Doo the Barber

Doo the barber was very concerned about his country's image, at times too much. Just after waking for my 1st morning in Laos, Doo intercepted me on my way to find coffee. He gave me a thumb's up for the mohawk and invited me into his home/barber shop for some Laos whiskey. I declined but promised to return after my morning routine.

Chris and I were immediately welcomed into his family. Mother, sister-in-law, nieces and friends went about their lives as we sat on rusted benches and drank the 10$ bottle of whiskey he provided. I brought the guitar over and played my Thai songs while his 2 year old niece filled in the Thai lyrics I couldn't pronounce. We were having the perfect Saturday afternoon. Doo, with limited English, was a good conversationalist an excellent teacher of Laos language and an ambassador as well. I was asking him why Laotians aren't aggressive towards selling to foreigners like their fellow impoverished neighbors Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. He said, "it's tradition. I have no money or oil. I can die, OK, but a Lao man can never do that."

We gladly bought the 2nd bottle and then Doo took an unfortunate turn for the worse. His face was getting redder by the drink and, as the darkness fell, it was obvious that he'd reached his limit. But he still insisted on "taking care of us." -this was repeated to a annoying extent throughout the night. At first it was humorous that this man who couldn't sit up, and had a hard time keeping eye contact but still thought he was "taking care of us." "Don't drink so much, I worry about you, I take care of you," Doo would slur to Chris and I who were very much under control and were basically carrying him around. "Yes Doo, I love you too, yes, you take care of me," I kept repeating as I slowly walked him around. Eventually, we had to scold the Barber, much as his mom had earlier when she wanted quiet for her TV time. "OK, go home, go to bed Doo," Chris emphatically said and, finally, he did. We watched him walk slanted down the street to his shop and crash into a parked truck. We watched intently as Doo, our caretaker and guardian, eventually stumbled home successfully.