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After watching the red sun disappear into the faded hills I too
disappeared down the collection of rocks just upriver from the
village. With most of my friends still out and about and my stomach
grumbling, I decided to take the meanest man up on the last two
parts of his mantra; Eat here, drink here.
Out of a limited selection I chose rice soup and a Coke. It was now,
after he has successfully gotten us to stay in his guesthouse, that
his apparent tactlessness began to fade. I might have been mistaken
but I think after he took my order a slight smile cracked across his
narrow face. I would have thought it a mirage, or a trick of the
shadows, had his new attitude not kept up.
While I waited for my food the meanest man surprised me again.
Entirely beaming now, his lips cracked joyously wide exposing his
ill teeth pushing his cheeks up towards his now inviting eyes, he
looked completely different.
He came up to my table with a bottle containing a clear liquid.
First he offered a small glass to the two Laotians at my table.
After a quick and apparently pleasant conversation they each gulped
down their drinks with a slight grimace. Their expressions were
enough to let me know that I might not be in for a treat. The
meanest man turned towards me and chanted, “Lao-Lao.” Lao-Lao is a
rice whiskey that is generally homemade. Imagine really cheap
tequila then take away all the taste and you might understand
Lao-Lao.
As I threw down my shot my expression turned, into disgust. The
meanest man could not stop laughing. “Lao-Lao” he cackled with joy.
With my insides burning I looked up to see a man having a good time
and I had to admit that I was also. “Lao-Lao,” the meanest man
laughed. “Lao-Lao,” I coughed in reply.
One of the most unpleasant aspects of traveling is the hypocrisy. We
travel to the far ends of the globe in search of new and different
things. We search for culture that is unlike ours. Oftentimes we
come to find that these cultures have already been altered and we
are disappointed. We see the McDonald’s in Chiang Mai and ask
ourselves, “How far do we have to go?”
Possibly, however, the question should be, “How far should we go?”
Without even thinking about it we help change these cultures. We
come in wearing shoes that these people couldn't afford in a
lifetime and they are changed. We come in and need a place to sleep
and a place to eat and we change the people, the culture. We travel
out of curiosity. We travel to see things we have not seen and to
experience things we have not experienced. Arriving in Bangkok, I
was disappointed. I expected something different. I didn't expect to
see huge traffic jams, freeways clogged with people rushing off to
work. I didn't expect to see America.
Maybe I was naive. Maybe I still am. Maybe I am still perpetuating
the hypocrisy. Maybe I didn't learn anything from the places I saw,
from the people I met, from the meanest man, because when people ask
me if they should go to Thailand I reply, “Yeah, I guess. But if you
really want to see something completely different, go to Laos.”
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