![\"bvong_pix_laos_jia_3.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/bvong_pix_laos_jia_3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Another morning in Phonsavanh, Xieng Khouang, another trip to the noodle shop.\u00a0 When I stepped out of the hotel today, the boys were busy sweeping the concrete.\u00a0 It was more like creating a dust storm though, as they seemed more interested in playing than earning morning rice or bread that the hotel owner would give them.<\/p>\n
I gave the boys 2 copies of their portrait from the other night, and one of them would nonsensically fling a print into the air and let it spin down to the ground.\u00a0 The other boy kept his photo stashed inside his pants, since he lacked pockets.\u00a0 Their photographs were already dirty, stained by their fingers and dirt and grime.\u00a0 The sandals that CK bought him just days before already seemed dirty beyond repair.\u00a0 Today they asked me if I could buy them some pants and bags for school, which they hoped to attend next month.\u00a0 I told them, \u201cBig brother spent all of his money the other day.\u201d\u00a0 It was a little lie of course, but most would have done the same.<\/p>\n
Thuy ran off in the distance and came back with a little friend, his younger sister, who was eating rice and vegetables out of a plastic bag.\u00a0 When I approached the family to talk to them, it was yet another heartfelt story.\u00a0 His mother looked quite old, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she was not much \u201colder\u201d than me.\u00a0 Back in the states, it quite honestly hurts, that some people incessantly points out my age and how it relates to my likes, opinions and life.\u00a0 They say I’m old, because I live in such a youth oriented culture.\u00a0 But those American kids, they haven’t seen the people over here.\u00a0 I’ve met some people younger than me, but the years and sun and life experiences have just worn them down.<\/p>\n
Thuy’s mother told me how she had no parents as well, and made the trek to settle in Phonsavanh.\u00a0 Her daughter Yeuh Yha suffered from a cough, lingering for about 3 months, which leads me to think it was bronchitis.\u00a0 Being too poor to afford a luxury such as medicine, the family has just allowed her cough to continue and hopes that it will naturally go away.\u00a0 With her \u201cHip Hop\u201d sock hat (clearly a throw away from our own culture) Yeuh Yha just seemed so wise and aware about her little life and situation.<\/p>\n
VV, CK, ST, and PU all unearthed their inner \u201cmom\u201d and took turns spoon feeding the rice porridge to the little girl, who knew how to \u201cknope\u201d to say thank you.\u00a0 Even if all this is still a ruse, fabrication, or fiction, she wasn’t the one that created the world she was born in, and this was probably the best $1.25 we spent on this trip.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Another morning in Phonsavanh, Xieng Khouang, another trip to the noodle shop.\u00a0 When I stepped out of the hotel today, the boys were busy sweeping the concrete.\u00a0 It was more like creating a dust storm though, as they seemed more interested in playing than earning morning rice or bread that the hotel owner would give […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11348,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,59,7,260],"tags":[58,62],"class_list":{"0":"post-1074","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-lao-culture","8":"category-laos-trip","9":"category-photos","10":"category-writing","11":"tag-laos","12":"tag-xieng-khouang","14":"post-with-thumbnail","15":"post-with-thumbnail-large"},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t