Handful Of Throttle: Party in Phou Khoun

By Sanne

When we rode into Phou Khoun - a small town in the mountains of Northern Laos - we passed a party by the side of the road where music was pumping and people were dancing like crazy! We were quite intrigued so after checking into a guesthouse we went for a walk up to the party to see what was going on. A guy came up to us and with his limited English invited us to join the party. It was more like: "Come. Drink Beer Lao!" So we went and from that point on we were passed Beer Lao in copious amounts. It wasn't long before local guys and girls came up and pulled us out onto the dance floor. People were dancing like there was no tomorrow. Even Mark, who doesn't usually dance, couldn't say no and danced with I think every single woman there, young and old they all wanted a piece of him! At one stage I even had a baby thrust into my arms to dance with (for some reason Asians love to hand you their babies). We're still not sure what the party was for exactly, the guy there with the most English, Pik (I swear that's his name, only Danes will find that funny) explained something about it being held once a year and also something to do with a house being built. It didn't really matter either way as we seemed to have become the centre of attention. People were all over us like they were our best friends. We barely had a free moment to catch our breath before we pulled out onto the dance floor again. At one point I looked over and this guy was gyrating up against Mark like a pole dancer; seeing Mark's surprised look upon realising that he had become the pole was pure gold!

Lots of cute little kids were hanging around too. Like ALL kids they were of course fascinated by Mark's dreads and ears. There was a row of about 7 children who put up chairs behind him and just sat and stared at this Alien. Once in a while a kid would gather enough courage to get up and gently touch a dreadlock. Very funny and very cute :)

Had an awesome night. Laos people sure can party.

The party