Lao people
Showing posts with label Lao people. Show all posts

Sabaidee: Hello, Laos!

 


May 12, 2013

Sabaidee
means Hello in Lao language. My officemates in Vientiane Times brought me to a house blessing right from the airport last May 4. That was such an exciting way to welcome a guest!

I've been here in Vientiane, Laos for eight days already. It took me more than three weeks since I arrived in Bangkok before I got the interest to write in this blog.

Maybe, I was still so overwhelmed after flying miles away from my homeland. Or was it culture shock?

When I first landed in Vientiane, I immediately fell in love with its French-influenced architecture. I never thought this place is so sophisticated because I was told it's more like a province back home.

But, the Talatsao Mall, it's lone shopping mall, looks like one of our small air-conditioned markets though. Most products cost thrice higher than the ones in Bangkok, where most stores here got their stuff.


The foods taste good---spicy and salty. Parsley is always present in almost all of their dishes, except for fried ones. But, expect that there's parsley in the dipping sauce. Lao people eat noodles, sticky and steamed rice as their staple food. But, what's so interesting is that they usually eat raw green and leafy vegetables.

I was advised by Ma'am Amy, my mentor in the Philippines for this exchange project, to drink Coke to get away from taste fatigue and to taste like home. Because I'm not a Coke drinker, I drink beer. And, since my first day here, I fell in love with Beerlao, which tastes better than our beer but still makes me feel like home. Honestly, I haven't had a Coke since I arrived.

It's sunset here now. My view from the roof top of a 6-story building and the chirping birds reminded me that home is near.



From archipelago to landlocked

From archipelago to landlocked



The beach days are over. ... for awhile.

Twenty days to go before my journey to Bangkok, Thailand, from where I will enter Vientiane, Laos, will begin. This may sound familiar to my fellow Filipinos who are used to traveling abroad. But, mine will be slightly different because my journey to Laos is a part of my job. Travelling like a tourist will only be an incentive.

It will be my first time to fly outside the Philippines, outside my comfort zone. And, like I said, this flight won't be just an ordinary holiday for an amateur traveler. This will be the beginning of the next 365 days of my life in a landlocked country.

How is that for a woman, who had not missed the beach and island escapade in each of her 29 years in the archipelago?

But, I'll be missing much more if I will not spend a year in a country that will let me see a different world, than a day in the beach.

This journey is an opportunity for me to be the window of my fellow people in Davao City, and the country in general, to have a glimpse of the uniqueness of the people and places in Laos.

Allow my senses, heart and mind to convey the "beauty and wonders" of another Asian land in a way that I know I can be exact---writing and taking photos.

Welcome to my new blog! Your window abroad.




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