MANis and Pedis...with the emphasis on MAN

The facts of the blog posting below are mostly correct. Just two small quibbles:

1) I was not cringing; I was just lamenting the loss of my masculinity.

2) The price of the haircut is closer to $1.70. Two dollars is just absurd to pay for a haircut.

Let it never be said I am not a good sport. However, even if my fingernails look pretty good, I can assure you I will never forget the Economist ever again.

Manis and Pedis

Neal has found this great place, called Holiday, to get his hair cut. There are so many wonderful things about Holiday but Neal's favorite is that the hair cut and head massage costs under 2.00 dollars (no I did not forget a zero in the price). We have gotten into a bit of a routine, Neal gets his cut then reads the Economist while I get my nails done. The perfect way to spend an hour if you ask me.

This weekend after Neal's hair cut he realized he forgot his Economist. I took it has my chance to finally get his cuticles under control. With the help of numerous Holiday ladies I strongly encourage him to get his first of hopefully many manis and pedis. I might add it is fairly common for Asian men to get their nails done, the Holiday ladies only thought it was weird he needed so much encouragement. Mid-way through Neal's mani I looked over at him and he was cringing and looked like he was in a bit of pain. So I ask if she was hurting him and his response was "Come on Beth I played football". I had to laugh, to think of his high school football friends seeing him get a mani and pedi.

I have a strong feeling I might have seen Neal's first and only mani and pedi, so I took pictures for future enjoyment.

If you were wondering our total bill with tip was just under 8.00 dollars.

Hot off the Press

Lots of Big News from Laos lately. Here is a sampling.

Communism in Laos?

Vang Pao

Chinese Influence in Laos

Drugs in Laos

Luang Prabang

There was also news coverage of the blood drive the Embassy organized to commemorate September 11th. Almost 50 Embassy employees went to the Lao Red Cross and donated 350cc of blood. It was faster than donating in the U.S., didn't hurt as much, and they give you a t-shirt that says "We Can Do!" in addition to the free juice and cookies. Unfortunately the New York Times didn't pick up the article that appeared in the Vientiane Times.

The Venice of Southeast Asia

Yesterday, during a brief rainstorm, we visited the Lao National Museum. The museum is in the building that used to be the French governor's residence and traces the history of Laos from the dinosaur bones found in Laos to the development successes of the post-1975 government. The history of Laos is basically a struggle against invaders (Burmese, Thai, French, and American) and there are paintings and photographs showing the resistance of the Lao people. One of our guidebooks says the rhetoric of the exhibit "has been toned down from the old days, when photographic descriptions would refer to the 'running dog imperialist' (Americans)." Based on our visit I would say that is true. The Americans are still called "imperialists" but they place more polite adjectives in front of that description.

During our visit, we learned that Vientiane had a series of canals and sewers as far back as the 11h century. There are still an abundance of canals in the city which got us thinking, "Is Vientiane the Venice of Southeast Asia?" So, based on our Sunday morning bike ride, we present our photographic argument.

No gondolas but we do have tuk tuks.

Fishing on the canal

The Lao Garden

Our first day in Laos, Beth joined some of the members of the Women's International Group for a tour of the Beer Lao factory. After the tour, the group went to the Lao Garden restaurant for lunch. Even though we drive past the restaurant almost every day we had never been back to eat there because it just seemed like another Lao food restaurant on the river. On a whim we went there recently and were surprised at what we found. It certainly is not just another restaurant and has much more than the view from the road would suggest. The interior is huge, it could probably hold several hundred diners. The staff is overly attentive because while we were there the staff outnumbered the diners by about 4 to 1. The Lao food is good, spicy and more exotic than you would find at other restaurants (I had deer curry). The sunset was spectacular...And then, just when we thought it couldn't possibly get any better, a man and woman started playing acoustic guitars on the small stage next to the river so we ended the night hearing a cover of a Norah Jones song.