Traveling to Laos

My dad told me that to get to Pakse Laos it will take about 24 hrs, I didn't believe him because my dad tends to blow things of out proportions, if you ever wonder where I get my humor from it comes from my dad, the dad who loves to tell all my comedian friends a dirty joke……

Dad: "you want to hear dirty joke?"
Friend: "sure"
Dad: "the pig jump in the muck haha"
Friend: "oh you mean mud, thats good….can I have another eggroll please"

I've flown internationally before, I've been to Australia but thats it. Everyone is meeting in Seattle since Quito and Leh live there and form there we fly to Seoul, Korea, then to Bangkok, Thailand then to Vientiane,Laos.

We met at my brother Quito's house for lunch and from there we all head to the airport. For lunch his wife made us 'Pho" which is a rice noodle soup, very popular in southeast Asia. Persoanlly I wanted true American food before we leave, I want a good ole cheese burger, just some thing unhealthy.

So we get on the plane in Seattle (Asiana Airlines), very big airplane filled with Asians going home or visiting family, and of course out of all the passengers I was randomly seated next to the only white people on the flight, even more crazy…they were from Montana, Kalispell, Montana in fact, they were going to Bangkok for a school trip. The flight to Seoul, Korea would take 15 hours….not looking forward to that. I send off my last text message to my girlfriend telling her I love her and buckled up. I will say this about foreign airlines…..customer service is amazing, they treat you very well, always there when you need them and never have an attitude.

We had to spend 8 hrs in the Bangkok Airport, it was pretty nice. They had a massage parlor there, it was $20 for an hour, it was around 2am there and my family was loopy so most of decided to get a massage, they even had a places where you can pay to take a shower.

Anyways, I had a massage and it wasn't all that, I had to go in this small room and put on this weird shirt, the lady and I could not communicate cause she doesn't speak english and I don't speak Thai….well I really don't speak any sort of Asian languages lol During my massage she kept making me do this weird stretches and jamming her elbow into my back…it hurt more then it was relaxing. There was one point I wanted a head massage, ya know the like when you go to the salon and they wash your hair….ah thats my favorite so I showed her I wanted my head massaged and she nodded yes….I was finally excited for a relaxing massage…nope of course she jammed her thumbs into the side of my head making me feel like my head was going to exploded. In the end I was mad and only tipped her $3 for an hour massage but as it turns out…that was a big tip… Lukas-0, Thai Massage Lady-1

Boarding the plane to Laos was strange…..I couldn't believe that in 1 hr I will be the land my parents grew up, the place where my family had to flee just to be free and be whatever they wanted to be. I could see the look on my parents face, they had been waiting decades to take their whole family back to Laos and show them their roots, to make sure we didn't forget where we came from and for us to appreciate what they did.

As I'm walking through the plane in search of Seat 19-B I pass a group of what looked like a retired senior citizens, they see my black Mariners hat and a lady with thick plastic glasses and permed hair says, "hey there, where did you get that American hat?" to which I reply in perfect and clear English, "oh I made one of the kids at my factory make this for me…looks real doesn't it? those kids are amazing with their little hands."
As her jaw dropped the look her face and her powdered haired friends was priceless. They had a look on their face of confusion, I don't know if they were surprised I replied with a fake joke or the fact I spoke perfect english. Maybe they were expecting me to say, "oh yeah, me rerry rike America, number one, hotdog, Mcdonalds and Nascar, bang bang me rove you wrong time."

As im sitting in that plane I hear the pilot say we will be landing in Vientane, Laos, I then looked out the window only to see nothing but jungles and little huts everywhere. I couldn't believe I was in Laos, cause to me Laos was kind of like this mythical creature my parents always talked about and now I finally get to see it come to life.