All Work And No Play!

Yesterday was the culmination of the Boat Racing Festival. The point when the actually race boats, rather than getting hammered all the time. Although getting hammered is also a HUGE part of the whole thing.

We headed out early, and sat up high in the Bor Pen Nyang bar and resturant. From there we could see the womens boat racing. We spotted the International Womens Team, all in bright pink. Lorraine who'd got us the work with the CDEA was racing with them, as were many other women NGO workers. They came fourth, which would have been respectable, if only there hadn't only been four women's teams racing.

After that we shuffled down to the Sunset Bar, which was near the start of the racing. This place is a mad ramshackled bar that juts out into the Mekong at the strangest of angles. The whole place leans, and looks like some sort of house that would not look out of place in a Grimms fairy-tale. We stayed there a couple of hours, as we had a great view of the racing.

As we headed back to the main drag, where all the festivities were happening, we realise how packed the place had become. We had too shuffle slowly down the street with the sardine packed throng. It was hot, damn hot. So we decided to grab a afternoon nap back at the guest house. The whole of the area was full of very drunk Lao people, being the end of Buddhist Lent they really go for it.

Later on, after having to do some work for the Thursday meeting with Lotus, we hit the streets again. Not that we got far. We ended up back at a noodle bar we'd been in the night before, dragged in by Ka, another new Lao friend we have made.

So the night was spent drinking Lao Style with Ka and an sorted bunch of Lao men. Lao Style drinking involves lots of beer and one glass. The glass is passed around the table in turn. The idea of this being that it is social and everyone is the same. It also means you end up getting drunk very quickly, having to go at the same pace as everyone else.

The people we were drinking with were an interesting mix. Ka works for an NGO, as did one of the other men. To of them worked for the Lao Ministery For Foreign Affairs, in fact the main man at the tabel was the Minister for Foreign Affairs. He told us that if we had problems with our visa, to give him a ring. He was also the Director of Human Rights for the UNDP. They knew our boss Mr Khanthone, and were aware of the work of the CDEA. And there we all were, all the same, sat in a noodle bar, drinking Lao Style. Crazy stuff.

Anyway, today we were back at work. We had the meeting with Lotus, and they were very interested in the work we were doing with the CDEA. In fact they want us to write a proposal, and are seriously considering paying for us to stay in Lao for a year to support the CDEA and help them improve their standards. This hit us like a bolt out of the blue. We'd only been here a week, and now they were talking about paying us to stay a year. We did, if I do say so myself, give a really good presentation. I talked their heads off, and they were impressed with our knowledge seeing how we'd only been with the organisation a week.

So we will see. I keep using the phrase, I not holding my breath on this one. Once again I'm not. Things have been going far too well, maybe my lucky Buddha and the good karma is really on our side. We shall see!