Going with a bang..

Whilst yours truly was spending some quiet time in a little town named Champasak in Southern Laos it was made known to me that there would be a burial on one of the temple grounds in the evening. Thus I gathered myself and lo and behold, by the time of nine in the evening the temple was surrounded by devote and less devote onlookers, a shrine containing the departed one was build in the back, and people were praying and bowing heads whilst the monks chanted holy words. Despite of the fact that there must have been over a 1000 people, some say several thousands, it was a calm and serene happening. That was up until the abbot friendly asked everybody to make room, at let 10 meters from the shrine, and nearby a fire engine agreed with its short whooping siren, as to emphasize what the Abbot truly meant. And so it was, people stood up, pressed themselves into the crowd behind them and room was made. Striding in their orange robes, monks went about their business, and their business it seemed to me was to gather all sorts of arrow shaped objects and put fire to them. Sure enough, Chinese shops must have made a good profit that day, for soon the whole backyard was in flames, firework whizzing by and putting the resting place of the revered Athjaan who was to be set free that night in flames. Shrieks and screams from both the fire arrows and the crowd as a couple of fire fountains were set alight simultaneously. The effect was one that would make both the rolling stones and U2 feel like their shows were hopelessly unspectacular, and chaos ruled for a full minute as drops of fire fell from the sky and on people's heads, yours truly's camera and on the plastic covers that were erected over some donations at the side of the temple. As I felt something burning its way trough the hood of my sweater (I am so glad I decided to wear that thing against mosquito bites even if it is a bit warm at times) I decided to stop taking pictures and join the others. I ran. Maybe I also gave out a shriek yell, who knows, when in Rome, do like the Romans, as they say. And then as the shower of sparks was replaced by a drizzle of... well, probably a drizzle of pure Mekong water, as the firefighters did their best to spray the plastic covers and the roof of the temple. Of course they didn't neglect the crowd, who was eager to react with sounds of relief and pleasure, as if one found himself in an aquapark. All the while he fireworks kept banging and whizzing and by now the fountain of fire had been replaced by flowers of red and yellow in the sky as the shine was being consumed by purifying flames. What a way to go. Those monks know how to build a party. The main advantage of believing in Nirwana and reincarnation meant that their beloved Athjaan would be ascending the sky and either come back in a higher version or have attained nothing at all and thus be truly freed from any dukkha. So no reason to wail and whine, the revered man had done what had to be done in this life, all there was left for us bystanders to do was look in awe at the open air cremation and later on to enjoy the joys of the more earthly carnival that had set up behind the temple grounds. As I walked back home I could hear the local popstar giving his best while bottles of Laobeer where being relieved of their contents faster than the fire arrows had flown over our heads earlier on... When they party in Laos, they party good style, I says you. Sabaai dii folks!

Savannakhet, Lao PDR

A small trip over the Mekong and one finds himself in the wonderful world called The People's Democratic Republic of Laos. Usually countries that announce rather unsubtle that they consider themselves a democracy are also the ones where one wouldn't want to brush against the hairs of the local police or other governmental institutions. And the well known red flag of China seems to be as present as the Lao flag at most official buildings. But aside from the 12 o'clock curfew and the absence of pool tables this is indeed a very democratic place to spend time in. Prices for food and accommodation are very reasonable for Asian standards, not to say that I start to think of Thailand as expensive... And ah yes, why is it again that I like the French occasionally? Is it because they have good wines? Probably. Is it because they speak in such passionate terms of their great nation? Maybe. But most certainly it is because they have spread the joys of baking baguettes and stuffing them with fresh and delicious foods that make me praise them. (Mind you, I never praise them when they are around, they might start to glow in the dark with pride, and in this parts of the world any source of light attracts mosquitoes which I'd rather not encounter...)
And as in any Asian country where the middle classes are slowly growing and people are allowed to move around, the motorbike is one of the most commonly used means of transportation. Unfortunately it is also one that is mostly involved in not so innocent accidents. The fact that the cops are more interested in getting tea money when they stop you than in checking your drivers license doesn't really help, and as such people around here start driving the motorbike as soon as they are able to get their legs on the gas and brake pedals. It seems like a motorbike is considered to be both a car and a bicycle around here, for the number of people traveling on one can extend to a small Laotian family unit, which typically consists of mum and dad with a total of three kids wrapped around the steering wheel (typically the youngest one, say anything from 17 months to 3 years old) or pressed between the parents. Five people is what we would prop together in a car in some parts of the world. Then again, the age for driving a motorbike seems to be the same as the age for driving a bike, and the same for the knowledge of traffic. Luckily these people have the good Buddha on their side and where total chaos would be ensured in say Belgium around here there is neither the right amount of traffic nor the right amount of stress to get people to crash into each other. Still the number of accidents is a bit high. Just like myself I get the feeling most people around here haven't figured out yet when to give right of way and as such I've witnessed a few motorbikes crushed under the new and ever more present 4x4 trucks in the middle of a crossroads. I do hope that sooner rather than later either the traffic lights will be enforced on people (Actually I was one of the mischievous fellas ignoring it today and as luck would have it a cop popped out of nowhere and sure enough the law had to be enforced specifically at the time I drove trough the red light. All in all damage was controlled by my bright smile and the lack of English on the law's behalf. 20.000 Kip is what seems to make paperwork disappear around here, and considering that this comes down to less than 2 euros one might feel thankful for once that not only the food and accommodation are democratic, but also the local salaries. 2 euros means three days of work to some cops, of course only if they would not use their cunning knowledge of the law to get some butter for on their baguette. I can't blame them for being creative while enforcing the law, as all in all it seems things work perfectly well in this country. And one never feels unsafe either, thanks to the thousand smiles of the people here.

The joys of rebirth and other tales of compassion...

Life as a toad sucks... You get to eat only the slower of mosquito's (god knows what they had for lunch) and an occasional ant passing by, you can't even jump properly like your cousins since you seem to have a tendency towards obesitas, and your skin doesn't appeal to that charming prince who could kiss you into a state of happiness.... Luckily for you you happen to live in a Buddhist country, so what do you do? You head towards the main road near your pond and hope for a compassionate believer to pass by, or rather to pass over you, and if possible let it be a believer driving a truck filled with bricks for the nearest temple, so that your spirit gets squeezed out of this life and into the other one a little bit faster as usual. Yup, this toad would give you his broadest smile if he only remembered how... Which makes me wonder, do butchers in Buddhist country make merit by ending the lives of countless down spiraled entities and releasing them from their animal lives and pushing them towards the next level? I mean, if the cow or chicken gets it, it gets eaten, so it brings happiness to some people, thus it should gain merit and move up a level no? Maybe my understandings of Buddhism are a bit confined... In any way, I wonder what the dog is doing in this sign outside of a restaurant in Ubon.....? Or maybe these fellas are standing in line for a food handout? Animal Farm the Thai style...

Tune up and chill out...

These guys just play anything from Hillbilly Gospel to Bollywood Soundtracks (preferably the 60's though, they kindly added)... But even when their music might not be the most aesthetic one, their looks certainly make up for it... As my old pal Humpty would say if his bar was in the City of Angels instead of his noir bar in C: "Play it again Siam!"