"Fully Furnished"

Furniture and décor choices differ vastly between cultures, so we’ve learned in our 4 years over here.  And we were reminded once again when we showed up in our rental house in Vientiane in September.  Backing up a bit, we looked at the house on a visit to Vientiane in June.  The day we arrived to take a peek, a group of monks was at the house performing a ceremony to rid the house of any bad spirits and welcome the good ones before a new family moved into it.  I took our arrival on the day of the monks’ ceremony as a sign of our destiny to land in this spacious house with a big garden, right in the area of town we wanted to be.  We didn’t actually see the orange robe clad monks doing anything ceremonial during our glance around as it was lunch time.  We looked around while they sat on the floor enjoying their sticky rice.  Apparently during a house blessing ceremony, the monks are then to watch a bit of TV and send some text messages, as that’s what they were doing by the time we were ready to go outside and talk to the landlord about renting the house.    I was happy to see the monks so comfortable and content in our perspective home-to-be as it made me feel as though they had contented the spirits and we’d be comfortable here too.  

And we are, now that our furniture has arrived from Bangkok and I’m sitting on my comfy custom-made sofa with my legs propped up on a bean bag.  Prior to our furniture arriving, however, we spent 3 long weeks using the furniture that came with the advertised “fully furnished” house.  Apparently the downstairs living room was meant for very formal tea parties among people with impeccable posture and the upstairs living room was designed for beach lounging (see photos below).  Not wanting to spend any unnecessary time on either the straight-backed, overly ornate wooden seating or the rattan loungers, I would retire to bed soon after putting the kids down during those few weeks.  As the mattress was like sleeping on the wood floor, however, it was not as nice to go to bed so early as it might have been (not to mention the fact that our 2-year-old was sleeping with us for those few weeks while we waited for his bed to arrive).  Could they have chosen any less comfortable furniture for this rental house?  Answer: No.  Thankfully we’ve obtained a house full of furniture since moving to Bangkok and it’s all here now for our enjoyment while the Lao furniture and lounge chairs sit snugly in the storage room.  Happy spirits and happy us. 

Small Business in Vientiane

Just a short post to get the blog rolling again as we have rolled onto life in Vientiane once again (after spending 2 years in ‘the big mango’ Bangkok).  After noticing a blue fruit truck at the top of our soi (street) the other day, thought it might be interesting to post about how small business owners get started. 

For a bit of background as to why I found this interesting, I work for a legal and tax advising firm (DFDL Mekong) which specializes in company formation, mainly for foreign investors seeking legal assistance with establishing project companies for mid to large size investments.  Is it paper and procedure intensive and takes months to get a company’s foreign investment license.  So I had to chuckle when I noticed a new “business” at the top of our soi.  Clearly the small “local” (i.e., Lao) business owners don’t need silly lawyers and company formation procedures and licenses to set up shop.  They just find a place that looks like a good place to set up shop … and they get to work.  When we arrived nearly 3 weeks ago, the top of our soi was just another corner without even any number or name marking our “street” (a gravel/dirt path).  Since last weekend, it’s home to a new fruit selling business apparently begun by a couple with a blue truck and some fruit to sell.  And that truck has been there every day since.  And there you have it – small local business owners and how they open up shop.  And we’ve enjoyed the pomelo, bananas, and coconut that they have to offer!

"Bacon Whom I Cremated"

Some time seeing the translate make the person laughing good

Howdya like that … after 4 years here, I can write in Engrish!  Ain’t no question that one of the most entertaining elements of life in Southeast Asia is reading signs/menus/instructions/documents written in an attempt at proper English gone wrong.  Some cause just a head shake, some a chuckle, and others gut-wrenching laughter.  Most of the time, the meaning can be gleaned from the attempt to convey a message.  Other times, however, the message is lost and leaves one wondering what on earth the writer meant ... like the menu item on my all-time favorite Engrish sign that we saw years ago in the Tokyo airport - "Bacon Whom I Cremated"???

Enjoy these photos of the bacon one and other funny signs & menus we’ve seen along the way.  I'll have to post contract/letter excerpts separately as I've seen some doozies, especially in legal documents! 

we ordered this one and the bacon looked nearly alive

"Probably the best" appears on a couple ads in Bangkok - sure makes you want to check the joint out huh?

no idea what this one is attempting to say and is a good indication of how this animal hospital runs from our experience with it

 

fabulous honey, you can finally get those frackles removed!

we ordered the moning glory but it didn't make a peep

appen dix pork sounds delicious

love me some galic been

very common to see instructions in lao bathrooms to not stand on the toilet

hmmm, wonder where they got the idea for this restaurant name

nice to see hard-working business people in vientiane

probably wouldn't go over well if motor-bikers wore ONLY their helmets

love these ones - they're all over vientiane

ok, thanks, glad we cleared that up

this one is gross and not really Engrish, but couldn't leave it off

The Thai Ice Cream Sandwich

Let’s get started with one of the funniest things to me: the Thai ice cream sandwich.  I love ice cream sandwiches … those Pet brand ones in the supermarket frozen section – the perfect proportion of dark chocolate cookie to not so great vanilla ice cream.  Oh, and growing up I used to also love the Carvel store ones – the big round chocolate chip cookies with loads of quality vanilla ice cream in between.  To me, the “sandwich” means ice cream as the “meat” between some type of cookie as the “bread”.  In Thailand, the sandwich means not so great vanilla ice cream as the “meat” scooped onto a hot dog bun as the “bread”, then topped with – no, not yummy chocolate syrup  or gooey caramel topping – sweetened, condensed milk, like many other food items here.  They love them some sweetened, condensed milk and evaporated milk.  In tea, in coffee, on street vendor “pancakes” (which are like crepes and deserve recognition as a whole other blog topic they’re so delicious).

Here is a Thai man leaning back and enjoying his ice cream sandwich ….

It's worth noting that while said Thai man is leaning back next to the ice cream vendor and enjoying his dessert, the red shirt protests were taking place right across the street ... a point realized when I looked back to find this photo and found this one of the red shirt barricade next to it in my files ...

I couldn't resist of course, so without further ado, here is a photo of the one Thai ice cream sandwich that I tried being made and then tried by me …

 (notice the string of sausages on the cart next to the ice cream man ... no shortage of delicacies on Bangkok streets)

 

(this one I took more for the long, black pinky nail than the ice cream sandwich, but nice to see the final product (subnote: the long pinky nail is a whole other blog topic))

 Verdict: I LOVE Thai food …. LOVE LOVE LOVE Thai food … to the exclusion of most  American food … but I think I’ll go with the good ol’ US of A on ice cream sandwiches.

What's it like living over there?

In September 2007, Chris and I moved to Vientiane, Laos to take advantage of an opportunity to work and live overseas.  We lived in Vientiane until October 2009 and then moved to Bangkok, Thailand.  In just one month, we’re packing up and heading back to Vientiane for job opportunities.  While not looking forward to the move itself, we are optimistic about the return to a smaller (actually, tiny) city and the return to a slower pace – both positives while we have such young kiddies.

During our trip to the U.S. in April 2011, several friends and family members asked:  

(1) “So, what’s it like living over there?” and

(2) “When are you moving back to the U.S.?” 

Here goes my attempt to answer the first question more completely than: “it’s different”, as well as my attempt to convey why the answer to the second question is: “not any time soon”.  Hoping this makes for informative and sometimes entertaining reading.