Today, on our first day in Laos, we ate lunch at a brightly colored eatery that announced indelibly on a wooden sign that, yes, they had Nutella. We didn't want nutella at the moment, but it felt good to know that it was close at hand. The shop was called Magical Moments with Mr. Man. I saw no man there, just a few women of various ages. There was a half-nude boy, however, sleeping on the floor under a green lacey cover the same shape as the glass cover I used to protect sweaty cheese on hot days in Sweden. But this was Si Phan Don, Lao for "Four Thousand Islands", at the bottom of Laos, where the dolphin-filled Mekong pours into Cambodia.
We sat and looked around. Two cats with crooked tails ran past along the path. We later found out that almost all Indochinese cats have crooked tails, genetically produced. But at this moment, we were considering the cruelty of the sweet-natured Lao. "Do you think they slam their tails in special drawer ?" I asked. We glanced at the menu, usually a good source of laughs. Only some "sweat n sour" dishes stuck out, so Mr. Man clearly has better-than-average English. An ancient woman lay sprawled next to the half-nude boy. She was furiously rubbing something, presumably betel nut, across her reddened teeth and gums.
Finally, a younger woman took our order, and as we waited for our omelette and pumpkin curry soup to arrive, I had another look around. On the wall, there was an intriguing photo of an aging woman, perhaps the mother of the owner, or even the owner herself absent for the day. She had an expression that asked, "why are you doing this to me." Her hand stretched toward the camera lens, becoming about the size and shape of a dragon's claw. Squeezed between her forefinger and thumb was the largest grub I have ever seen, one that would make Pumba from the Lion King squeal with glee. The grub was 95% enormous abdomen, with a tiny head and beady glowing red eyes. I counted only four legs, two on each side, but I'm sure another two were hiding somewhere. "Why are you making do this ?" repeats grandma's sad eyes, as if the photographer just barked, " Eat it !".
What do you think that woman's doing? I ask to Pauline, who's still hypnotized by the photograph. "I don't know, maybe just grossing out tourists. But feeling guilty about it."
Crooked cats, sweat n sour, naked baby under green lace that suddenly throws off his cover and runs down the path, creepy photo on the wall featuring a grub, an old mouth stained with betel juice, and, when it finally came, great food : they all added up to this perfectly Lao moment that transformed the everyday into the dreamlike.
