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I guess I must be a little bit jingoist for whatever I
read, I thought of Laos.  One time, I read an old
newspaper, maybe Xat Lao, about the location of
Vientiane which was too close to Thailand therefore
becoming an easy prey to the Thai attack. That's right
I had never though of that before.  Why didn't we move
our capital inland far from the Thai border.  Another
time, I listened to the soccer match between our
national team and the Thai national team broadcasting
live from Bangkok in the King's Cup.  Believe it or
not, our team beat the favorite Thai team by a score
of 4 to 3.  When the whistle blew to signal the end of
the match, I cried in jubilation. What a great feeling
indeed to beat the Thai who contemptuously called our
national team "a pig stadium".  I also liked to listen
to the broadcast from Vientiane which sometimes I
hardly heard anything.  This happened a lot especially
when it was raining.  Still, it didn't bother me that
much.  Being a true Lao had to be tough all the time. 
By the way, my favorite program was the one that
answered to any questions sent by the listeners. 
There was one question I would like to get answered
was: why was the Mekong River so murky while the ocean
was so clear?  Too bad, nobody asked that question. 
Another program that I listened frequently was about
the song hosted by Phouma Somsouthi.  I know not a few
Lao people, my sister included) liked to listen to
Thai songs but I just switched to Lao songs whenever I
had access to the radio.  At that time, the song that
I remembered vividly was by Khamla Nohkeo.  It went
like this: if you were cold because of the wind, you
should cover yourself with the blanket.  Also, if you
were cold because of the sky, you should sit by the
fireplace.  Then the song asked: if the young male and
female were cold at heart, what should they do? To
tell you the truth, I liked to hum a Lao song and sing
at times.  One time at school, I sang a song in front
of the class - a part of school curriculum.  The song
was about Vientiane.  How beautiful it was with
Thatluang and Wat Phakeo.  By the way, the song was
sung by Thantavan called "ViengNaiPhan".  How strange
it was!  Later in that year, I had a chance to see
Vientiane for the first time.  

(to be continued)
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