Travels

Hello everyone. As you can see, we are back in Vientiane and busily catching up on our communications. As many of you know, my birthday is today. Thanks to all of you who sent greetings! I thought I should fill you in on the birthday bash we had on Saturday night at Nin’s family’s home.

The birthday party was a combination party for Peter (Nin’s brother), Moui (Nin’s aunt and Nin’s mom’s half sister), and me, as our birthdays are all within a week of each other.

Gord, Nin, and I thought we should do something special for Peter’s birthday in particular, so we decided to take him and his friends from the village bowling at ITEC, the convention centre in Vientiane. We rented a minivan and had things organized for 2:00 on Saturday. I was a bit concerned about how we would get everyone to the bowling alley, but no one else was worried. I thought perhaps Nin, Kesone, and Moui would ride their motorcycles, or that some people would drive in the car.

The birthday boy.

But ohhhh I was wrong! At about three o’clock the van, with 13 people in it, arrived. Nin, Moui, and Kesone hopped out and decided that they needed to change and redo their makeup, as you never know who you might meet at the bowling alley! I was less than pleased that they had left ten very excited kids in the van while they were doing this, and was mother-like in my yelling to get them out of the bedroom and back into the van. We sent them all to the ITEC to get the bowling started. Then our poor driver came back and got Gord, Chris, and I, and we went to get the birthday cakes. We had ordered two chocolate cakes from a local bakery, but only one was done when we arrived. I guess the number of cakes was lost in translation. We picked out a second cake, which they quickly decorated, and we headed back to the bowling alley.

When we arrived, the bowling was well underway, and all the kids were having a great time. Chris and I got bowling shoes, with Chris requiring the largest ones they had which were “reserved” for Falangs. I bowled a few frames and hurt my back! I am such an athlete. The kids all got Pepsi and bowled like crazy. I’m not sure if we ever got the rules straight, but it didn’t matter.

Bowling.

The Bowlers.

After bowling, we went to an ice cream stand, and Chris bought everyone ice cream. Gord had gone off to find the driver and was horrified to see 13 people with soft ice cream cones waiting to get in the van. We had to eat the cones in a hurry! Once we had finished our ice cream, we walked over to the van. I began splitting us into two groups when our driver said, “It’s no problem taking all of you in one load. Three kids are like one Falang.” So we loaded up, literally three deep, and with seventeen people in the van headed to Nin’s family’s house. On the way, Chris “helpfully” talked about an accident that occurred a few years ago in Alberta where a bunch of people were stuffed into a van on the way to work at a meat packing plant, and how they were all killed! This didn’t make me feel more relaxed.

We arrived at Nin’s home without incident. The yard had been transformed into a party hall with beautiful tables set up, mountains of food, and the centerpiece for a baci on the table. As the sun had nearly set, we immediately had the baci ceremony. The baci is an important Lao ceremony, and is done on special occasions such as birthdays, and before travel. It was an honour to have Nin’s family organize this for us.

Baci Ceremony.

Then it was party time! There were copious amounts of food, Beer Lao, and whiskey. At ten o’clock we lit the candles on the birthday cakes and all the party-goers sang Happy Birthday in English. The band played, and dancing continued until two in the morning.

Birthday Cake. No, the entire cake was not on fire!

Chris with “Speaker Envy”.

We danced all night with the friends and neighbours, and especially with the little girls from the bowling party. At one point, I went into the house and found all the little boys dancing with each other. But they were not brave enough to come outside to the “big dance”.

The village women had decided that they didn’t want Chris to get thirsty, so they poured him glasses of beer while he was on the dance floor, and gave him shots of whiskey whenever they felt it was necessary. Chris had a great time, and was reluctant to leave when the band stopped playing at 2:00, but it was time to get home. We loaded him into the van and said our goodbyes.

As they say, “A good time was had by all”!