Story Time! The One About the Lao Shaman...

Okay, so here's something that you don't see every day...

We set up a Lao jungle trek through our guesthouse, Khoune & Khone's Guesthouse (highly recommended, although cold at night and during breakfast) with two other brave guests. The cost was $40.00 US, which, to be perfectly frank, was about $35.00 US too expensive for us, considering that we planned on travelling for another 23 days or so.

Anyhoo, Khoune, us guests and a bunch of his staff hopped into the back of a covered pickup truck, which left from the guesthouse in the morning. Our first stop was to be a pretty dern authentic Hmong village (this ain't no Jamestown). Fun fact: the Hmong ethnic group is the same as the Miao ethnic group. Miao is the Chinese name, and Hmong is the Lao name. Rock and William are Miao/Hmong, so when we showed them the photos of the Hmong village, it was especially poignant for them... or not. I don't know!

We saw a bunch of interesting things, such as a 23 year old mother of four, showing off the newest member of her brood...

...a bong used exclusively for tobacco (honest injun!). Michael Phelps should have used the same excuse as the Hmong people...

...and a real-live shaman talking with a bunch of spirits! I don't know what he wanted to say to them, but if it were me, I would have asked for help down! Looks vom-inducing...

Okay, so the above video is more Khoune and a little kid standing a the doorway than actual footage of the shaman, but the next one has a little more action...

Errr, did I say more action? I meant more footage of a dead pig. I felt a little too much like a voyeur taking any footage of the shaman. So as to not offend, my shameful lens often fell upon the dead pig. Between shots of the pig, you can almost get an idea of what's going on. The shaman is standing barefoot on a suspended wooden plank while wearing a black bag on his head. The scent of incense was strong, as everybody knows that spirits love the smell of sandalwood.

I hope you enjoyed the pics and vids! Let me know what you guys think of the videos, and more importantly, what do you think of my future as a cameraman (any tips on capturing the motion picture?)?

Cullen