Any reasonable person would think it slightly off-color to crash a wedding.  When that wedding happens to be in Laos
who is to say if it’s inappropriate or not?  Whom am I kidding?  I was well aware of the potential drawbacks of dropping in on an event that I was clearly not invited. It
wouldn’t be the first time leering eyes would be cast upon me as I casually pressed my way up to the buffet table. Let’s regress for a minute.  Some people might not know what the word "crash" means in the first sentence.  For those of you who have been sheltered from large community centers/bowling alleys for the duration of your lives I can understand.  It’s been my experience that a bowling alley in the same venue as a wedding reception brings out the largest proportion of uninvited guests or what we like to call "wedding crashers."
That certainly wasn’t the case here.  No bowling alleys in Laos!  In particular no bowling alley that doubles as a reception hall.  This of course is not a researched fact, but I’m willing to bet anyone 100,000 kip that in two weeks you couldn’t find any sign of the leisure sport of the drunk.  Lawn bowling doesn’t count.  For all I know lawn bowling or "bocce ball" is their national sport eclipsed only by badminton and a game of hands-free volleyball played with a wicker ball.  The name eludes me almost as much as the skill needed to play the sport. The truth is I was hungry.  A traditional Lao massage administered by blind women in the late afternoon completely wiped me out and I had just woken at 11PM from a 4-hour nap. If you’re still reading this you might wonder how does one get "wiped out" from a massage.  Aren’t these things supposed to be relaxing?  Yeah and no.  Primarily NO in my case.  It appears that the muscles from my toes to my thighs don’t like to be physically manipulated away from the bone as the massage suggests.  For a mere 30,000 Kip or $3 US – an hour massage from a skilled therapist seems like a great deal.  That is if sometime in that hour you don’t burst all the blood vessels in your face from wincing so hard.  If my therapist hadn’t been blind I’m pretty sure she would have thought she was killing me.  I would have felt like a puss so I broke out the yoga breathing and prayed not to succumb to hyperventilation. 
Regardless, it was now 11PM and if I didn’t move from my guesthouse quickly there would be little chance of finding any late night eatery in Luang Prabang. Places tend to close after the electricity cuts at 9PM. Things looked bleak upon leaving the guesthouse.  There didn’t appear to be any lights, tuk tuk drivers or for that matter people in site.  There was, however, a clear path of music being generated from beyond the cement building horizon.
Sounded like a party.  Parties oftentimes have food.  So off we went.  At this stage of the story I introduce you to my friend Paul who spent most of the duration of the night within earshot of me.  It became clear to me as we rounded the first corner that the music was definitely coming from this street.  It was time to move beyond my usual sloth like pace caused by the extreme heat and humidity.  I could see a few motor scooters in the distance coming and going. As we got closer it became evident that this was the real deal.  People were hopping on their Chinese mananufactured motor scooters in suits with beautiful Laotian women draped over the backs.  They sit sidesaddle because their silk skirts or "sins" wraps tightly down to their ankles.  A quick decision was needed as we approached the entry gate. Just walk in slowly and pretend I’m not with the poorly dressed vagabond to my side.  This wouldn’t work.  We entered the gate, saw about 20 people sitting at tables and another 30 or so under a wooden canopy dancing to live music.  I noticed there weren’t any people doing the drunken "hook-up" stager that are so prevalent at weddings in the states.  The vibe was comfortable, respectful and fully devoid of my wedding experiences.  I made a b-line for the 15-foot buffet table.  It was definitely the path of least resistance.  It was obvious that everyone had finished eating at least 2 hours prior and the table was in the process of being taken down.  Seemed fairly logical that I grab a spring roll and dowse it in some spicy papaya sauce before it becomes a leftover. Before I could even put the first bite in my mouth a pair of women rounded the table and handed us all the utensils we needed.  "Kop Chi Li Li" or thank you spewed from mouth about 100 times in the next 3 minutes.  They either liked the way I pronounced the phrase or had giant hearts because their smiles stretched from ear to ear. The buffet had what appeared to most of the staples of the Laos diet.  There was a type of yellow chicken curry, some spicy beef, spingrolls, fresh vegetables and a giant vat of sticky rice.  Within seconds of loading up

Joseph Kultgen is co-founder of www.trekshare.com and has been writing the monthly newsletter - TrekNews - for the past 3 years. He is a contributer to STA Travel and Gap literature as well as a co-creator of TrekTV.