Welcome to: LAOS

jeremiahcustis(72)

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This is the most beautiful country with the kindest and warmest people I have ever seen. It breaks my heart that the CIA cluster bombed this place more than all of the bombs from World War II combined. It was a secret war then (during the Vietnam War) and is still pretty much unknown of today.

This isn’t true for the around 300 men, women, and children who still die each year from unexploded ordinance or UXO. Obama came here late in his presidency and promised to increase funds and assistance, but Trump canceled that. If I were from Laos, I would hate American people and white people in general, but that’s not the case here. People are very friendly and understand what forgiveness is.

My Granddad was one of the pilots who dropped bombs here. I have mixed feelings about it because he is my favorite and most loved person I have ever met, while Laos 🇱🇦 is my favorite country and people. I grew up on his small general aviation airport in South Dakota in the 80s and 90s. Most of the mechanics and older staff there were Vietnam veterans too. Since I was a bastard, everyone did their part to give me some fatherly tips and advice.

I feel that I also have a spiritual connection to Laos. When I was 4 years old my mother bought me a pair of camouflage pants. I instantly saw myself as a man. A marine walking through the jungle then stepping on a landmine and dying. I may have just watched too many movies or it may have been a past life flashback. As a buddhist, I believe the latter. Plus my mom would not have let me watch any violent war films when I was that young. I also just have a strong sense of déjà vu here. It’s like this place is my true home.

I lived in Thailand for 18 years and have two kids. I sent them both to America before the age of 9, because as a linguist, I’ve noticed that no one is ever truly fluent in a language if they start after that age. Maybe I’m wrong. Do you have an example of someone becoming a truly native speaker at an older age? Speaking of languages, if you speak Thai like I do, than coming to Laos is a piece of cake. Everyone here watches Thai TV and likes Thai music, so Thai language is understood here. It took me only a month to read Lao and about a year to understand and speak it well. The rabbit hole of languages never ends though. Now that people see I can understand, when they want to gossip about me or talk without me understanding, they’ll use their local hill tribe dialect. It has nothing in common with Lao and is very difficult to learn and there are several different ones. I imagine it was like that in the old west when there were still many Native American tribes around.

The waterfalls here are amazing. You can swim in the cool water to cool off and the water is very clean. If you go to one of the more popular destinations, you’ll run into tourists, but there are still many lesser known spots where you could be alone all day.

Some of the temples here are up to 700 years old. I imagine if you had a time machine that they would look exactly like they do now. To be honest, I think they would have looked better in the past than they do now.

Laos was once a colony of France 🇫🇷, so they have a long history of cooking food the way westerners prefer. Hotels and restaurants here provide excellent service and do a nice job of mixing East and West. Prices are always very reasonable and no one expects tips, but they are appreciated.

There are many more things I could praise about Laos, but I don’t think it’s wise to mention them on this public blockchain. If you have any questions, my Facebook and other social media accounts are in my signature below and I’d be happy to tell you more. If you are looking for a great place to vacation or even move to, it would be hard to find a better place. I hope you visit soon!