Festivities "Lao Style"

I am sure all of us have experienced, at some point in our travels, a moment of pure spontaneity and authenticity with total strangers. I'm not talking hook ups here (!) but those neat but rare moments when a traveler ends up surrounded by locals during an activity that highlights how people live outside of the tourism industry. A couple of nights ago, Gabrielle and I had the incredible luck to experience such moment.

The day had started quite normally. Actually, it had began quite beautifully. A swim through a mysterious cave and a long peaceful kayak down the Nam Song river. Vang Vieng is truly stunning. The mountainous formations of the region and the constrasting rich green and yellow valleys are absolutely gorgeous. At the end of our day, our guide, Hui, invited us to join him, and his friends and family for his "Village Festival".

Village festivals occurs in Laos in the months of February and March. They mostly consist of...drinking a lot, eating a lot, singing a lot, and dancing a lot. The festivities started in House #1, where after an initial surprise by the owners and the normal 'what are you doing here foreigner?' look, welcomed us with arms wide open and with an incredible generosity.

Then starts the local party rules. First, you need to learn to drink "Lao Style", which is to drink shooters of Lao Beer with ice out of a single glass which goes around the group of people having fun, being refilled with each invitee, until all the beers in the house are empty. Then, it's time to move to House #2, and 3, and so on! Then, we also ate "Lao Style". I was so happy; finally that authentic Lao food I had been dreaming of tasting: Khao Piak Sen, a noodle dish served with shredded cabbage, mint, and a coconut fish sauce; the famous Laap, a raw, yes raw, meat salad, in my case beef, mixed with fresh herbs, chilis, roasted rice powder, and lime juice; Koy Paa, a laap-looking ceviche-tasting dish made with cubes of raw freshwater fish, and the tasty sticky rice staple. All of it is eaten sitting on the floor, with our dirty hands or with the few communal spoons.

I loved the whole thing, had my eyes and ears wide open the entire time. And I'm still alive and well! Screw the hygiene safety standards, this whole experience was worth all the parasititic worms that now live in my GI track :)

Veronik