7:30am - So, Ramsey and I get up and go to the train station where we buy tickets to Ubon (still in Thailand, where we then have to transfer by bus to get to Laos). We do bag check at the train station and then head off to find Chinatown. Of course we buy lots of street food along the way and end up in this large market.
Another cool design feature. Shelters for bus stops are made from living trees that create shade and rain protection.
This is the national flower of Laos called frangapan .
I also buy some art supplies to bring to the school and So buys some pearls to make a necklace for her mom. I am inspired to do the same. Thailand is known for its great deals on gems, precious stones and pearls.
With our insistence, Ramsey submits himself to another Thai massage. This time a foot one. So does the same, and I get the full body massage. An hour later So and I feel great and Ramsey will never have a massage again.
We are back at the train station with a few hours to kill before our 8:30pm train to Ubon. So we decide to draw some stuff with the art supplies (pencil crayon and marker). We decide to each draw our own drawings, and we have to draw what is instructed by each person. Everyone takes turns adding concepts to the drawings. So these are the instructions.
1. Draw four birds with a nest. (So’s idea)
2. Draw something the birds want. (my idea)
3. Draw a book. (Ramsey’s idea)
4. Draw words. (So’s idea)
5. Draw water. (my idea)
We stop at concept five because we’re tired. Above you can see how we each interpreted these concepts into drawings. Guess who drew which one? Here's a hint, Ramsey's is the most "biblical".I hope we get a chance to finish.
I ask Ramsey how he feels when he comes to visit Toronto after living in Laos for the last eight years. He hasn't had to articulate his ideas about this before, so it takes him a while to formulate the words. But he said that there is something about the West that is so "full of itself". People have so many pretenses, they get trapped/trap themselves with the idea of their own uniqueness and individuality and the need to create such a thing. He includes himself and me in that. An artistic person gets trapped into the idea of being "the artist". For the most part, all of our needs in the West are met, so that leaves a lot of time on our hands for choices, too many choices. Choices to "become" someone as if we aren't already someone. I ask So if people in Laos pretend to be people they're not and put on pretenses. She says no, people are for the most part just themselves. There's less anxiety about this. In the West, we grow up with the idea that we don't know who we are and that growing up is a process of finding our "true" selves and discovering who we are. So finds the idea of not knowing who you are a very strange one. She says that you still know who you are even if you don't always understand some aspects of why you do what you do, or don't know what you will be doing in the future. We leave the conversation at that as our food comes.
It's time. We get on the overly air-conditioned train and in 11 hours we'll be in Ubon. I like train travel! The view is fabulous, and the motion of the train is steady and soothing. I sleep like a stone. In Ubon we buy bus tickets for Pakse (the third largest city in Laos – population 100 000). As the ticket collector walks up the aisle, I notice that he has a couple of rubber bracelets on (the type you see all over now - initially made popular by Lance Armstrong). They have Thai writing on them. I ask the collector what they say, wondering if they say something like "be the change you want to see" or "live strong" etc. He said something surprising at that moment...he said it says "I come from my mother and father." Considering the subplot to my trip, I find this sort of touching and very apropo and say so aloud. So asks me what apropo means. Then Ramsey tells me not to teach her such pretentious words. I just tell her it's a short form for appropriate and shoot Ramsey a nasty face. Ramsey tells the ticket collector about me looking for my father in Vietnam and the collector smiles and points to his bracelet. At the Laos border as we do our visa pit stop, I see the ticket collector talking to the other passengers on the bus and pointing to me. I hear the word Vietnam and he fingers his bracelet. They all look at me and smile and nod. So now the whole bus knows about how I will look for my father in Vietnam. Ramsey elaborates in Thai/Laos for them and they all smile and laugh and nod at me again. Ramsey tells me they like my story. One woman tells me I don’t look Vietnamese but I look Cambodian instead - they all laugh. Cambodians are not necessarily well looked upon here, so I’m not sure if I was just insulted or not, or if the comment is about my skin colour (which trumps facial features) since I am by far darker than any of the Thai/Lao women on the bus. I tell Ramsey to tell them all that in Canada, people like dark skin. He tells them and they all laugh again. I give up - I can’t figure out what it all means yet.
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