The Cat, the Lotus, the Bra, and the Basket.

A note about the school cat. His name is Sutlaw which means "maximum attractiveness" in Lao. I rename him something more appropriate...Keecan...meaning "lazy". Other than the one time I saw him slowly ingest the bottom half of a mouse (no chewing, just swallowing like a boa constrictor would), he cries all the time for people food. They sometimes cook him eggs mixed with rice, and if it's not cooked right he won't eat it. So spoiled! I've never seen this breed of cat before. He has a short curly-cue tail. I want to squeeze him just a little too hard - he's kinda cute and very amenable to being picked up.

Ramsey comes back from Pakse today with a fistful of some odd looking plant. It's a lotus plant. In Toronto, I've only ever eaten the seeds, (they look like green embedded acorns in this picture) but I've never seen them in their plant context. They look alien...really cool.

Ramsey says that he spotted me running this morning while he was waiting at the bus stop. He overheard a Lao woman say “Why isn’t she wearing a bra?” The answer to that question is that I forgot to pack one so I’ve been running in my not very supportive bikini top...eh...it sorta works.

One of Gong's relatives has been commissioned to make for me a bamboo basket with a handle to hold my bathing supplies when I bathe at the stream. All the Lao people have one, but these days it's more likely than not to be a cheap plastic container made in China. Ramsey advised me to get one of the traditional bamboo woven ones to help out the local economy here. When the old man comes by to give me the basket and collect payment, he requests less than a dollar for his efforts. I give him more as a tip even though I know Ramsey disagrees with the policy of tipping. He thinks it breeds a disingenuous interaction between service provider and client. It causes people to work for tips instead of being what they already naturally are - very friendly and helpful without tips.

At night there’s a bit of an armwrestling game going on. Ramsey defeats all challengers including me as well as Oye in this picture. At 6'2", He's the biggest person here by far! Let's just say he uses his longer levers to his advantage.

I, of course, beat all the minigirls.