After a brief re-fueling stop at a village along the river (an 11 year-old boy brings an uncapped 1-liter pepsi bottle of red-colored fuel to the boatman who pours some in his engine and gives the boy a 1 liter water bottle and some money in exchange), we arrive in Pakse and it is a 7000 Kip tuk-tuk ride to the bus station and I do not know the timetable to Vietnam, so I decide to stay a few days in Pakse. Norman walks me to my guesthouse, Sabaidy 2, same as the one I stayed at in Vientiane. It is clean and quiet by my standards and $1.80/night for a dorm room with a fan, so I am happy. There is a sign on the wall that if you go to Wat Luang around the corner and ask for Monk Neuang, you can help with his english class and have a great experience! 5:30, I rush to take a shower and begin walking that direction.
On the way, I meet a typically thin, beautiful, long haired girl walking with her mother. She greets me and walks very close, eager to practice her english. She looks about 12 or 14 to me, but says she is 16. Her name is Tyna and she invites me to see her home. Just around the corner, her family runs an open front mini-mart shop and they pour me a glass of ice water. We sit togther across a 2' tall table on 1' tall plastic chairs and talk about boyfriends and what a waste of time they are, what she is studying, what she does for fun, where I have traveled, what she will make for dinner (as she does the cooking for the family). The mother asks through her daughter if I have had dinner, and I have not, but she does not directly invite me to stay, so I decide to continue on to the temple to try to find the monk and his english class. I give Tyna my e-mail and she gives me hers. One of many contacts quickly made. Only time will tell which will be kept and which lost...
Arriving at the Wat 20 minutes late, I ask for Monk Neuang and discover he has gone home for the night. A young Laos man at a table full of novices invites me to join and practice english with him. He just turned 18 two days ago and is taking a 1 month break before transitioning from novice to monk. He loves to study and hopes to travel to america someday. It is interesting to me that he is more interested in speaking than in hearing me speak (I am forever the listener!), though he asks me to sing a song. I choose Simon and Garfunkel's Sound of Silence for some reason and everyone listens with rapt attention. A bit shy, but also enjoying the spotlight again, I sing just one verse.
A bit more conversation and my tummy grumbles. I excuse myself and head off to find some sticky rice and the internet. He invites me to come back tomorrow night--maybe Monk Neuang will be back? He is planning a visit to California to study Buddhism there, so it would be good for us to meet. My friend Kel also invites me to come early to hear evening prayers and I am excited at the prospect. We part company with smiles.
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