Sabaidee all I just realised that it's already mid May, and according to our schedule, my novel should finish by the end of May and I still have two more episodes to go. And Kongkeo will take over from there. Therefore, I will post Part4 during the week starting 15 May and the final episode on the last week of May. As usual, Laddavanh and Keo are here to entertain you. In this episode, you will be discovering the utmost beauty of the nature in Laos and of course, romance "Laotian style". Lao version is available as usual. I suggest you read Lao version as well if you could. I hope you enjoy reading it (whether in Lao or in English). Hak Phaeng (Euay) Pauline PS: TheDeon, are you ready to read this episode? How did your basket ball tournament go? How many people did you bite? Did you get a ticket? To Paris with Love (Part 3) WOMEN ARE SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND! A concierge carried the small luggage which belonged to Laddavanh into the motel room. Laddavanh, as an active and frequent traveller, tried not to carry too much. She travelled a lot, due to work as well as personal liking, and managed to pack up in less than half an hour. As for Keo, he only had a handbag and a brief case. Laddavanh gave some tip to the concierge who closed the door behind him quietly - leaving only the two of them in the room. Laddavanh looked obviously nervous, noticing that, Keo tried so hard not to smile. He didn't want to make her more uncomfortable so he acted like a perfect gentleman and told her with an incredibly normal tone of voice: "I'll go have some drinks with the guys at the bar in front of the motel. You may want to have a shower and get changed before joining us at the restaurant. You must be exhausted, see, you look a bit like a lost kitten", then he left the room just like nothing had happened while the person who was just compared to a kitten apparently had a long face. A kitten alone was bad enough but a lost kitten is totally unacceptable. When she got in the bathroom and saw her own reflection at the wall mirror . she tended to agree with him "in fact, he's right, I don't look much different from a lost kitten". The roads they had travelled were very Laotian style ie so bumpy and dusty, the houses were showered with dust, the hair colour of the road user in turn changed to "blond", she could hardly recognise her own face. After the shower and washing her hair, she felt a lot fresher and did not feel hungry at all so she decided to go straight to bed. Laddavanh fell asleep even before her head touched the pillow may be because of the exhaustion due to the travelling, plus she herself had no problem whatsoever with sleeping, she can fall asleep easily regardless of the changing environment. When Keo came back to the room, Laddavanh was already sleeping deeply, "Great! she's not even interested in eating, sleeping is the first priority for her!". Not wanting to disturb the sleeping person, he tiptoed very quietly to the bathroom, after the shower and getting rid of all the dust, he felt a lot better. He switched on the small lamp at the side of the bed, opened his small luggage, wore his pyjamas and lying down ready to go to sleep. But he changed his mind by reaching a book and started to read it. Keo had a habit of reading before going to bed which served as a sleeping pill for him. But then he changed his mind again after reading just a few lines. His eyes left the book and moved towards the other person who was sleeping innocently in another bed at the other end of the room. "Oh! How stupid I am, look there's somebody there to look at, which is heaps better than reading the book, why didn't I do it?" Keo sat up and started to look, well. he hoped he was not being rude because the person was already sleeping and the act of just looking should not be considered illegal either. Her long black hair was spread all over the pillow, her eyes were closed tightly, those eyebrows were really well shaped and were curved down to the side of her eyes so nicely. He could only see part of that small nose because it was partly covered by the thin blanket. He couldn't see much anyway . just the hair and the blanket. Her face looked like a young child who slept comfortably because she knew that she was safe under the protection of a trustworthy carer. Keo got out of his bed, couldn't help himself touching her hair very gently, he avoided to touch the cheek because it may got bruised although he knew very well that his touch was gentle enough but just in case, because that cheek was too vulnerable to be touched by a hand. He pulled the blanket down a little so that it would not cover the nose of the person, which may prevent her from breathing comfortably . His Sleeping Beauty started to move and turned her face towards Keo . the eyes still closed. The dim light at the side of the bed reflected certain part of that face . as pretty as a painted, very natural and very inviting. Keo kneeled down at the side of her bed . with a desire of a normal human being, he bent down to kiss those lovely lips, but just as he touched her lips . not even for one full second. He pulled back his face and quickly walked back to his bed. Sitting down, eyes closed, he started to meditate which he had practised regularly. For a while . the intensity level apparently had decreased so he opened his eyes and glanced at Laddavanh . the culprit was still sleeping, her eyes closed, she looked totally comfortable. Look! It's not fair, she wouldn't have even realised that all kinds of natural disasters nearly occurred because of her. Huhh . Keo was a loser again . with this girl . he'd always give in, whether it's now, this very second or twenty years ago. He didn't know why . the only thing he knew was that he had never loved anybody this much, he never wanted to cause any harm to her, he didn't want her to even get a tiny bruise and he wanted to cherish her forever . the cherished person thus slept terribly well all night whereby the one who cherished her kept tossing all night long nearly until the next morning . Keo just came to understand clearly now what it really meant to be feeling "burdensome". Laddavanh woke up very early in the morning, feeling as fresh as a flying little bird. Why wouldn't she be since she did nothing last night but slept and slept for nearly ten hours. She used the bathroom, got dressed and when she came out, Keo was still sleeping. "Gee! He is a late riser!", she moved closer to look at him, intending to wake him up but eventually changed her mind because she didn't want to interrupt him . his hair messed around the forehead, his unshaved face and chin, possibly due to busy schedules in the last couple of days, looked rather messy but somehow sexy. Laddavanh touched his rough unshaved chin and this made her hand rather ticklish. Keo suddenly caught that little hand. "Gosh! I thought he was sleeping, in fact he isn't, what a cheater!". Keo pulled Laddavanh towards him gently - which she didn't resist, plus she rested her head on his chest . Keo caressed her hair and moved his hand to touch her cheek very gently. "This is when he's just waken up, how naughty of him . In that case, what about last night? My God what about last night? Oh God! . Oh! no! I wouldn't even dare think about it . How silly of me too, I was sleeping like a log last night! Her thought stopped at that, when she sprang out from Keo's arms. Trying to compose herself, she simply told him: "Keo, I put your towel in the bathroom, I just like to walk around the market for a tick". Laddavanh disappeared behind the closing door, Keo was still lying there, unmoved, his hand on his forehand and his eyes fixed at the ceiling. Huhh. How come women are so hard to understand? Keo had worked with lots of projects and he was always effective in analysing and evaluating any issues but he must admit - analysing women was a lot harder - any woman, anyone of them. They were all moody, one minute they were sweet, the next minute they were angry. Just take for example, his sweetheart by the name "Laddavanh", just a few minutes ago she was right here, her head right on his chest, voluntarily though, no one forced her. Of course he felt rather boiling and now she sprang away just like she was bitten by the ants . "Oh! May be there are ants around here", Keo tried to look for the ants until his eyes nearly popped out but no ants . not even one. Huh! May be women have ants living in their heart, therefore their mood swings whenever the ants are biting. Keo got up from his bed, shaking his head in disbelief, no wonder there was a Lao saying which states that "It's hard to read people's mind", and especially the mind of women, it must be as deep as the ocean which you would never reach the bottom. The market of Muang Khong was right behind the motel. It was a very small market - opened very early in the morning and closed as early at around seven o'clock. Laddavanh was however impressed by the variety and especially the kinds of fish which included Pa Nou, Pa Nang, Pa Soy, Pa Phone and a lot more. Even in Vientiane, you wouldn't find fresh fish like these. Worse still, if you live abroad, unless you go fishing yourself, and if you buy fish from a fish shop you wouldn't have an idea how long the fish had died. Sometimes when eating frozen fish, one can't help thinking, the soul of these fish must have been reborn many lives already. When she came back, she found Keo already dressed, his face looked nice and clean. But Laddavanh regretted a little bit because she wouldn't be able to play with that rough chin any more. Keo still looked very fit, from her point of view, she thought he looked even better than twenty years ago. "You look handsome" after observing him for a while, she said it aloud. Well! the praise was genuine. "Merci", he said. In the past few days, her brains had been working hard in trying to cope with English, French and Lao languages simultaneously. That afternoon, Keo and his colleagues finished all they needed to do. Therefore they had time to visit "Somphamit" water fall and "Khone Phapheng" or "Lee Phee", a world wide well known water fall. Lee Phee is also considered to be the widest water fall in the world. As soon as they approached Khone Pha Pheng, they could hear the thundering sound of the water. When confronting the real scene, Laddavanh was stunned . the giant water fall was breathtakingly beautiful, it was just so grandiose! She used to visit some rather small water falls abroad, which were not even one tenth of Khone Pha Pheng. Laddavanh was not aware that Laos had so many well-kept secret beautiful places to visit, with proper development, these places will certainly generate revenues for the country. The sound of the water was so loud it was hard to hear each other talking. Over there, right in the middle of the water fall, the famous "Magic Tree" (Kok Mai Manikoth) stood there outstandingly. From the distance, the tree looked bare with solid branches and only few leaves on each branch. By the look of it, no one would be able to get near it physically because it was just grown on a rock right in the middle of the vigorous stream of water. No one would dare do it, if someone happened to fall down and slip out of the rock even the most magic rescue from any angel would not be useful. What stunned Laddavanh most was the fact that nobody ever knew exactly how old this tree was, our parents, our grand parents, our great grand parents and our great great parents all had said that as far as they could remember the tree was already there even before their time. It's really worth it to have witnessing such a beautiful and magic place like this in one's own mother land. It's a pity she didn't see this before, not until, when she came back as a "foreigner". Interestingly though, the well kept secret beauty of Laos was known to foreigners from France, England, USA, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Italy, Switzerland, etc so many of them. Strangely, when Laddavanh came back to enjoy the beauty of her own motherland, she was not much welcome - it's hard to believe she had to pay "foreigner" rate for any service she used. Although, being a foreigner by law, but by concept she's still "Lao" - still eating Tam Mak Hung, sticky rice and Padaek; plus her relatives are still everywhere in Laos. Still not totally done with the complaint about Laos, her "Bane Keuth", when returning to her new country "Muang Non", there too, another problem. Some Lao people there (due to unknown reason or possibly their own choice) again accused Lao people who went back to visit Laos of being communist. For this reason, Laddavanh was sick of it and to some extent this attitude (of accusing each other) prevent Lao people to succeed fully because there were far too many people "who talk more and do less". The tour finally came to the end so they all travelled back to Pakse. Xaykeo had to stay in Pakse for another while to finish his project. As for Laddavanh, with a pre-arranged tour program waiting for her in Vientiane, she had to leave Pakse. Keo promised her he would come to see her in Vientiane. They departed each other half-heartedly but the hope that they will see each other soon compensated it. "I will miss you . can't wait until we meet again", was the unspoken message they sent to each other. (to be continued) P Phoumindr 14 May 2000 Sydney