Somphone and I went to the Ban Anou night market in Vientiane, Laos. A simple street with lots of food stalls and just the right amount of people. Quiet, quaint and ridiculously inexpensive fine-tasting curries, noodles, sticky rice and lots more.
The standard is for the food vendor to give you some food in clear plastic bag that is combined with air to create a make-shift tupperware. A plastic bag bubble if you will. We saw everyone ordering lots of food but it seemed all the locals were bringing the food back home. We loved the atmosphere of the place and wanted to watch the men drink beer and play bocce ball. The one missing ingredient was utensils.
I looked the food stall lady, searched my mind crazily for some sort of action or word to explain...and then, it hit me...
"BUONG!" I actually knew the Laotian word that Somphone had taught me. Usually I forget new words as soon as I learn them.
She stared at me.
Somphone laughed.
It was the right word. But I quickly realized that if someone yelled "SPOON!" at me in English I would probably laugh or feel really uncomfortable.
I was proud of my diction but not my etiquette. It was a great moment of awkward excitement.
The lady lent me a nice silver spoon and I promised to bring it back (even though she told me to keep it)...
The night moved along at a beautifully slow pace...We met an amazing man who sold beer to the bocce ball players from his corner store. At one point he closed the shop and then reappeared 20 minutes later fresh from a shower. He brought more beer to his friends and joined in his spot on the team...He chatted with us about if we had kids, if we were married and where we lived...He seemed really happy. Warm weather, a lot of friends, a little business and lots of good times. I think he was really onto something.
I present the photos of two great (and completely different) countries. Laos and Thailand.
