Plain of Jars, originally uploaded by Subcontinental Drift.
Mystery Number One: Plain of Jars
This picture shows a part of the Plain of Jars, a large area in Northern Laos which is scattered with massive jars of unknown origin. Some think they are the glassware of the Gods. Others claim they are for fermenting fowl (some still use them for this purpose, I believe). Regardless, they are eerie and beautiful. Adding to the allure of the site, for us, is the fact that our guide caught a rodent while giving us the tour. Apparently they are expensive at market and go great with a papaya salad.
Mystery Number Two: Silly Yellow Shirts
Asian nations have developed a reputation for conformity, and while we don’t intend to further the stereotype, it rings true in the case of these blasted yellow polo shirts. Numbers vary region to region, but you can generally count on one in three people wearing one of these shirts. They have the royal seal on the front; many have been personalized on the back, sporting, for example, the tender inscription “I Love The King.” Indeed, everybody does. Everybody, that is, except You Tube, which is facing a lawsuit from Thailand because it hosted a video that was critical of the beloved monarch. Bad news for us: the site is blocked over here, and we were hoping to upload videos for you, dear reader.
Mystery Number Three: Foolish Farang
“Farang” is the catch-all phrase that, everywhere we’ve gone in SE Asia, means “white foreigner.” It also must mean, to some extent, “believes in his or her own immortality.” The proportion of hobbled young tourists swaddled in gauze and ace bandages is appalling. We met an Irishman (sorry John) who crashed his motorbike three of the four times he rented one. He’s not a bad driver, he insists. It’s just that he was drunk every time he crashed. The above picture was taken in Vang Vieng, in Laos. It’s a backpacker haven where you can tube down a lazy river on any number of drug cocktails. At various points along the river are bars that offer zip-lines and other toys for grownups. The gentleman in the picture decided he would impress us all by climbing the absurdly tall pole and jumping into water of unknown depth. He came up hiding his grimace after striking the bottom hard with his foot.
4 Comments
May 21, 2007 at 1:06 am
Hi Nin and Em,
99.9 % of the photos are great. I imagine Martha (and I know Steph!) will have an opinion of one of the photos of Emily. Nice to hear your news and see your newest photos. Imagine Felix took the photo of the 2 of you together – nice to see you in the together in the same frame. I know you have had a fabulous time. We are really looking forward to seeing you and hearing about your trip first hand.
Sydney news: Thurs. night we played “Patty cake” over and over. She never tired of it!
xxo mom Rose
May 21, 2007 at 6:07 pm
mystery #4 – what is your job?
May 21, 2007 at 7:07 pm
hey kate, believe it or not, i love the snake picture! i’ve sent it to all my friends and family. i’m not even surprised that she did it. now if she were holding an eensie-weensie spider, i’d be flabbergasted.
kids, the pictures are awesome, and your 3 mysteries blog is so good. like kate, i wish i could hear more of what you’re seeing and doing, but you sure do a great job of distilling down some key experiences.
May 21, 2007 at 7:11 pm
ps. tongans have a word for westerners, too. i think it denotes white westerners, but it’s actually used to refer to any westernized visitor regardless of race. and it’s similar to the SE asian word, too. it’s palangi, if i’m remembering.
FYI to all: we have family members from the south pacific island nation of Tonga.