Sao Lao

The adventure in Pakse continues. After we finished with grocery shopping and came back to the house it was time to meet with the rest of the family members. I saw my father’s mother for the second time in my life. The first time was when I was a little kid in Vientiane. I tried to take as much pictures as possible of the relatives for my parents. While the rest of the relatives were busy getting to know my mother, I went into the kitchen to give a helping hand. My father told me to do my fair share with the household chores while I am there.

We had a nice lunch with more than 20 people (I stop counting at 20). I didn’t eat much since the dishes were all too hot for my taste. This family puts chili peppers in just about everything. After lunch I did the dishes all by myself. My father’s niece has a teenage daughter but was not much of a help. When she saw me do dishes, she ran away to her grandmother’s house (my father’s older sister) to play. The other children were young boys and therefore cannot help in the kitchen. I didn’t mind doing the dishes, except for the fact that the sink was too low (below my butt’s level). It was difficult to help in the kitchen with washing all the vegetables and fruits and do the dishes.

My father’s niece couldn’t help me do the dishes since he gave her laundry to wash. I started to laugh while watching my father gives the order. Who was the dek-noi (little kid) that will do my laundry like he said back in Vientiane? I also found the interaction of the family to be quite amusing. The fact that his niece and her husband call my parents as mom and dad rather than Na Bao and Na Sao was interesting to me.

After I finished with the dishes (for more than 20 people by hands I must stress), I went back to the living-room and found my parents busy passing out gifts to the old and the young. My cousins wanted to take me to see the sunset at the Mekong River but my father said I was not allowed to go anywhere after dark and not to ride the motorcycle. He said I can only go somewhere with my parents and if not would only be able to go somewhere with Aao Ki in his tuk-tuk. That way I can stay safe.

I asked my parents if I can go visit Aao Ki’s family. I was surprised to find out that he lives in the same village as Grand-mama. What a coincidence? The plot of the story becomes even more intense when I saw his house which is on the main road and only a couple of minutes walk to Grand-mama’s house. While I stood outside Aao Ki’s house and ordering sugarcane drink from his daughter, I gave Bay a call and told her of what is going on. I asked her if this is the same man who took Grand-mama to the doctor a week before. Bay confirmed my suspicion. I was shocked to find out how small of a world we live in. I then asked Bay whether or not Aao Ki recognized me from our last meeting. Bay didn’t think so because I had a different haircut back then and it was a brief meeting. I told her not really since I was sitting outside the doctor’s office with him. I told Bay that I felt as though I am living in a lakorn.

When we got back the two cousins were asking me for gifts. I told them I had no gifts for them. They have already gotten stuff from my parents earlier in the afternoon. They said they would take anything in small or big amount, meaning money. Well, I only had 300 dollars and 70 Euros of spending money left so I couldn’t just give that out right away. Since they didn’t get anything from me, they went home. I went inside the house and tidy up the room I was going to sleep that night. It was dirty and dusty so I did some cleaning. Then I went downstairs and told my parents about being asked for gifts from my cousins. I wanted their advice on whether or not I should give out money or should that be my parents’ task. My father said in his exact words that’s what I get for “pai vow dee num khaor” or for speaking nice to them. He accused me of running after my cousins and wanting to go places with them. I said that was not true. I went to visit Aao Ki’s family because it was a polite thing to do since he asked if I wanted to see where his house is at. The cousins just got on the tuk-tuk with me and I couldn’t just kick them out.

I was upset with my father for blaming me in this matter. I was tired with not much sleep for two weeks now. To make matter worse I had to use a bathroom with no lock on it and people can just walk in on me while I am taking a shower or going to a toilet. There is no light either in the bathroom. I was also scare since I was bleeding when going to the toilet. I didn’t want to panic and said to myself it must be the hot and spicy food I have eaten earlier.

I didn’t want to stay there any longer and asked for my plane ticket back to Vientiane. My mother asked me what do I want with the ticket and said that if it’s too cold tonight I can sleep downstairs with them. I then got a call from Johan. My father asked where did I get the phone and did I got give the phone back to my aunt-in-law, as instructed. My mother said to him that it was my phone to use.

Perhaps in an effort to please me, my parents said we can go take pictures of the sunset by the Mekong River before we go to the night market. Aao Ki took us to watch the sunset but the sun was still high. We then rushed to the market so we can get home and make dinner. Of course I helped with making dinner. While we were setting up the meal I noticed how the food was divided in half. My cousins came to pick up the prepared meal through the back door. Their mother (my father’s older sister) and most of her children didn’t come have dinner with us. I couldn’t eat anything since all the dishes were full of chili peppers. My parents could hand more chili peppers than me but after bleeding from my behind earlier that day I didn’t want to bleed more. I tried to take a few bites of Pon Pa but after two or three bites, my tears were coming down my face. The relatives thought it was so funny to see me cry like that and commented that the food must be too hot for me.

I did my best by eating only steam vegetables with soy sauce and rice. Then I ate the leftover of fruits we bought earlier that day, like mandarin oranges and dragon fruit.

After dinner, I did the dishes while my father’s niece gave her 6 years old son a bath. Of course the teenage cousin saw me doing the work and asked her mother if she can go play at her grandmother’s house. She was told to be back by 9:30 PM and to sleep with me.

After I finished with the clean up and took a shower, I started to set up the mosquito net and waited for my cousin to get back. It was very cold that night and I didn’t get much sleep since my cousin pulled most of the blanket away. I kept asking all night if I can have a piece of it to cover my body. I was beginning to not like traveling with my parents.

     Tags: family, Pakse

Leave a Reply