Some days (most days) things can be a bit confusing at work. I often tune out to the chatter in the office as I don't understand most of it (I tune back in when I hear my name - kind of like a dog pretend-sleeping on the kitchen floor). Often I am slaving away over a hot keyboard when the clock hits 11.23am and the cry goes up "eat lunch!". The other day it wasn't until 11.25am (I'm not exaggerating - I check my watch each time as a part of my own personal unofficial active research project) and the call across the floor was something about going to eat LARP.
Larp is something special. It's the Laos "national dish". Describing it as a cold meat salad just doesn't do it justice. There's always a lot of mint, lime juice, fish sauce, often coriander, usually a few too many chillies, shallots and in some cases the parts of animals that would otherwise not make it onto Masterchef.
Eaten by hand with balls of sticky rice, washed down by icy cold beer - mmmmm - heaven on a plate (and in a glass).
I love that the Lao word for "mint" translates to "vegetable good scent larp" or, more grammatically correct "the herb that makes the larp smell good" (not an official interpretation but close enough).
A plate full of goodly tastiness - A Whole Lotta Larp
So, back to 11.25 at the office... where the call had just gone up for larp...
I said thanks but no thanks because I brought my lunch today (a rare occurrence, admittedly). Confusion reigned. "No" was not the right answer. Eventually I realised we were all going out for larp. No choice. And not just everyday old larp, but DUCK larp. Wow! Duck larp. Somehow that meant something. I feigned excitement and gave in.
I had to check - are we going in the car? (thinking perhaps someone had brought food to the office-cum-kitchen downstairs) Yes! Everyone is going in the car. OK. So here we go for another training department lunch. I clicked "save" and grabbed my bag...
Downstairs I realised we really were ALL going in the car. The Federation's minibus had already done a couple of trips and was pretty much full again when we got to it. We crammed in. I counted 18 blue-shirt clad employees (Monday is blue shirt day) plus one with a purple cardy (it WAS below 32 that day so she was probably cold). So... not just the training section then?
18 of us in a 12-seater
On the way I tried to find out what the occasion was. Not that Lao people NEED a reason to party and drink beer in the middle of the work day. But I assumed something was up. I asked. I was told. I still didn't really get it. Someone had a card and so we wouldn't have to pay? That's what I think I was told. Huh? Umm, OK. (I was thinking of vouchers or shop-a-dockets or something. I realised I was probably way off track but that's where my head went at the time.)
We arrived. EVERYONE was there. Even a couple of colleagues' kids were there.
Larp, larp will keep us together
The food was laid out, the beer was poured over ice, the whole gang was there. I sat near unfamiliar people who freaked a bit because they didn't know what to say to me without their lack of English being obvious. So they said nothing, smiled and put more food on my plate.
Larp is all around
It turns out that one of the guys at work had bought a new CAR. Therefore he was shouting everyone out to a larp lunch. Of course. Why didn't I just know that?
And here's a little window into the day's eating pleasures...
Not larp. Congealed blood covered with tasty stuff (just to fool me)
Vegetable matter - of some sort. Fresh and tasty, though!
Larp is all around...
The lovely Syfong and her friend who speaks a bit of English and whose name I really must learn
A photo of no great importance - but it adds to the general ambiance (chaos, confusion)
This place is now known (to me) as The Larp Shack
I ate happy ignorance. I refused the beer (that pillow I have under my desk has already had a bit of a workout lately. This time I wanted to stay awake all day). My colleagues mostly chatted to themselves and sometimes to me - usually raising their voices and repeating complicated sentences in a tone usually reserved for the elderly, deaf, demented and incontinent. I still didn't quite understand. So I smiled and kept eating.
Dessert - an unnamed melon and some bland but pretty dragon fruit - it was great!
But enough about the food. There were interesting things going on just around the corner - or behind the kitchen counter...
...like the kitchen staff's footwear:
Non-regulation angry bird slippers
The dish
pig cat helping out in the kitchen...
Scrawny filthy disgusting moggy helping out with the dishes. Ewwww.
The ever-present Beer Lao umbrellas
Never let it be said that the Laos are not "wholehearted" beer drinkers
Lao Beer Company also provides plastic containers for tissues and toothpicks. How thoughtful! The square ones are nicer than the round ones - even if the round ones do fit a toilet roll perfectly.
Tissue? Toothpick?
By the time we all crammed back into the minibus and got back to the office there was not a lot left of the day and not a lot of energy in the room. I decided to leave my questions about strategic planning until another day. Anyway, as they say here (and also across the river if I remember correctly) "don't be serious!"
And as I say (and am considering for my own personal mantra and maybe even tattoo)...
Larp is all you need
or
Can you feel the larp tonight?
or
Larp like there's no tomorrow
or
Eat, Pray, Larp
or
Tonight I celebrate my larp for you
or (my favourite)...
LARP YOU LONGTIME!
