LAOS: Part II

Jana and Ginger

We hate waiting, even in the relative luxury of our room at the Novotel. Call us impatient. We sometimes are.
"What time is it now?"
"What time did we agree to meet?"
"What do we do if they don't show?"
The imagination runs wild when you're just sitting. Waiting.

Phone rings and our hearts leap. They're here.

We descend the stairs to the lobby where we greet our friends, who've been graciously introduced to the poshie life with lemonades.

Jana and Ginger, our teacher friends and hosts in Bangkok, on holiday from The American School, are here. Here in Vientiane, at the Novotel, ready to embark on a week in Laos. And so it began...

After traveling for so long, just the two of us (Bill Withers) we had adopted, honed if you will, a successful strategy with which to approach the traveling game. We were now faced with the challenge of integrating two more people and their respective trael styles into this strategy. This challenge turned out to be no challenge at all, as the merger proved to be more than seamless (if there is such a thing).

True, we each had very individual goals:

Ginger was there for the shopping, envious of the countless woven goods she'd seen other travelers return from Lao with. She was determined to go home the opposite of empty handed.

Jana really wanted to practice speaking her Thai, despite the fact that Lao people don't speak Thai; they speak Lao. Never mind. She also wanted to learn the fine art of not getting ripped off at markets in Southeast Asia.

Jij was hungry and just wanted something to eat.

And Claire, well, Claire simply wanted to enjoy being in Laos (how appropriately Buddhist of her).

These individual goals, instead of hindering the group seemed to somehow make the group stronger, resulting in some unspoken group goals; exploring the natural beauty of the countryside, enjoying the unnatural kindness of the lovely Lao people, Laughing a bit too much, buying even more in the markets and drinking Beer Laos more still.

Claire and I have worked with a great many groups and all groups form a sort of group identity characterized by its best moments. Our identity was best characterized by our nightly progressive dinners, sampling the best of as many restaurants as we could find; Our River adventure, kayaking, caving, and especially rope swinging ("It's just water.") in Vang Vieng; Our night out on the "town" with Jai Dee, featuring special guest Martin, an upper-middle-class man's Jack Johnson; sharing everything: food, water, cameras, batteries, laundry detergent, tuk tuks, menthol nasal inhalers; and best of all, TEAM SHOPPING (I pity the old Lao lady that has to haggle with not one, not two, but four of the likes of us. They were no match for the "One Dollar" opener.)

But every team also encounters its hardships, and we were not immune. Had it not been for Ginger's bold leadership, we we may not have made it out of that Vang Vieng cave alive. At the Organic Farm Cafe, we had a run-in with an obnoxious woman (from America, of all places. imagine that...)who Claire astutely described as "a piece of work" (to her face). Worst of all, Jana's bike was stolen from the outside of a temple in Luang Prabang. And, in a country with no insurance, she was responsible for replacing it. Mai chok dee (Bad Luck). Such a setback could have been fatal to lesser travellers. But not us. In fact, Jana was able to delicately negotiate a very fair deal for all parties involved. Everyone was happy.

And so it was, our time in Laos with our travel buddies Jana and Ginger. We love Lao and loved having friends to share it with...