The Not So Fucked Up Thing About Laos is...

8:27 PM
Oct 31 2013
Bangkok, Thailand


           First things first HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Here's to all you folks back home getting too drunk, wearing tiny outfits that show too much skin, and gettin' spooky. Now that that's out of the way...


             Alright alright alright. Just to be fair since we talked about the The Fucked Up Things About Laos lets talk the good stuff. Like I said before Laos is an awesome country. Lets take a minute and go over the cream of the crop, the crème de le crème, the dopest of the dope, etc. And maybe by the end of this post you'll be on a flight to this fascinating country.


Awesome Thing #1 (We'll call them AT for short)
-The Landscape

             Lets get one thing straight. This country is gorgeous. The Mekong river winds and weaves through the whole country's landscape. The mountains, beautiful and huge, resemble guardians  against a soft mist that never seems to quite fade. Out in the countryside small wooden huts and house dot the miles upon miles of rice fields. Villagers sit outside of their homes weaving baskets out of bamboo, children and dogs run wild through the streets, and packs of water buffalo causally stroll by as you go through and take in the beauty of this country. I spent two months in Laos and never got over how magnificent the views were whether they were from temples atop a hill, a village out in the middle of nowhere or at the gorgeous infinity pool nestled atop a beautiful resort located in central Luang Prabang. If nothing else come here for the scenery.

AT #2
-The People

            If I had to sum up the majority of the locals of Laos that I met in one word it would be genuine. America has plenty of people who say one thing only to do another, places that try to be something their not, things that aren't always as they seem. Laos was a breath of fresh air. These people live simple lives and when you talk to them you can tell they are truly content with what they have, their culture, their families, and their well beings. Every time I needed something I was met with a smile and even if they didn't speak a lick of English you could tell they still wanted to help. There was no ulterior motive, no expectation of reciprocation for their help. Simply a genuine sense of hospitality, pride in their country, and gratitude that you chose their country over everywhere else to see.

          Another thing you can't ignore about these people is they work hard. Their work ethic baffles and embarrasses me at the same time. It makes any work I've ever done look like vacation.
A typical day in the life of many of the novice monks I taught goes a little something like this:

-4AM: Wake up to start the day
-Go out and collect their food for the day from the locals (also known as collecting alms)
-Go to monk school to learn about Budha and other subjects, Math, Science, English etc.
-12PM: Eat lunch, then proceed to meet me at the local library for 2 hours of English lessons.
-Proceed to go back to the temple to do work
-Leave again to attend yet another English school
-Do homework and study until about 10PM when they went to bed
-Rinse and repeat.

Unless you are one of the following you PROBABLY do not work as hard as the Lao people.
1. A crack cocaine dealer workin' the streets of Harlem.
2. A college student who just blew four lines of Adderall (ADD medicine) because you are cramming for your finals and haven't slept for over 24 hours.
3.Work in a sweat shop somewhere in either Asia or Africa.
4. Your a hooker.

If in fact you ARE one of the 4 types of people listed above. I feel bad for you and you should probably work on getting your life together instead of reading my blog posts.

              Anyways! At the same time there is such a laid back sense to this country. A kind of "no worries" attitude about everything. It was a refreshing look into another world's way of living. They might not be at the top of the list for world GDP or income per capita or whatever financially economic standard of living you feel like throwing out there to make yourself sound smarter, but you can't help but think that somewhere down the line they got something right whereas a huge majority of the rest of the world missed the mark.

AT #3
-The Price

             I am by no means rich. I have a budget (although I'm not very good at sticking to it all the time). But this place is cheap. The food is cheap, the booze are cheap, the transportation and accommodation is cheap. You can live like a king out here for what it would cost you to barely stay off the streets back home. On a heavy night of drinking the most I maybe ever spent was $20. The most I paid for a meal? Maybe $12 at one of the nicer restaurants in town. A six hour bus ride down to another town on the "VIP" bus (which is anything but VIP although still very manageable) is $15. If you know what your doing with your money you could stretch a months worth of rent, bills, food, and booze back home into up to 3 months out here in Laos. I had a lady on the main street who always made me some of the best sandwiches I have ever had for less than $2. I can't stress enough that if you can get the plane ticket the rest will be smooth sailing as far as finances go. Awesome.



 AT #4
-The Culture

         This is a totally different part of the world than most of you who are reading this are used too. Seeing as this country is communist they do a better job than most of keeping their culture and way a life intact. And it is very high on their priority list to do so. Buddhism, although very big in Southeast Asia in general, is prevalent everywhere you go in Laos. I can't begin to tell you how many temples I walked through during my stay. There are shrines on every street for Buddha. The monks and novice monks are always strolling through the town in their bright orange robes, whether its collecting alms (their food for the day) in the morning from the locals, walking to school, or simply going to meet up with their other monk friends.

       Their music (which is horrible and probably every westerner ever will hate it) is everywhere. And although it generally sounds like someone is being beaten by a myriad of musical instruments and screaming in agony... it actually starts to grow on you. Not in the way that I will every willingly listen to it, but it becomes standard and you start to appreciate and expect it.

       It all really blends well together. The food, the music, the lifestyle, the scenery. When I first arrived I met people who had dropped everything moved to Laos. The first thing I thought was "Why the fuck would you do that, what happened that was so horrible in your life that you decided to come to this place of all places?" But then after a while I realized. In Laos you can live a good life that is devoid of all the superficial, corporate, mediatized bull shit that comes with Western life. And although Laos personally isn't where I want to settle down, I can't blame those who do. I've said it once I'll say it again, this country is another world and it is amazing in so many different ways. If you find yourself stumbling through Southeast Asia throw this bad boy on your list of places to see, you won't regret it.