The Annual trip to Laos...I'm headed back

[Smurkster]

I moved to Thailand after living in Laos for a year. I have now been in Thailand 2 and a half years (married to a Thai woman) who I coincidentally met on a trip back to the USA. Every year since I moved to Thailand I go to Laos for a bout a week. I spend time usually picking out a small village on a map and going to it, just because that is the kind of traveling I like. This year I went with a Lao friend of mine, I feel comfortable enough with the lanuage because I studied it for a few months in Vientiane and now that I live Isan, it is about 90% the same....

This was the trip that made me realize just how much I miss things on this side of the river and I think I will return. For me at the end of the day it comes down to the people and a few points I noticed I would like to just share, I don't really know why I am making this post, I just kinda feel like I want to have some other people to talk with about this topic with

1. Visiting little villages north of Vientiane, where Falang rarely, if ever venture to, I did not hear the word "falang" mentioned ONE TIME in reference to me. And I don't just mean saying it, the way many Thais giggle look and your direction and say "ooo Falang" in a somewhat Snarky manner. It's like they didn't even notice or care, I was just another person. I found that very refreshing..

2. The Farmers aren't drunkards quite the way many thai farmers are: I saw very little Lao Khao drinking compared with their Thai counterparts... I find many times when I go farming villages in Isan or other rural parts of Thailand, Lao Khao is just so ubiquitous that it becomes somewhat sickening..here instead quite often I was invited into someone's house for a smoke.

3. Practicing English?!: I mean a little tiny Lao village, POORER and dirtier than its Thai equivalent and loads of people came up to me and spoke English to practice or show off ( In a good way). That NEVER happens to me in Thailand

4. The way the people speak...It is soft and smooth...Lao dialect from laos is a lot more soft sounding on the ear. Plus one isn't subjected to "Khap" or "khap pom" every two or three words

6. I'm never "pawned off" to someone's daughter here..When I do the same thing in Thailand, I inevitably hear something along they lines of "you handsome, sister want Falang boyfriend" for whatever the reasons for it not happening, I appreciate this immensely if for not other reason that it makes me feel like I am more than a commodity.

7. They even know that Canada isn't near France! Met a few villagers with family there too. Last time in a village near Udon when I told someone I was from Canada they said "Oh that is near France right"

rant over....anybody ever have any similar experiences?