La la la la Laos

My mom and I arrived in Laos and my mom was instantly in love. I thought Laos was beautiful and kept hearing that Laos is like what Thailand used to be ten years ago. For some reason while I was in Laos I felt more self-conscious about being a tourist. It was an interesting time for me but I still had a really fun time with my mom. Here are some stories from our time in Laos. 

Temple

My mom had a very interesting proposition one day while exploring the village across the bridge. She and I had been sitting watching the sunset, drinking beerlao (our new and favorite beer) when she was approached by an older gentleman. She and I were about to leave and cross back over the bridge to find some dinner when this older man comes over and asks if I am her daughter. My mom says “Yes, this is my daughter.” The old man smiles and then asks “Would you like a son?” My mom and I looked at each other not quite understanding the question. He continued, “Yeah, a son for a daughter?” It dawned on us that this old man was on the prowl. He explains that his son would make a great husband and can speak four different languages. He smiled a toothless smile and put his arm around saying “daughter!” He then looks at my mom and says that if she brings me back here tomorrow morning that he’ll pay the bridge toll so that I can cross and meet my future husband. We told him that we had to think about it. Believe it or not we never did make it back to the bridge the next day and I can’t help but think, what if?

Paper Making Village

Monks!

While in Laos my mom and I did some good, wholesome elephant tourism (yes I am being facetious- I took a whole class on animal tourism and the ethics behind it, so I’m aware of the questionability of paying money to ride a wild animal but it was still super fun).  Besides the many memories and the lingering smell of elephant, my mom and I were also left with over 200 horrible photos of us riding the elephant. Now when I say bad photos, I mean BAD photos. Out of the 200 only 10 were useable for facebook profile pics or for a frame later. The nice lad who carried our cameras and followed us around to capture all the excitement of the elephant riding had extremely good timing for snapping a shot every time I made a face or my mom blinked. It was an uncanny ability that he had. Half way through our ride I was invited to leave the safety of the enclosed bench atop the elephant and slide down to straddle the elephant’s neck. I gently placed my legs behind her ears and she not so gently slapped her ears against my legs, she continued to do this the rest of the ride, I liked to think of it as her high five of friendship. By the end my mother and I felt fully communed with the elephant and my mom told me it brought back memories from her circus days. Need I say more?!

A decent elephant photo

A romantic sunset cruise was one of our last mother-daughter activities in Laos. It was just her and I and our very own boat driver. He took us down the Mekong River and on the way back we watched the sunset. The waves were hypnotic and the sun was warm against our faces. It was so romantic that we even held hands a little bit. My mom and I finished our time in Laos by shopping to our hearts content at the night market.

Romantic sunset cruise

Below you can see us in our matching Beerlao t-shirts (perhaps my most favorite purchase!)  and yes we wore these at the same time and totally looked like awesome tourist- our coolness is indescribable.

Beerlao for life!

xoxox

Audrey