I live in an apartment opposite the Engineering Faculty of the Lao National University. I often have noodle soup for lunch in a shop 2 minutes by foot from my place. Today, I went there as normal. There were many people than on a usual day, but luckily there was a table with two seats free in the corner of the shop. I suspected that it had not been taken by anybody because it was far from the ceiling fan hanging from the ceiling in the centre of the room. The temperature at midday is rising every day and this reminds Lao people that Lao New Year is coming soon. I pulled up a chair and sat down quietly without taking any special notice of the people working in the shop.
The shop owner, who cooks herself, was busy preparing food for customers while her husband took orders and served soup to each table. He looked physically tired, but still took time to chat with his regular customers with a kind-hearted smile. He would respectfully say thank you to every single customer when he took money from them.
I was about to ask for a bowl of noodle soup when his wife looked at me with a tired smile and asked, “The usual?” I nodded. She knew I didn’t want meat in the soup since I’m also a regular customer. While I was waiting for the food, a man walked into the shop. He looked for a seat and then walked straight to my table. He sat down without asking me if the seat was free and didn’t even look at me. He was about 30 years old and was wearing shorts with a beer Lao T-shirt. I didn’t know if he really liked to drink beer Lao, but looking at his big belly I could guess he did. He turned to face the kitchen and ordered, “One Big Noodle Soup please”.
The shop’s owners who is a waiter himself said while placing a noodle soup bowl infront of me ‘A noodle soup with no meat for you’ Do you want any thing else? He askedNo, thanks. I said.
He continued “Today sure is hot. I bet you’re not used to this kind of weather.” He said to me. He knew that I am from the north of Laos where it is cooler. “Oh Yes! It’s really hot for me. Looks like you did good business today.” I said.”It’s usual”. He said while heading back to the kitchen.
I was really hungry so I though that I was going to enjoy the soup a lot. I tested the broth to see if I needed to add more sauce or lime. It did need one more squeeze of lime it seemed the man sitting opposite me was hot as well because he stared at the fan, but then, he shifted his gaze to his T-shirt pocket, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. I told myself “No! No!” He was not going to smoke at this table and this moment. I was right. He pulled out a cigarette, put it to his mouth and lit it. He blew the smoke freely without thinking that it might bother other people I was asking myself ‘what I should do and what I was going to do. Usually, I cannot stand eating while someone is smoking at the same table. I looked around for another tables, but none were free. I had not choice, but to continue eating. I felt irritated. I wanted to say, “could-could-could YOU go---- to smoke OUT –OUT side PLEASE?”
This is a place to fill your stomach not for YoU to burn your LUNGs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At the same time, my left side brain told me,”No! Bounchanh is not going to say that.” I was suffering because my mind was attached to the smoke and the actions of a stranger. Then I cranked down my anger degrees by counting, 1—2—3—4—5” It helped me to calm down. I concentrated on my bowl of noodle to bring me back to my senses.
He stopped mid-way through his cigarette because his soup had come. Like anyone else, he tested his soup, added two big spoons of sugar, one spoon of pounded chillies and a dash of fish sauce. He ate very quickly. It must have been spicy for him because he sneezes hard. I ended up leaving before finishing my food. Now I discovered that a good meal depends on the place and your meal partner more than the food itself.
By: Bounchanh, VTE 2010
