hey lonelyhmonggyu y, i just got back from laos and i spent the brunt of my time in nong hai. glad you enjoyed your stay. i would have to disagree with you the on behaviors of the girls in laos.
it's no secret that the help of an american can greatly improve the livestyle of one in Laos. i believe that this is the sole reason why these girls in laos are so nice and polite to men. for the men these girls represent an old ideology of what a hmong woman so embody.
Hey maipovci
I did enjoyed my brief stay in Nong Hai as I hope you did as well... So, this subject keeps coming up, like a dead horse that everyone just keep beating up on.
Here is MY take on it (based solely on my personal observations) and you can disagree if you want... For a lack of a better word, the girls in Laos are more FRIENDLY... towards men, ALL men, regardless of how old they are, where they are from, how they look or what they do for a living. *** Important to note that I said regardless of WHERE they live... US, LAOS, FRANCE... etc.*** This point will become important in my arguement later.
Short story to prove my point... My cousin and I are walking to the market in KM 52. On our way there, we met his girl friend and some of her friends (None of the girls were over 18). My cousin who is 20 and I who is in my late 30s (a point that will become relavent in a minute) were invited to joined his girlfriend and her friends as they went shopping. After she bought a few items, his girlfriend then invited both my cousin and I back to her house for a visit. When we got back to her house, we were offered a chair to sit on, a glass of water each and some freshly made MOCHI (sorry I don't know the Hmong word for it) with cane syrup... She then offered to cook us some lunch and one of her friends stayed to help. I flirted with my cousin's girlfriend's friend for a bit as they were cooking us lunch. After lunch, said our good byes and we left... as we were leaving, my cousin make a point of telling me that the girl I was talking to already has a boyfriend. I confronted her with this fact, to which she reply with a simple answer. She is not yet married and it would be impolite not to talk with me... in her words, "I am not beautiful enough to brush you off "... or her way of saying, this was how she was taught.
So... you take the same scenario, but you put all the players in a different setting. For a moment, let's say we all were in the USA. I visit my cousin in St. Paul, we go to the mall and on the way we see his girlfriend. I will bet you the whole farm that my cousin and I will get nothing more than a Hi or Hello from his girlfriend. I doubt we would have gotten an invite to join them to go shopping, and I SERIOUSLY doubt we would have gotten an invite back to her house, and I SERIOUSLY DOUBT X 10 we would have gotten a drink or something to snack on... and I SERIOUSLY DOUBT X 10000 we would have gotten a meal from her. And for me... I would not have a chance on earth to talk to my cousin's girlfriend's friend... not in a 1000 years, IF we were in the USA.
So... a long story to prove a small point. But my point is this... the girls in Laos are brought up differently, to be more polite and friendly... AND that was all I am saying, NOTHING more and NOTHING less. Granted, I don't know the true nature of what they intend to do and what their motives are... I don't live inside their minds. But for me, I like to take a person for face value and I tend to trust what they do and say. To sum things up... I still think the girls in Laos are more polite, courteous and friendly towards men and people in general.
Motives aside... it is human nature to improve ourselves, in anyway that we can, regardless of race or culture. So, I would have to agree with MenyuamHmoob..
. I don't think they are just nice and polite only to Men from America.
LHG