Whatever expectations I had of this trip, it did not include doing the Macarena in a Phnom Penh riverfront nightclub with my Laotian and Cambodian colleagues. The organization I'm volunteering for, DDD, is having its board meeting this weekend, so a bunch of the Laotian managerial staff is in town, and they instigated the idea of everyone going out clubbing after dinner. About twenty people ended up at a dance club that could've been anywhere, really, except that beers were$2 apiece. About half the crowd from DDD were expats and half were Laotians and Cambodians, and at one point I was the only expat on the dance floor with about six Laotian women doing the Macarena. I joined in, quite badly, but judging from the reaction, I think I provided good comic relief.
In the car home, I cramped myself into the front seat and five people stuffed themselves in the back. After the subject turned to Karaoke, I found myself being taught a Laotian song, in Laos, by a very drunk Laotian project manager, who was impressed enough by my abilities that she quickly graduated me to Laotian tongue twisters. I didn't do so well on those. I had her try English tongue twisters ("Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers"), which she did fine on, and then graduated her to French ones ("If these six sausages are six pence, it's too much"). They of course made me try a Laotian one ("When I stick a sweet potato in my mouth it sticks to my gums").
All in all, a promising harbinger of my stay in Vientiane.
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