Thanks for your comment. It seems as though you have a lot of experience traveling in Southeast Asia and I appreciate you sharing your perspective.

I understand that Laos is a poor country- the sentence about “no cell phone towers, blinking airplanes, ect.” was intended to emphasize the contrast between the setting I was in and developed world I come from.

I heard A LOT of Thai pop in Laos (especially this one song that had a refrain in English that went “You, Y.O.U, only you”), but was never awoken at 5 am by it. The roosters did that. Or my homestay mother, who was adamant about my almsgiving every morning. But this was just my experience, and I’ve only visited the country once, and it is highly probable that different person would have a different experience in the same country.

I see your point about my judging the country. I guess it is sort of hard to make no judgments whatsoever when you travel to a place that, on the surface, is completely different from anything you’ve ever experienced before (new language, new food, new traffic laws or lack thereof ect.). I don’t necessarily think Lao people are more spiritual or quiet or peaceful than anybody else- I had my fair share of interactions with loud Laotians too- I guess what struck me was how the setting I was in, which happened to be in rural Laos (and, yes, I could experience that same setting in another country) was so conducive to calmness.

I agree that it is pretty impossible to paraphrase culture and I would be an idiot if I claimed to fully understand Lao culture. I don’t. But by attempting to learn about life/lifestyle/culture in a foreign country I am better able to re-evaluate my own life/lifestyle/culture (even if my perception of a place, as you suggest, differs from what is actually there). That’s ultimately what this piece is supposed to be about- an experience I had abroad that led me to question how I choose to live my life- certainly not magic paths to peace and happiness! (Though, if I find one, I’ll let you know ) .
Anyways, thanks again for your comment.
-Anna

I was with the author of this essay for 7 weeks in Laos, though, and our exposure to Buddhism wasn’t nebulous – we lived it every day. In home-stays we weren’t woken up at 5 am by Thai pop, but Anna’s host family did make sure she was awake at 5 every morning to give alms. Nick, the trekking guide, had been a monk, like most Lao men.

Sure, Buddhism is some thing people think, but in Laos it’s also something people live – as tangible as hot sticky rice in an alms bowl.

There is no magic path, that’s true, but I think you would agree that travel in Laos, especially as a young adult, can lead to some pretty powerful insights about ourselves, and our place in the world.

Maybe you could go to the middle of the woods anywhere and get the same sense of peace; Anna just happened to be in Laos when she found her peace.

Also, dude, Lao people are noisy as hell. I know I know, I’m not supposed to generalize about entire populations, but man, how many times were you awoken at 5am by extremely loud Thai pop? How many times did you go into an internet cafe where every single set of speakers was on full volume? Did you stay in a hotel with any Lao guests? If you did, somebody was probably up and yelling all night.

I don’t know nearly enough about Laos to speculate on why this is, but I’ve been there three times and I’m pretty confident in saying that it’s far more common than in any of the surrounding countries. I was in Laos a month ago and took a nightbus run by three teenagers on a ton of amphetamines, who kept the music on and danced through the aisles for eleven hours straight. I wasn’t going to be the lone white dude on the bus telling them to shut the hell up, but around hour four I started wondering why no one else was. I asked around and, turns out, even though nobody could sleep it just “wasn’t a problem.”

Whatever, it’s Laos. The system clearly works with or around this oddity (well, as well as anything in Laos works), and though it makes me want to bang my head on a big piece of American UXO I can’t walk into the place and immediately start judging it.

But that’s kind of what you’re doing by ascribing peace and solitude to some sort of nebulous concept of “Buddhism.” I mean, I know you had a guide explain it to you and all, but he’s one guy among millions. Lao people are just like anybody else – some of them are more spiritual, peaceful and well-balanced than others. On top of that, “It’s a Buddhist thing” is kind of like saying, “It’s for good luck” – it’s something Asians tell foreigners because it’s impossible to paraphrase culture (not to mention the fact that people are terrible at analyzing their own situations).

Yeah, America sucks and Americans are annoying. I know, believe me. But Lao people’s conversation tends towards the inane, too – in fact, everybody’s does. Buddhist philosophy certainly has some wonderful qualities but it’s not a magic path to peace and happiness. It’s just a thing some people think, like all the other things that everbody else in the world thinks.