Pääru Oja makes travel-host debut in Laos series

Actor Pääru Oja will make his debut as a travel-show host in the new ETV series “Saba ja sarvedega Laos” (“Laos with a Tail and Horns”), ERR reported. Oja said on the programme “Ringvaade” that the role was completely new for him.

“I have watched travel shows, and actors have hosted them. I have always watched them with envy,” Oja said.

Oja’s co-host is travel writer Rene Satsi, whom he met years ago while working in Ireland. During the coronavirus pandemic, Oja posted in a group for Estonians in Ireland asking whether anyone wanted to go for a walk and talk. Satsi was one of those who replied, and the two became friends while walking around Dublin.

Satsi had already spoken frequently about Laos. Oja said he initially found the subject tiresome, until Satsi called to say they would be travelling there with ETV. “Suddenly, we were on a plane,” Oja recalled.

Laos lies between Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. Oja described it as a very poor democratic republic, but said he began questioning that description during the trip. Flags bearing the hammer and sickle fly alongside the national flag in the streets, creating the impression that Laos is a communist country, he said.

Oja also said that food widely known as Thai actually originates in Laos and later spread to its neighbouring country. He enjoys spicy food and ate so much chilli that even the local guide sometimes looked at him strangely. He bought chilli to take home and tried growing it from seed.

The crew spent a month in Laos. Oja said the local people made the strongest impression on him because they think differently from people in his region, with superstition also playing an important role.

He recalled a story about a culture minister who reportedly dreamed that a huge pile of gold lay beneath a UNESCO World Heritage site. Excavators were brought in and the heritage site was cleared, but no gold was found. The minister then said that evil spirits had been inside him, that he had visited a witch and that the problem had been resolved. Oja said that explanation was enough and the minister did not have to resign.

“Saba ja sarvedega Laos” airs on ETV on Sundays at 6.45 p.m.