Ah! I’m getting drunk.

 On the 42nd day of my trip to Laos, 

ah! I got drunk ~

※ Today I walked 24 km from Ta Hua to Vang Vieng.

 After spending the night in Tah’a, it was already 6 a.m., after an unexpected trip in the mountains for several days, and we were starting our day on Ju Island, first, ‘Tah’a’ literally translates to‘a place where you are waiting for a boat’.

 If you take a boat from here, you can go to and from the large and small villages hidden in the foothills of the large Namrum Lake. And to elaborate on the Namrum Lake connected to Tahua, The Namrum Lake is the largest in Laos.

 It is a multi-purpose artificial freshwaterlake on a huge  scale like China’s Three Gorges Dam, which is famous all over the world, and to put it more plainly, Soyang Lake, the largest artificial lake in Korea, was said to be the largest in Asia until a few years ago.  

 When this Namreum was built, it had no choice but to give its place to the Namreum, which is 11 times the size of So yang Lake, so you can only guess how enormous its size is.

 It seems to be another vivid scene of human triumph where you can see the tenacity of human beings who have created the sea for Laos, which has no sea, but more importantly, it is surprising that this dam was built by Korean technology and LG E&C.

 It must have been an exciting fact that made me feel proud and proud to be Korean. At any rate, after a few days of unexpected mountain journey, I left behind Lake Namreum, which needs no further explanation, to a lake of such great size and majesty, indeed like an ocean,

 I came out onto a road that smelled of people, and I was walking again, and I was told that the central part of Laos ends and continues into the north, bordering on this lake, and here Tahua is just a stone’s throw from Vang Vieng, another gateway to northern Laos.

 Vang Vieng has beautiful mountains and valleys, making it a must-see destination for many foreign tourists visiting Laos, and it can be said that cave exploration and trekking are not to be missed.

 Activities such as kayaking and ziplining are among the most exciting places in Laos. Now, with Vang Vieng just a short distance away, we were heading for a distance not too far away, and even the asphalt road was flat.

 I was walking with a slightly leisurely pace and enjoying the surrounding scenery. So, things that I hadn’t noticed before started to come into view, one by one, and before I knew it, my trip to Laos was going through the south and the center, and then into the north.

 In fact, when I came to the northern part of Vientienne State after passing through Borikamsay, I could see that the form of Laotian dwellings had changed a little compared to the houses in the south. Most of the houses in the south have a lot of space off the ground.

 I saw that the living space was protected from the humidity of the long rainy season and that the use of space was diversified on a regular basis, but the houses in the north were almost attached to the ground, and there was no space, just like the thatched houses in Korea in the past.

 We also saw that the people had changed a lot, and while it used to be the area of the Lao Tungs, the farther north you go from this area, the more you can see the most diverse Lao Sung people living among the three major ethnic groups of Laos (Lao Lum, Lao Tung, and Lao Sung).

 At the beginning of this trip, according to the report of the Lao folklorists’ ethnic minorities, according to the ethnic composition of Laotos, which I briefly explained in Attap, Laos is made up of 68 ethnic minorities, but rather than its complexity,

 The Lao government categorizes them into three main ethnic groups. Lao Lum (people who live an agricultural life in low-lying areas below 400 meters above sea level), Lao Tong (people who live an agricultural and hunting life in areas above 400~800 meters above sea level), Lao Sung (people who live mainly in areas above 1.000 meters above sea level),

 I think it would be good to understand that they are categorized into places and ways of living, so even briefly at these areas that we are passing through now, we can clearly see that they are the areas of the Lao Sung.

 In addition to the fact that their clothes and hairstyles are distinctive, they don’t speak standard Lao, they speak their own language, and I know a little bit of Lao.

 I could only understand the accent and sounds that were close to Chinese, so if they only spoke their own language, I would not be able to understand them at all, let alone the other Laotians. In particular, they cultivate fields and dig up medicinal herbs,

 And they live in the highlands while hunting, and to my surprise, the Hmong among the Lao Sung, I couldn’t help but admire the fact that they were so similar to our Korean people, from the appearance of their facial features to the Mongolian spots on the buttocks of children.

 Also, if you look at the tools of daily that these people use, you will see a mortar, a millstone. Heights were common in our farming villages in the past, so I couldn’t help but be amazed, and the glances and expressions I met made me feel more familiar and comfortable.

 Thinking about what we have in common with each other as our future homework, I couldn’t hide my interest and hurried onmy way, arriving in Vang Vieng around 3 p.m. as expected, and being impressedby the beauty of another beautiful nature.

 I was happy to shake hands with Vang Vieng. Of course, I’ve been there a few times before, so the beauty isn’t the first time I’ve seen it, but how beautiful it is, it’s new, because the pain in my shoulder from the accident in Saisombun isn’t completely healed yet.

 I had already soaked up the atmosphere of Vang Vieng for at least a few days, and I had decided to take a break, so I was free to undress and rest early. So I got a bungalow by the river, and as a highlight of the day, I prepared for it as I walked.

 I was in a hurry to have my own surprise party, first I gathered up a tree branch and started a fire, then I picked up a slightly wider stone on top of it and heated it, and then I started grilling the pork (one kilogram of ribs) that I had prepared in advance.

 Of course, if I don’t have a cup of Lao Lao (Lao soju with an alcohol content of 40% or more), I’m sure I’m insulting the beautiful mountains and rivers that are with me right now.

 Before you know it, the smell of the plump is at its peak, and while enjoying the little abundance for the first time in a long time, the two of you are eating it, and you are immersed in the sizzling clamor of leisure of pork rib meat, accompanied by a piece of well-cooked meat.

 First, I toasted to the nightmare of Saisomboon, who seemed to have died and come back to life a few days ago, and hummed a song as if he had been immersed in a little richness for the first time in a long time.

 And when I took out my travel notes and looked at the roads I had walked, I already had a new feeling.

 As the meaning of the drink became more seasoned, the ribs tasted more delicious, and in the notes, the morning sun slid through the mist on the huge surface of the water, and the nostalgia of Asurai was calling out to me as if it were screaming.

 The lingering thoughts of my life, a phrase that floated out of the water, seemed too much to dare to sing Arirang alone, as if I were a poet, just a simple complaint.

 Great Lesser Great Lake………..

Even if you stay still, the wind blows

Even the calm lake ripples when the wind blows,

 Thunderstorms in the dry sky

 Of course it rains in life.

Life history is not a big deal

 If you take a break, the rain will stop.

A casual world like a horse-to-horse sword-teller

In retrospect,

Never am I committing

 All my things I wanted.

Still, because I came here with difficulty,

I was able to climb the military peak.

Still, because I came here with all my hard work

I was able to catch a great lake.

Anyway, because I ‘m here

I was able to tell that it was a dwarf.

 In the midst of all kinds of harassment and trouble.

Did you fall into it yourself?

Now take out the greedy guy who is going to
be in a recession

Finally, washed away on the waves,

If you have this one cup, this is heaven,

I’m the Emperor……

 Whirlwinds of Worthless Blessings

 I take it out with just a smile in the breeze

Struggling with all the  troubles.

Living is just a beautiful thing

Just get drunk with this drink!

 Drop the petals on the surface of the water like that

 A life that flows with laughter……

Now I put a story in a floating cloud

I send all my troubles away.

My child, the mountain is smiling along with you!

I got drunk for a while, and I threw a few drunken words into the river, but I didn’t know that in a world where good and evil coexist, everything depends on my will, and the reality I am given is with me with tremendous consequences.

 My life was all that I had committed and wanted, and that it was only because I came here that I was able to climb a high mountain, because I came here, that I could fish for the Great Lake, and that I could know that I was a dwarf because I came here.

 Looking back, I don’t think it’s a big deal in the history of life, if I have a cup of wine today, this is heaven, I’m the king, I’m dragged around by greed, how did I bring all kinds of harassment and trouble upon myself, Even if I stay still, the wind blows, and  the calm lake ripples when the wind blows,

 Thunderstorms spree in dry skies, and it rains in life, and yet when it rains, I must take refuge for a while, and I have to wander in the rain with an umbrella for what kind of riches I have.

 I wonder if the rain would have escaped my body if I used an umbrella, and I was foolishly already drenched in the flesh to say that I was so empty, so who would be a fool if I wasn’t a fool? I just regret that I didn’t live like the stones, the water, and the wind.

 Who are you going to blame now, and what are you to blame? Oh! Takes~