Known Unknowns

“	There are known knowns; there are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns; that is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don't know.	”
Donald Rumsfeld 2002

Sometimes I think that knowledge has a different value in Laos than I am used to.

I don't mean the knowledge that's coded into dusty libraries, or big picture knowledge about how the world works - or doesn't work, or who Ghandi or Che Guevara were. I mean knowing what's going on and where and when: information, data, details.
(Although knowing who Ghandi and Guevara were doesn't seem important either).

Very often I can't find out what time something is on, where it is, how to get there, what to bring, etc. etc. etc. I don't know what's going on and I can't find someone to tell me. There are no websites with this information. And if there are, I don't trust them.

I see crowds in the street and find out later it was some sort of festival. I scour the local English language newspaper for information about something I heard about only to find it happened last week. I want to know what's going on. I want to know what I should do. I want to know why we are all piling into a minibus and heading out for lunch when it's only 11am.

Sure, not having a great grasp of the language doesn't help. But it's not just that.

Sometimes people give me a wrong answer because they want to give me an answer but they might not have the information I want. It's polite. It's not very helpful though. (I suspect the Lao people learnt this practice from the Irish where it happened to me often).

Fluid bus timetable

 

Bus timetables exist but they are sort of fluid. Buses rarely arrive or leave when the sign says.  Less attached to what is written on the board, Lao bus drivers do something far more logical. If the bus is full, it leaves. If it has been waiting for a decent amount of time and quite a few people are waiting to go, it goes. Bureaucratic, artificial controls like preconceived timetables be damned.

 

 

I often find myself repressing my desire to know. I have learnt that sometimes I don't really need to know when, who, why and where. I thought I did. I've learnt that sometimes if I just sit and wait, like a child, things happen anyway. I still have questions but I rarely get answers even when I know how and who to ask.

Maybe it's best she doesn't know

Last weekend's That Luang Festival was a perfect example of how my expectation to gain knowledge about an event was asking for just too much.

 

Lots of people at That Luang - someone must have known

I wanted to see a parade. I once saw a parade of Buddhist monks in Thailand and I wanted to see one again. This one was described to me as hundreds of monks and worshippers traipsing up the main drag to the big golden stupa, carrying towers of waxed flowers and palm leaves. Sounded pretty cool. I charged up my camera.

Expectant monks

 

No one seemed to be quite sure what was going to happen and when. The newspaper suggested 2pm at the arch. Some people suggested the temple near the river. Work colleagues suggested I stand near the main road and wait. Other foreigners didn't know - we all had different data. Just go to Simuang, they said. Or Patu Xai. Or maybe not.

Waiting... waiting...

 

As it turned out, they were all wrong. I turned up at one of the assigned places at the supposed time. Nothing. No one. I waited. I asked a local. "Oh, I think it's happened already". I asked some monks. "Wait 20 minutes, it's coming".

waiting for the parade or just hanging out?

I spoke to friends who had checked several locations at various times and no one was any wiser. Forty minutes later we gave up and just walked to the stupa. There it was: a parade.

 a parade!

  

Some (me) might find this lack of certainty a little bit frustrating at times. Most locals don't seem to, though. Are they just used to it and have different expectations? Is information about these logistical, administrative, minor things just not really important?  I suspect the Lao approach is to say "Never mind, you saw the parade didn't you? No problem!" And they are right, of course.

Letting go of this need is letting go of control. It's really hard. Letting go is also accepting that sometimes I won't find out about things until after they have happened. Or I will turn up wearing the wrong clothes. Or I will miss the start of something. Or miss out altogether. Never mind, borpenyang. Another bus will come. Another festival will happen. Another opportunity will arise.

"Frustration is borne from expectation"

I am learning to not ask unless I really have to. I don't need to know where we are going for lunch or whether the meeting will be at 10 or 3.  I am learning to give up control and just see what happens. Fatalism? Kismet? Going with the Flow? Trusting the Goddess? Whatever you call it, letting go of my (western?) need to know is hard. But far less frustrating than waiting for a parade that doesn't come.

If Rumsfeld's speech had been translated into Lao, people here may have understood it better than I did. And I suspect they would have been fine with it.