Everybody Loves Alex

We arrived one week ago in Vientiane, Laos. The first order of business upon disembarking at the airport is to apply for a tourist visa. Apparently, Laotian immigration can be somewhat random in the length of stay permitted on the visa. When our turn came-up to have our visa stamp I figured that we were in good shape because the immigration person was sitting at her booth with her young son and she was quite happy to chat with Alex. Later when I checked Thipp's and my passports I was pleased to see that we had been granted two-month visas. I then checked Alex's passport and laughed when I realized that his visa was for three-months. That has set the tone for our time in Laos so far. People are very happy to see Thipp and I, but they just can't get enough of Alex.

The most common comments that Thipp receives about Alex is that he is very big, very white and very handsome. This she happily translates to me. Another somewhat regular comment after saying that he is handsome is that he looks like his father. This is translated to me by Thipp with slightly less enthusiasm. Walking through markets or along the street a common phrase that people will make about the "Falang Noi" is that "he is expensive." This is their way of saying that he is precious. If they really meant it to taken literally they would have been referring to Thipp.

Thipp's mother had ten-children and thirty grand-children, several in North America that she has never met, so you wouldn't think that a new grendchild would be a big deal for her. However, she seems quite taken by Alex and quite happily clucks away at him and is regularly barking orders at Thipp to put a shirt on him. Due to severe osteoperosis (sorry no spell-check), she walks around bent-back and her teeth are red from chewing beetlenuts. She could easily scare small children and certainly some son-in-laws, but Alex really enjoys her attention and provides her with a regular stream of smiles and cheerful squawks.

Having Alex along certainly slows us down in many respects. Our day's activities have to factor-in nap times and we realize that he is sort of a good-natured time bomb. However, the positive attention that he garners has provided us with interactions that we would have never had otherwise.