Tad Lo Waterfall December 30
I’m at Tad Lo waterfall, after a light morning cycle yesterday. It’s gorgeous here, and I chose a beautiful little thatch bungalow which has a view of the walls, and a hammock.
When I first arrived, I ran in to Ruth, who was also on a bike, with a fiddle over one shoulder, and a daypack over the other. She had red cloth plaits in her hair, and a hankerchief on. And she’s a doctor. I had a great time hanging out and debating and talking with her, and the two swedes I ran into on the bus to Khongsedone who I ran into again here, and the two danes Ruth met who also were on rented bikes out of Pakse. I had a small glass of lao lao last night, which was ok, but very similar to rice wine in Malaysia and as such, was too salty.
All the women were laughing at me at the market yesterday, because I had to duck so much to get under all the various tarps and roofs.
Going shopping here is very different from the western world. The hassle is not in going to the market, but rather in actually finding and purchasing the item. And I usually have strange shopping lists, like: rice, bananas, degreaser, zipper, bike pedal (left). So the basic tactic is to wander around until you find what you’re looking for, or at least the right section, as stalls are clustered by type of item. So all the tabacco sellers are togetehr, adn the meat sellers are together, and the hardware sellers are together.
Then, once you’ve found what you’re looking for, you have to agree on a fair price. Which is neccesitates knowing how much a particular item is worth, in the local currency. So you can stand there thinking, “How much are zippers worth?” or “how much is a big bunch of bananas worth?” Which is particularlly hard if you’ve just arrived in a place, or you’re buying an item you haven’t bought before. Fortunately, most Lao people offer a fair, or close to fair price, and bargining often involves simply rounding off the last bit of the price that they’ve clearly tacked on to bargin off again, say 2500 instead of 2000.
Then, invariably, you get whatever you’ve bought in a plastic bag, regardless of what it is. From drinks to rice to bananas to fish to puppies, it all goes straight in the bag, no other packaging. You end up with a fistful of plastic bags by the time you’re done.
I was supposed to continue to Sekong today,but I’m very tempted to stick around here and relax for another day.