a good many hours.
The times we have most enjoyed watching are when everyone crouches or sits on a low wooden stool (imagine a rough plank of wood, with two smaller pieces crudely nailed to the bottom) beside the fire, the communal pot in the middle of their circle, next to the sticky rice basket, everyone dipping their hands and spoons in, taking their fill. Even eating from a communal pot is different to “our” way of doing things, isn’t it? And if anyone wanders past, they will also be encouraged to “eat eat”.


The top picture is when lunch started….
then they gave us some….and then more people turned up…..

The children play around outside while this happens. They are not buried in a video-game, or chatting on cellphones, or loitering around outside the mall.  The teenagers we can see are engaged in daily family life, the family business or are busy with school work. In fact, many young people seem to take their turn in managing the family stall or shop – there are plenty of 8-to-10 year olds we see behind the counters or returning from market on motorbikes! (we have heard you have to be five years old to ride a motorbike here – not sure how accurate this information was, but you do see small kids driving bikes around town)

Did I mention our neighbours are happy to sit and chat, that they all seem to take an interest in the people around? It’s not just us, or just their friends – these people show a genuine more-than-superficial interest in everyone who passes through. Often when we have been on our way out and someone has asked, “Where am I going?” 😉 , we have answered, “bai ta laat” (go to market) and we’ve found that someone coming along; they drop what they are doing to spend some time walking with us. We are left with an overwhelming sense that when Porn (also known as Mrs Downstairs) says, “You are my sister, we are one family”, she really means it.

Another difference is that people don’t have much *stuff*. And consequently, little time is spent on maintaining it. By that, I don’t mean lawn mowers and food processors and computers and swimming pools and and and….well, I do, but I also mean things as simple as beds, baths and bikes. It doesn’t take much time to make your bed when all you have to do is roll up the quilt you were lying on to clear some floor space for daily activities. You don’t need to scrub the ring-around-the-bath, when all you have is a hose outside over a drain. There’s no clearing the rubbish out of the car or waxing and polishing it – not when you only own a motorbike. One of our children commented, “You don’t really need many things, do you?” The question didn’t need answering, but I can see the concept being the source of some discussion in months to come.

Posted in food, housing, postcard: Laos | 4 Comments »

walk where the road takes you

Friday, December 5th, 2008
text straight from Rach's journal, illustration from Jboy12's Luang Prabang, Laos

 

The children are all sitting on a huge mound of dirt in the shade of a tree, journals open in their laps, pencils sketching ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in craft, housing, postcard: Laos, recreation, tradition | 3 Comments »

no room at the inn

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008
by Rachael Luang Prabang, Laos As we prepare for Christmas, we are seeing the story through new eyes. We now have a fuller understanding of going door-to-door looking for a place to lay our heads for the night. When we left NZ ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, housing, money, postcard: Laos, postcard: Malaysia, postcard: Thailand | 2 Comments »

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