Run Fun, Laos Laundry, Gong's Su Kwan

In Toronto, I usually do between one to two hours of biking every day, usually ten out of the twelve months of the year, and I'm beginning to feel the lack of aerobic exercise on my trip...it's been a week of travel so far. I've been a bit sluggish the last three days so I decide that I will go for a run today. I wake up at 5 am, lace up, drink some water, down a couple of ibuprofens (anti-inflammatory) and hit the road. I must look like some sort of foreigner oddity in my lime green shorts and white running shoes (nothing here is white) expending more energy than is necessary in the heat. Even at 5am it's hot today in Laos and there are villagers on the road already. The first little bit is uphill so it makes me feel really out of shape. Then I arrive at a flatter area and I get into a groove. It feels good and I welcome the sweat and rhythmic breathing. The air tastes of diesel and water vapour. Eleven minutes later I begin to hear barking. I look behind to see that I've picked up a couple of four-legged foes. They follow me and bark continually and they end up drawing more to their cause. There five of them now and I am a bit freaked out so I decide to cut my run short and head back to the school. This feels like a bit of a repeat of my bike touring trip in Cuba where I rode my bike in Havana and got chased a couple of times by some mean street dogs...a lot more mangy, angry and faster than the ones here.

I arrive back at the school to see So and Ramsey doing laundry at the well. I let them finish while I attempt to start breakfast. Ramsey teaches me how to start a fire Lao style. My technique to create kindling with a machete sucks, but I will improve. I then begin to make two sauces to go with the sticky rice and fried egg breakfast I'm intending. One sauce is Lao style with lots of chilis, and the other is non-spicy so that I can eat it without pain or feeling drugged up. I love the non-spicy sauce I've come up with and will make this again in Toronto. Finely chopped: green onions, cilantro, garlic, ginger, lemongrass; add some soy sauce, olive oil, and lime juice. All fresh ingredients - delicious.

After breakfast I pull water from the well to fill the barrel and then do my laundry. I can do the Asian squat (obviously!), but I feel a loss of circulation after a while so I opt for a stool to do my laundry. Not traditional, but hey - whatever works. Doing the laundry is meditative and calming. Hand over fist over hand...rinse...wring dry...repeat.

I'm almost done with my laundry when Gong's mother appears and speaks to me. I don't understand a word she says but then Ramsey tells me that I have to get ready quickly to go to Gong's family house. They are having a Su Kwan for Gong today and So, Ramsey and I are invited. A week and a half ago Gong got sick and crashed his motorbike. The Lao believe that this happened because of bad luck. The Su Kwan is a ceremony that is designed to chase away the bad spirits and to welcome the good ones back - to reverse the bad luck.

Ramsey takes me on the motorbike to Gong's house. I hold on for dear life but when we near the house he abruptly tells me to let go. I can't cause I feel a bit freaked out. He keeps on yelling at me that he's serious and as we enter Gong's family property, I manage to kinda let go...but not really. He says that it's not good if he's perceived to be touching some other woman other than So. The Lao people will wonder if there's something going on between him and I, and if I'm the second wife. Ha!

Inside Gong's family house, there are at least twenty-five people at the Su Kwan...almost all of them Gong's family members. The men sit at one part of the room and the women at another part. Gong sits roughly between the two groups and in front of a presentation of sticky rice, boiled egg, sticky rice whiskey, money and a pile of small white rope. Before the ceremony begins Ramsey and I are offered two drinks. One is a concoction of the STRONGEST black tea I have ever had...it is truly vile. The family laughs at the face I make, but they like it and I drink all of it out of respect. I am then offered the sticky rice whiskey...also vile...but Ramsey tells me it's really pure...and I drink every glass I am offered when I realize that my protestations don't work around here. Ramsey eggs them on and has already been offered two whole glasses - I think he's going to be in trouble today. We demonstrate to them that in Canada, we clink our glasses in cheers before we drink. They seemed to like that idea.

During the ceremony, everyone takes some white cotton string - they can either tie money to it or not - and then tie the string around Gong's left wrist. Gong's other hand is held up in prayer position in front of his face. Before they tie the string they wave the string over his arm and offer their blessings for the bad spirits to depart and the good ones to come. I am surprised when I am approached by many of the family and they also begin to give me blessings and string rope around my wrist. I am supposed to keep the string tied for three days so that the blessings will stick. I feel really honoured to be here, and so I perform the same rites with the rope for Gong and some of his family.

My blessed wrist.

The ceremony also involves food - sticky rice, four chickens gifted from So and Ramsey's school, fish prepared into a soup, spicy raw fish tar tar, spicy fried minced fish, and of course the ubiquitous chili sauce. I am intrigued by the raw fish dish but feel reluctant to eat it - the health officials here are trying to discourage the villagers from eating the raw fish because of the potential for parasite transmission (reading Parasite Rex has also made me more hesitant.) So tells me not to eat it...she wouldn't. I ask Ramsey for his opinion and he says that one bite shouldn't hurt me and that he's tried it and it tastes good. I decide that I'll go for a bite, but then Ramsey comes back quickly and says "Will you blame me if you get something that disables you for life?" This does not engender confidence in me.

Cooked and raw fish dishes from left to right.

Luckily the choice is taken away from me when So, Ramsey and I are presented with our food. It contains neither the raw fish tar tar nor the minced fried fish. There is also this green sauce that no one else in the family has. I ask Gong about it and he says that he prepared it especially for me so that I would have a non-spicy option. I am delighted until he says "not hot...only two chilis." It was hot. We are also offered a frozen desert in a bag. It contains sweet potato, coconut milk, corn and sugar. It is saip (tasty). I will try to make it when I'm back.

Too hot!

Ramsey and I are offered more whiskey and some pineapple alcohol that Ramsey taught them how to make the year before. I am beginning to feel a bit buzzed but comfortable and happy.

Other things to note.

The cute, super shy and disgruntled two year old in the sling cradled by proud papa. He's also Gong's dad. I really like how versatile the sling is. My mom used one for me when I was a kid and I would use one for my kid if I ever have one. (This makes me think of Mari and I wonder if she's given birth yet, if it's a boy or a girl, is there a name, and if Mari's doing okay.) Gong is one of eleven children - this isn't a surprising number here, but wow, his mom popped out eleven kids!...she's thirty-eight years old now. They must think it's strange that I am an only child. I think they already think it's weird that at the age of thirty-two, I'm not married and have no kids. Gong doesn't think that I look thirty-two...he thinks maybe twenty-six. Yes...I am flattered.


Their television draws my attention. I ask Ramsey about it. He says that even some poor people in Laos have a satellite dish and t.v. About a month ago, the Lao government began giving out agricultural loans and the Lao people have been borrowing like crazy. The problem is that a lot of them are not using the money to invest in agriculture. They are using it for things that bring no return like metal roofs, additions to the house, cell phones, t.v.s and satellite dishes. There has been this huge perceived jump in prosperity over just the last month due to this government loan (at 7% interest a year). This is reminiscent of America's sub-prime mortgage crisis. I wonder what will become of the Lao people in the upcoming years.


So and I finally say our goodbyes and we leave Ramsey to talk to the family some more. We leave them in deep conversation about the economics of banana farming. Our walk back to the school is beautiful - rolling lush green countryside against a backdrop of clouds and dark green hills. So points out some edible and medicinal plants. She draws my attention to this one plant growing abundantly along the roadside - a coagulant that will stop bleeding in a heartbeat. I almost want to do an experimental cut on myself to see how it works...but I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunities for real accidental cuts in my time here...I mean, they have foolishly entrusted me with using a machete after all.

I finish my laundry and sit down to write.

Ramsey doesn't show up for another three hours. He staggers a bit into the library and I can tell he's tipsy...I mean, you can't talk for three hours about agriculture at a Su Kwan without being forced to drink a lot of whiskey by the locals. He slurs a bit and, of course, denies that he's drunk and pretends to choke me...it's very ineffective. If only the Laos people were to see this body contact! I laugh and make fun of him and he goes upstairs to sleep it off. I don't envy his hangover tomorrow. Every now and then I hear him shout out "shut up Anh-Thi!" Hahaha. Before the Su Kwan, Gong told Ramsey that there wouldn't be any alcohol at the event - I guess he was misinformed...poor Ram...hahaha. So assures me Ramsey hardly ever lets this happen.

The students arrive back in the evening and Ramsey musters up the energy to get up, greet them and have dinner. Ramsey and I get into a debate about climate change...every now and then he says "I can't believe you're arguing with a drunk person" even though his arguments sound perfectly reasonable.

Sleep.