A New Falang in Town - Nick Arrives

Ant infestation again. I wake up to lots of them biting my scalp, neck and shoulders. I brush them off and examine my bedding with my flashlight. Yep…crawling everywhere…and I’m not surprised or really even irritated. Only tired…it’s 4am. I mosquito-proof myself in long pants, socks, a sweater and scarf for my face and go to sleep in the hammock until Ramsey wakes me up to go get the bus.

While waiting for the bus to take me to Pakse I turn around and notice this small tot on a motor bike. They are expected to be independent quickly in Laos.

I have come to Pakse to pick up Nick who's coming in to Laos from his one month vacation from Korea. We're going to travel for the remainder of our vacation together. Of course he regales me with stories of cute and unnaturally young looking Asian women. As I type and read aloud the last sentence to Nick he says "great, I need perspective on how I appear to outsiders, like a sick sick man. What healthy man could possibly be interested in cute and youthful Asians?" He says it with a laugh. No offence taken. He's accepted his ecological niche as an rice packer. He's 6'3" and stands out like a sore thumb in Laos.

We solicit a street vender for information on an authentic Laos restaurant in Pakse. She says there's one two kilometres away, and recommends that we take a tuk tuk, but we decide to walk instead. The Laos hate walking unless they have no other choice. We order enough food to feed a family of eight Lao people.


Beerlao isn't so bad Nick says - even decent. I can only take his word for it.

In the restaurant we order enough food to feed the equivalent of eight Laos people. The waiter doesn't seem surprised by our order, perhaps because Nick is such a big and tall falang. The only thing I can manage in Laos is Bah mach bang nua - "don't like MSG". The food is good with a couple of authentic Laos dishes, though I think they watered down the spice to adjust for Nick's obvious falangness, though Nick likes spice.