To Paris ... with Love (Part 1b)
Laddavanh remembered well, in those days, the teenagers would ride bicycles in a group towards the outskirts of the city. Those whose parents were a bit better financially would ride motorcycles. Only those who came from very wealthy families would have a car to drive. Those teenagers who drove a car usually would not do very well at school because they spent most of their time driving around and trying to impress the girls. And incidentally, those girls who sat in their car usually would not do well at school either because they were busy showing off .

That day, Laddavanh and friends, as a big group, rode their bicycles towards "Nam tok luk paed" (8th Km Water Fall) which was the most popular recreational place in those days. Each of them had a bag of lunch - their lives were naïve and carefree. Among people in the group, there may be some who may secretly liked somebody else and there were lots of matching - of course nominated by their own friends. However, the relationship stopped at that - just special friends, not more than that. Believe it or not, in those days, if their relationship went beyond that scope, they would be considered as bad boy or bad girl. There was no peer pressure either that they should have sex at certain age - well, quite different from nowadays.

Laddavanh smiled again when she thought about the incident when they all went to climb a mountain. Because she wanted to get to the top of the mountain first, she started to climb vigorously and of course . the way she climbed . she slipped and was about to fall down . the destination? Down there of course! But . believe it or not Keo who coincidentally (intentionally?) was climbing somewhere not far away, managed to grab her hand before she reached her destination . ie down there! Laddavanh was hanging with her two legs dangling from the cliff . Keo eventually managed to pull her back up from falling. However, while they were struggling, their faces were not far from each other (they were struggling, you see?) and accidentally, Keo's nose was only as far as 0.01 mm from Laddavanh's cheek which became so red due to the heat (and excitement?). Brrr. That was definitely a thrilling experience . in fact the most thrilling in Laddavanh's life . now when thinking about this incidence, she developed goose pimples all over her skin. But hang on, it was not the moment when she was about to fall from the cliff that she's talking about! She meant the incident when his nose nearly . nearly touched her cheek . that's the one!

(To be continued)

PPhoumindr