A small town in Laos celebrates the festival
People are singing and dancing
In January 2024, the day after I went to the remote Lao town of Muang A to look for logging elephants, I heard that the elephants had not come out to work for the past few days. According to the information I have, I want to go to the house to find the elephant. It's about a few kilometers by foot.
On the way, I met a Chinese from Fujian, who contracted land to grow beans in Laos, 400 acres of land, only planted one stubble in winter, and no longer planted in summer, and specially exported to China.
I didn't find the elephant's house for a long time, so I went back to the town, just in time for the locals to celebrate the festival, singing and dancing to eat and drink, very lively. I asked, what are they doing? They pulled me to sit down and poured me a drink, and they were very welcoming.
I didn't drink a single drink, but I couldn't refuse in the face of the enthusiastic Laotians, so I did it.
I did several in a row, and it was all for nothing. After three rounds of drinking, they invited me to dance again. I'm one of those who have incomplete pentatonic limbs and stiff limbs. Dancing awkwardly in the crowd, others are not embarrassed, I am already embarrassed.
One of the eldest sisters was very enthusiastic and kept pulling me to dance, and another eldest sister came up and drank a glass of wine with me.
Although we didn't speak the same language, we could feel their warmth and smiles from the heart. Although the per capita salary in Laos is only a few hundred yuan, I feel that they are very happy and happy.
I couldn't eat and drink for nothing, so I bought them two watermelons. The watermelons sold in this town are not weighed, they are sold by one, and the size is about the same, one is 30,000 kip, and two are 20 yuan.
Later, I was called to a restaurant to drink and skewers, and I spent another 180,000 kip or 60 yuan. Although I didn't find a logging elephant, I was happy to be able to participate in the local festival.