One of the advantages to “being in the
region”, as we say in the consulting biz, is that work can take you places you
might never have gone. Work, in my case the environmental consulting biz, has
indeed offered some interesting opportunities. In the recent past it’s sent me
to Sulawesi (one of the major islands of Indo), central Java, and Kalimantan
(AKA: Borneo). While that sounds fairly cool, which it kind of is (Borneo!),
it’s still work, so there really isn’t a lot of snorkeling, drinking beer on
patios, and climbing volcanoes involved (zero actually). And, worst of all, no Amy (boo!). Rather, a lot of
waiting in dingy airports, driving on shitty roads for ridiculous amounts of time, then
walking around in tropical heat and humidity, trying to keep the mosquitoes at
bay. Interesting, yes, glamorous, no.
However, this past month has offered up the
opportunity for another stint in Laos (I previously did a 6-weeker here a
couple years ago). The mission was to provide an expat presence within our Laos
office while the guy currently managing the place is away. The office is in Vientiane,
the capital of Laos. While Laos is technically an “underdeveloped” country, and
therefore lacks things like decent roads and hospitals, Vientiane itself is not
a hardship post - quite the opposite. One could describe it as a very pleasant
locale, where one can enjoy a beverage of one’s choice while watching the sunset over
the Mekong (one of the great rivers of the world…google it if yer curious).
You see, it all starts with the French
(well, obviously we could start the story way farther back, but you know what I
mean), and their colonization of “French Indochina”. Without going into a
history lesson here, during the late 1800s and early 1900s, the French occupied
a large swath of Southeast Asia including what is now known as Vietnam,
Cambodia, and Laos (again, google it). While the history of colonization around
the world tends to be bleak and unforgiving (for good reason), one thing the
French left behind – from my street-level perspective anyway – is good food! Things
like fresh baguettes, pate, red wine, and chocolate croissants are as easy to
get in Vientiane as a beer at an Oktoberfest party. 
So yah, coming from the land of nasty
goreng (the Indonesian fried rice thing), I was like a kid in a candy store
come dinner time. Hmmm, which delectable restaurant shall I dine at this
evening? French, Italian…maybe the Belgian place. Fascinatingly, due to the
somewhat thriving expat scene in Vientiane, it has a serious restaurant scene
reminiscent of the best foodie strips in the west – but at a fraction of the
price. All in all, a wonderful change of pace. And as they say, a change is as
good as a rest (it’s still work though…lots of it…unfortunately).
The office is a small affair of half a
dozen Lao staff including four technical guys (environmental specialists), an
admin person, and the lady who keeps the place clean. Oh ya, and the falang –
the label given to foreigners in SE Asia – running the place. The usual falang
was away for a few weeks, so I stepped in as the replacement falang for that
stretch, and hence my “3 weeks in Laos”. Being a small office, it was yet
another break from the chaos of the 60+ people in our Bogor office.
As an added bonus, the small office has a
couple of suites on the top floor, which is where I stayed, meaning hey, no
commute! It was like working at home. Loved it. Mornings were spent sipping
coffee on the upper deck watching the daily ritual of monks collecting alms in
the back streets of Vientiane (more on that below). Very cool. 
Laos is a cool place for many reasons. The
coolest thing about living in Indonesia, then spending time in a place like
Laos, is the realization of just how diverse and different everywhere in SE
Asia is from the place next to it. Laos and Indonesia have about the same in
common as a hamster has in common with a 2 by 4.
For starters, Laos is a land-locked
country, versus Indo which is basically a massive string of tropical islands.
Lao language is a complicated tonal language that uses undecipherable
hieroglyphics versus Indo, which uses the roman alphabet and a relatively
simple language structure – the end result being that many foreigners learn
Indonesian, but almost no one born outside Laos learns Lao (well, except for
the odd falang who goes Apocalypse Now on us).
The most striking feature of Laos is that
it’s relative empty with only 6 million souls in the entirety of the country.
In Indo, that’s a village. Amy and I live in a mega city with 5 times that
population. So, you know, that could be the best part of Laos for me: space.
Vientiane, a city of about 800,000 feels like a small town. Infinitely
walkable, and filled with rows upon rows of good food, cafes, and hipster shops,
it’s a great place to be stuck for a while.
Another highlight was being able to hop on
my bike and “just ride”. If you’re a road biker, you know that feeling of just
pointing it and being on cruise control. Not possible in Indo (Java anyway)
because of the insanity of traffic chaos and bad roads, the newly paved highway
heading out of Vientiane is a road biker’s dream. New pavement, wide shoulder,
almost no traffic, and no end in sight. It was a real treat for a couple of
Saturday rides.
OK, pet peeve here to point out: is it Laos
or Lao? The answer is Laos. That is, if you are speaking English and referring
to the country of Laos. If you are talking about the people, language, or
culture of Laos, then it’s Lao. i.e., Lao is to Laos, what Thai is to Thailand,
or Canadian is to Canada. You did not go to Lao on your trip to Southeast Asia.
You went to Laos (or Lao People’s Democratic Republic [Lao PDR] if you are at a
U.N. conference and using the official country name), and ate some Lao food and
met some Lao people. In grammatical terms: Laos is the noun, Lao is the
adjective. OK, glad we have that under control. I do not want to hear one more
person ask me how my trip to Lao was.
