If you don’t know who Rachel Flotard is, you should. Rachel and her band Visqueen have been supplying a heavy dose of rock/pop/punk music since 2001. Their new record, Message to Garcia was released September 8th
, 2009. Their third record, it shines with well crafted, catchy songs from the heart. The record was inspired by George Flotard, Rachel’s father, who was a New York Steamfitter and no-nonsense kind of guy. After a lengthy battle with prostate cancer he passed away in April of 2008. Rachel started her own label called Local 638 Records, to honor her father and his NYC Steamfitters union.
After her father’s passing, Rachel decided to go on a journey to Laos. During her trip she started a blog to capture her experiences. Land Of A Million Elephants. And One Flotard is a collection of her stories as a first time visitor to Laos. Rachel was gracious enough to allow us to reprint one of her stories.
2 Tickets to Parasites-Originally posted on November 5th, 2008 by Rachel Flotard
My first taste of Pho in Laos. We walked up and down the streets trying to decide on where to go. Justin had been to this little spot before, and he was still alive.
It was open to the sidewalk, hot, and a poodle with one eye was walking around. He was curly, once white, and the super cute house mascot. We pulled up some plastic chairs and ordered two chicken soups. I walked over to a small cold case and pulled out two bottles of water. Towards the back of the restaurant was a vinyl lawn chaise lounge occupied by a young man watching TV with no shoes on. When I say there is no 409 or Windex for a thousand miles I mean it. And it's great.
Shortly after our order, he got up and delivered 2 glasses of ice water brimming with future shits and a side of rickety ass limes.
The nice woman delivered the soup. It was delicious salty broth with chicken that had been simmering since 
yesterday (sure!). There were bits of garlic and skin with the goosebumps still on them. Justin passed me some choppers and I said a hail Mary to my metal spoon.
At that moment, Justin was about to put his chopsticks in his mouth when I noticed the "Tranny Pink" shade of Wet N' Wild on the end of his utensil. I glances at it and said, "Uhh..dude, you might want to change that out". He did. And we ate the hell out of those bowls as if our bowels were back at the room.
I'm happy to report as we rode to the market by tuk tuk and enjoyed the day, there was nary a barf or reeah among us.
Khop Jai!!
Now to anyone reading this that has not purchased Message to Garcia, do yourself a favor and get it. You will be glad you did. For more of Rachel’s writing about her trip to Laos, visit her blog Land Of A Million Elephants. And One Flotard.
