Luang Prabang, local style

My good friend and ex-boss Eileen sent me a message a few weeks ago, letting me know that one of her friends lives in Laos, and we should catch up when I'm there. So I sent an e-mail to her friend and found out that she lives in Luang Prabang. Yesterday, Karyn and I met in the morning and went for a nice brunch along the river while we chatted. At the end of brunch, she asked if I'd be interested in going out to a party that evening that was held for the staff of several area restaurants that share one owner. I said yes, and we met up again later that evening.

The entire evening ended up being a great lesson in Laotian customs and culture and great fun on top of that! The invitation said that it all kicked off at 6pm. At about 7pm, we hopped in a tuk tuk and hoped that we wouldn't be the first to arrive. We weren't, thankfully. Karyn immediately spotted a Lao friend at a table near the entrance, and we went to join Lang and a few of her friends at a big round table. The food was already set out on the table, waiting in Saran Wrap until we were given the word to start.

The French restaurant owner came over to say hi and to let us know how the evening was going to proceed, seeing as most everything was going to be said in Laotian over the PA system. It started off with drinks (soft drinks, wine, or the amazing BeerLao), and once most of the people had arrived, we were given the go to dig into the chow. We had bread, rice, mango salad with squid, a nice fish dish, sun-dried beef (which looks like beef jerky's close cousin), some sort of meat teemed with cucumbers on a plate, beef (or maybe pork) and potatoes in a nice yellow curry sauce, cut up mango, and rambutan fruit scattered around our table. I picked around some of the meat, tried the fish, and chowed down on the fruits. All in all, a decent spread.

While we were eating random people were going up on stage and singing Laotian songs. Karyn told me that the people here are not timid about singing and dancing in the least. They love parties and they love to party. After a healthy round of introductory singing, the competition was underway. Nine employees got up and either sang or danced. The singing was all Laotian songs, and I was lucky enough to see my first traditional Laotian dance by the only female competitor, plus two guys dancing hip hop (one with quite a good routine; the other a good dancer but too drunk to really put on a good performance).

A funny trend started with the first singer, as the Laotian started to raid the flower bouquets on their tables and carry them up to the singer to offer encouragement. Karyn told me that traditional gender barriers, as they exist in the cultures I know, don't really exist, as it was common for both men and women to carry flowers up to the singer. But following the first singer's finish, most of the bouquets had been picked through, and they started resorting to the leftover greenery for the second singer. By the time the third singer took the stage, singers #1 and #2 were helping out and letting the others recycle their bouquets. #4 was a dancer, so no flowers were given until the end, but by the time numbers #8 and 9 took the stage, they were bombarded by masses of flowers, some taken from nearby plants and bushes, plus some of the original flowers. It was hilarious, and you could see the people bringing up the flowers laughing at the massive bouquet as they returned to their seats. It was pretty ridiculous but hilarious and kinda sweet as well.

After the competition, the dancing began. Karyn informed me that if anyone asks you to dance, it's considered very rude not to dance with them. And it's not uncommon for women to dance with women nor men to dance with men. I watched one dance go by, and I have to agree with Karyn, it's quite a simple and boring style of dance. At the second song, I was asked to dance about 30 seconds in, and I found out that it's not so hard to learn the dance. It involves shuffling your feet forward 3 steps, then to the back, standing in place for three steps, then you alternate your hands (one up, one down) with every step. Although you dance with a partner, you don't touch at all. Somehow or another, the younger people can turn it into a bit more energetic and interesting dance, but it's still more or less boring. I was asked to dance/endure two more songs before Karyn and I decided to take off. She was hoping for some Laotian line dancing (probably nothing like Country-Western line-dancing), but it never came. She was right - some of the songs go on forever! They seem to last between five and ten minutes... that's a long time to do the same dance with no variation. I miss salsa dancing!