Laos kids gather to say hello.

Journal and photo by Nancy Olson

Lao has just maneuvered itself to my Top-Five All-Time Favorite Countries list. It’s a beautiful country with smooth, winding roads sandwiched between bright-green rice paddies and picturesque mountains blanketed in a patchwork of green forest and white mist. It’s breathtaking.

But Lao’s greatest treasure, I’m quite certain, is its people. As we drove past the rice paddies and hills of Laos, the roads began to climb. The team went on full alert as we entered a territory that had a history spotted with rebel activity, which, at its worst, has been responsible for the deaths of several tourists and a busload of Laotians. We didn’t know what to expect, so we prepared for the worse.

We drove into the countryside, and as we passed through the hills, the roads became speckled by little outcroppings of villages and settlements situated along R13, one of the country’s main arteries. In every single settlement, naked babies and young boys and girls with no need for any clothing below the waist stepped out of the jungle, peeped out of irrigation ditches, and scrambled out of modest little dwellings to wave (usually with both hands) and scream with pure glee the traditional Lao greeting of “SAH-BYE-DEEEEEE!!!!”

The kids have perfect little Chiclet teeth and wild, sun-bleached hair, and the young women sport broad smiles with Kewpie Doll dimples and brightly twinkling eyes. Young men carry long-barreled bird-hunting rifles and smile brightly as they wave at us with strong, sinewy arms and hard-working farmer hands. The elderly are just as happy to wave to the convoy as we drive through, but they are a bit more stooped and slower on the uptake. These country people are some of the most beautiful in the world.

Sometimes we stop briefly to hand Hella key-chain lights to kids, and when we do, we are swarmed by the whole village. These stops have to be brief, indeed, lest we give out our whole supply of lights in one shebang. Everybody smiles, waves, poses for photos, and says , which, of course, means “thank you.” As we pull away, we are barraged by dozens of screaming byes.

I’m convinced that the Lao people would do anything for someone in need, and that’s a comforting feeling when driving through this barely developed country. Whether we are checking into a guesthouse, walking through the streets, shopping in the markets, or stopping for gas, the people we encounter are polite, cheerful, and bedecked with big gleaming smiles.

This country has made me realize some things. One is that I would like to come back here with my own kids someday so they can see how people here live so free and happy in their simpler lives away from video games and traffic signals. Nobody dotes over the kids and worries about them doing tasks that would have American parents horrified. Secondly, people everywhere just love people, and family is the most important thing in the world. No matter how tough things can get, when you have family and community working together for a common good, life is just grand. Thirdly, everybody, no matter what their facial features, ethnicity, bone structure, height, or weight, is beautiful when they smile. Try to notice this sometime. You might be surprised.

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