Laos in the House

Laos in the House:


While walking off that plane and first stepping foot onto Laos soil was like setting foot on Yankee Stadium, this was it, we are finally here. It was humid, hot and the air smelled sweet. The workers at the airport were darker then most of my black friends back in the U.S, I didn't know Asians could get that dark and I first saw them by default I said, "What up son!" to which he just smiled big and exposed his missing teeth.

While we were waiting customs, my cousin comes through and the security guys says, "you can't be in here." my cousin replies, "they said I could." and all the security guy goes, "oh ok." Talk about tight security lol.

After we got our luggage we go outside to be greeted by crowd of my family members, a few of them I knew from when they came to the states to visit. They had a bouquet of flowers for all of us. A lot of them I was meeting for the first time. They was a lot of excitement and lots of crying. Most of them hadn't seen our family since they left Laos. With the little Laotian I can understand, I did hear lots of my relatives say in Laotian, "i can't believe they're here, they are here, they are finally here."

Everyone is shorter then me, I feel like a giant, one of my uncles came up to me and said, "you big and strong, you healthy." I could over hear my relatives say in Laotian,"he is big, he eats a lot, he is big boy."

As we got into the car our first stop was my aunt's house which is the house my parents and siblings use to live. It was more emotional for my siblings because they had not been to this house since they left for America, as we standing outside of the house taking off our shoes I saw the tears in my sister's eyes fall as if they were taken back into time and faded memories became once again reality. For me I the only emotion I felt was like an outsider looking in, I didn't grow up here, I have no memories of the staircase to the left when you walk in, or the back kitchen where there is a coal stove, all this to me was strange. Their was no real rooms, just half walls with a mattress on the ground, a shelf, and cracked ceiling. The wiring looked very amateur and would be a violation in the States but I guess these people are lucky to have power.

For lunch we again had Pho soup, at first I wasn't sure because of how dirty everything looked, but the smell of fresh vegetables and the aroma of the soup got to me. This was authentic pho soup, no more eating at a restaurant in Los Angeles, no more shipped veggies, everything fresh and homemade. My first bit was like having chicken mcnuggets when they are straight off the fryer, just burst of flavor that hit every taste bud, a taste my mouth knew but enhanced. After the pho soup we had desert that my grandma use to make, my sisters kept telling me they remember her selling these, I guess she was known for making these little yummy treats. It was banana mixed with coconut and placed a top of sticky rice and then wrapped in fresh banana leafs and then they steam it. It was wonderful….thanks G-MA!

Before we left the house my mom wanted to say hello to more of my relatives, so we walked through the half room half way thingy pass the coal kitchen and out the back door which we were immediately at my mom's other sister's house. However my mom's sister wasn't there, she had passed away about 5 yrs ago, my mom wanted to say hello to her brother in law and my cousins. I have never met any my cousins but they knew who I was from the picture my mom sends them. One of them just had a child, and my people have a tradition I never knew about when a female has a child. After birth she must sit and lay on a bed with warm coals under it for 14-21 days, the heat is suppose to heal her insides after birth she can't even drink cold water, everything has to be hot or warm. I remember my aunt when she came to live with us for about a year when I was in highschool, she helped my mom with the restaurant and always laughed at me for some reason. My uncle told me that she always said she missed me and I was her favorite. RIP Auntie.

We soon went to our hotel, which were not staying at, my parents got a room so we could drop off our luggage and shower. Our relatives followed us to the hotel and not having tallked to my lady love in over 24 hrs I was eager to talk to her. I busted out my iphone and connected to the wifi at the hotel and called her to facetime, its was 11am on Thursday which means it was 10pm on wedsnesday night in the states. Lacey were facetime chatting and then I realized everyone was looking me wondering what I was doing, then I realized they didn't have iphones and the fact I was looking at someone and talking to them at the same time blew their minds. My parents were even impressed. All my siblings dig Lacey and so everyone wanted to say hi to her via my iphone. Gosh technology is amazing, I'm half way across the country but I was able to see and speak with someone crazy.

We then jumped in to one of those trucks with the canopy covering the back and drove around town picking up more school supplies, clothes, uniforms, a playground set and a bunch of other stuff to take to the kids in my dad's home town. Driving I noticed that people are their own boss, not a lot of 9-5 jobs just people selling shit to each other and tourist…..which by the way…the only tourist are hippies I swear.

Most businesses are privately owned, owned by some family whose house is the business. Its shop up front, living space in the back. Its crazy to see most homes are small businesses. Kids running around in their under roos, ladies breast feeding in front of the store, it was nuts.

Are night ended and began at the bus station. We have to take a bus to Pakse,Laos where my dad's village is by, but first we must travel in a VIP bus, a sleeping bus with beds and they take you over night. The bus was big and filled with beds, my seat/bed was D11 next to my older sister Lucky. We walk towards the back where are seats are only to see that we had the bottom bunk in this really enclosed space. My sister Lucky try to lay down and freaked the heck out and ran off the bus. She could not handle being in such tight quarters. So after talking to some dudes upstairs with a regular bed and no one above them my sister switched,....I however was stuck in this bed up in a top bunk because I didn't have the luxury like my sister did, and my spot was small, no window and my face being 8 inches from the ceiling. Thanks to modern medicine I was able to take some sleeping pills and pass out.

After 7 hrs on the bus I woke up to what was an site that I never believed existed......

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.

Quicksand, guns and hamburgers

I'm Lukas Seely aka Luke Keutla most people know from me for being a comedian and hear about my jokes about being Asian and living in Montana. As people have always wondered how my family ended up in Montana, there is a part of my life that most people don't know............I'm the youngest of 6 six kids and I'm the only one born in America. My family is from Laos, a country in Southeast Asia in between Thailand and Vietnam. 30 yrs ago my family escaped the communist government in Laos to become free and live their American Dream in the USA.

Through out the next week I'm going to share my family's story and our journey back to Laos and the experiance through my eyes as an Asian American who has never been to his homeland and about my family going back to help a my dad's village of children in need.

To keep you up to speed I'll fill you in on everything and here is how it started.........

Back in the 60's and 70's the U.S government was secretly putting US troops in Laos as a way to try and stop Communism in South East Asia. There the U.S troops they were teaching Lao people how to fight with guns and was trying to help the Lao people over throw the Royal Communist Government. After a failed attempt the U.S pulled its troops from Laos without giving the Lao people a real reason for leaving........the problem.......any Laotian person who sided with the U.S Army was now considered an enemy of the Royal Government....this included my parents.

The Royal Government was taking all Laotians who were involved with the U.S Army and putting them in work camps, taking fathers, sons, and mothers and killing them for opposing the Lao Royal Government. All the Lao people were waiting for the mighty American Army to come back and finish off the Royal Government...but this was never the case.

One by one the Royal Government was killing officers involved, taking families and putting them into concentration camps to brain wash the Lao people into thinking Communism was great. My family was put into a camp, my dad....sent to work outside the camp and only being able to see my family maybe once a month....I was not born yet.

One night my parents decided to make a deathly escape from the camp and make a run for Thailand. If they were to get caught trying to escape, they would be killed on sight. At the time The Keutla Family (my family) consisted of my mom (Khanthaly) , my dad (Sisavath) and my siblings, Lucky, Leh, Tobee, Quito and infant Khuanmany.

My sister Khuanmany was only 2yrs old and bringing her would increase the chances of my family being caught and killed if she were to cry. So my parents decided to leave her with my aunt and uncle with a promise to return for her in the future if they make it.

On a full moon night, my family sneaked under the fence and made a dash for the river were a boat awaited to take them to Thailand. As they were running they could hear guards yelling that someone escaped and running as fast as they can my mother's foot got caught in quicksand. My dad looked at her and knew helping her would only slow they family down and rise the chance of everyone getting caught...however my dad could not leave his true love behind and helped her out of the quicksand. The thought of raising his children without his soulmate was something he could not bare, my father would have rather died by my mother's side. Soon thereafter they got on the boat and barely made it across the river to Thailand. Now thats true love mother effers!

My family was in a refugee camp in Thai, awaiting for a country to sponsor them into their country. My parents were hopeing Paris,France because they spoke french and a lot of their friends ended up there . Living in the slums of Thai my parents were very anxious to leave and try to create a new life for their families.....soon there after a church named St.Luke's in Billings,MT said they would sponsor a family and The Keutla family was next in line.......ok if your confused as why I go by Lukas Seely and Keutla.....its because Seely is my stage name which Seely is my middle name and its the first part of my dad's name and the last part of my moms name.....make sense now? Good glad your with me...if your not then you might not be smart enough to continue reading this story.

June 17th 1981, my family arrived in the USA! and soon after my family got a surprise...me Luke Seely Keutla, the first born in on US soil and they only one to have an American name. Yep im the youngest, the first citizen (I got a birth certificate to prove it, unlike someone unless we know) When my parents look at me they see freedom, a new life, and a little monkey who pooped a lot as an infant. To be continued.....