Vientiane Day 43. It is a small world after all

Me : So you're from Normandy right?

Yubi: Yes.And where in Jakarta are you from?

Me : The south.

Yubi:Which part?

Me : Near Plaza Senayan.

Yubi: Aah..Kebayoran Baru?

Me : Yes.you know the area?

Yubi: Jalan Hanglekir....

Me  : What??

Yubi: Jalan Hanglekir delapan or Hanglekir tujuh. I can't remember...

Me : My house is at Hanglekir delapan.

Yubi: My office was there. I stayed there on weekends from February to April last year when I'm not on the field. It might have been Hanglekir tujuh.

Me : Do you remember there's this house that tries to look like Ghaudy with ugly dragon head sticking out of it's gate? I always pretend the dragon tries to eat my head.

Yubi : Yes, that's the street. My office is accross this big house with palm trees on the corner.

Me : That's the street where I live. We were probably 50 meters away from each other at some point.  

Yubi: Yeah. I must have passed by your house many times.

Me : Ha.what a small world.

And then he sent me a pix of his office. A house 5 doors down from my home.It's a tiny planet after all.

Jedi Camilla met her match

After roaming the galaxy for decades, Jedi Camilla met her match up in a northern Thailand town called Mae Sot. One evening after fighting for justice to the human kind, Jedi Camilla met the perfect compatriot for her crusade : The Firesaber Warrior. 

Je suis une Jedi

WISHFUL THINGKING JEDI WAS.

Firesaber Warrior is actually a circus performer from SPARK! Circus.A group of international volunteer circus performers who come together to entertain disadvantaged children (And NGO workers) in refugee camps, migrant schools, hospitals and orphanages along the Thai Burmese border. Their fire shows were awesome.

What was I doing at the border? It was for work. Check out more photos on my Facebook

When I met a group of Burmese migrants involved in Financial literacy training that UN Women Singapore funded through Project Inspire, I realized that our national motto of 'Unity in Diversity' is not a total bullcrap. The ethnic minority in Burma fled the country because they are intimidated by the authority, ousted from their village or simply had to leave to make some living. In Thailand, many of them live in the dump, constantly in risk being arrested by the Thai police and thrown back into Burma due to the absence of legal documents(how do you process documents in these circumstances?). Where again, they will be opressed and likely forced to leave their home.again. 
Dating back since the colonial times, the ethnic communities have lived segregated lives, speak different languages (and not necessarily speak the national language either) and bind by different rules and policies. 
If your ethnic group defines your rights, Indonesia and its over 300 ethnic groups will be a big messy country. Well, we are one big mess right now. But at least we speak one language and my family and friends were never forced to leave their homes because we're not from the 'right' ethnic group.
I guess pledging Sumpah Pemuda and Bhineka Tunggal Ika are some of the smartest things that our previous leaders ever did.



  

Vientiane Day 37. Camilla's Country Development Index

Just like the UN and the Millenium Development Goals, I too have developed a set of country development indicators. I measure:

1. The availability of good quality tampons at reasonable price.

Period is a messy business when you don't have a good measure. Many girls in Africa miss at least 7 days of school in a month because they don't have proper sanitary pads, if at all.

Women should always have the options. Wings, maxi, light flow, heavy flow, over night, regular absorbency or super absorbency. It is our basic rights as consumers. Tell that to supermarkets in Lao. They only carry lame tampon brands, without applicators. And I'm not putting anything lame inside me. I'd rather fly to Thailand to stock up. Which I did. Well, I actually flew there for a meeting. But I make visit to Boots a highlight of the trip. I'm now well absorbed till end of April.

That's the plane I took for tampon shopping.

2. The quality of the local KFC chicken.

It's the first junk food I ever ate. So full of memories, just like home. KFC chicken in the Middle East is the best, it's huge - over the top. Just like everything there. KFC China is too oily. Singapore is rather dry, because the meat is frozen and imported.But I love the breakfast menu.

If there isn't any KFC outlet, that country better have beautiful beaches, mountains, great bakeries and lots of good looking people to make it up. I forgive you Laos.

KFC breakfast waffle. LOVE.

3. The number of people who recognize these images

 

I'm an addict. I'm just offended if people don't recognize my life lines.

4. The quality of the aerobridge

Aerobridge is the first thing that greets you when you landed in a country. If it shows any sign that it will cause you harm instead of getting you safe to the next destination, you must be in a LDC. Or that place should be in the list. If it's one of those airports where you step off an international flight uncovered then you climb 2 sets of stairs to get to the terminal, then you must be on your way to visit me in Vientiane. 

Vientiane Day 32. I did the nasty.

I ate this today. Roasted.

Apparently roasted honey comb is a popular food in Laos. I took a piece when my colleague offered, saying that it is sweet. Well, you think the place where the bees put all the honey will be sweet, right. WRONG. It's savoury, bordering salty and nasty. Partly because the dead baby bees are trapped inside the combs when it's put on fire.

 If you se the dark-ish color inside the combs - that's where dead babies are. Some of them are in my stomach, in form of unidentified mashed.

30 Days of Vientiane.

Happy Valentine's Day. I went to a beautiful spot in Vientiane with the whole UN Communications group.very romantic. The whole day meeting isn't. But the place is.

Vientiane Day 28. La Chandeleur

A thing that I like about the French, they have a festival dedicated to eating crepes. LIKE.

La Chandeleur was actually celebrated on 2nd February, it is a feast to commemorate the purification of the Virgin Mary and the presentation of the baby Jesus. But since we went away for my birthday, we have a belated La Chandeleur and a small housewarming today. 

Crepes are easy to make. Flour, eggs, milk. That's all you need. The topping is where the magic happens. We had an impressive line-up today. Tuna, cream cheese, tomato, nutella, banana, mango, lemon, pineapple-orange-passion fruit jams, coffee & green tea Haagen Dazs....and the list goes on.

We're crepes over dosed.

Vientiane Day 27. See and be seen in VTE.

After four weeks being surrounded by fellow foreign workers and tourists whenever I hang out, I asked my friend, who's been here for over a year, where do the hip and happening Vientianese go. The canteen TV always screens Laotian pop music videos and they're not bad at all. So I want to see where the cool people on TV hang out in real life.


My friend Anf threw a farewell party last night, starting with dinner at "Moon the Night", a restaurant with a great sunset view and delicious local food, followed by a karaoke session and spontaneous decision to dance the night away at the "Marina" - a popular entertainment center where the Vientianese go to see and be seen. 


I spotted a modest use of hair products among the guys. Dark pants and long sleeve shirts seem to be the trend. The petite-figured Laotian girls flaunt it all in tight mini dress.And they're blond. Thai pop songs reign the music scene as well as Pitbull, Usher and the Oyo-yo dance number which I don't bother to search for the title.  Two butches was about to fight before the bouncer stepped in and pulled them apart. Drunk American tourist came on too strong to a pretty Laotian girl who doesn't speak English. And Anf break it down in his robot dance moves. All is good in VTE.

The best part was when the sprained-neck Sarah and I had to cycle 5km back home in the middle of the night.POSH.