Gratitude To Alms Bowl Rice
Charlotte picked up this amazing book recently. It was self published by some monks and their English teacher. It's an interesting window into Lao society. Most men become novices at some point in their lives, usually when they are young in order to get an education and then when they are older, just before getting married. The drawings and writing are just so amazing. Click on the image to make it bigger. (the same goes for any image on the blog, btw)
Elephant riding !
For Christmas break we went to Bangkok for a couple days, where we meet Deirdre before heading back to Laos, to Pakse in the south. We met up with the Dixson family there and started our odyssey through Champasack Province. The first place we went to was The Kingfisher Ecolodge to ride elephants. Laos is known as Lane Xang, land of a million elephants. Elephants are important part of the culture and ecology of Laos. The elephants we rode are kept by the mahouts and are well taken care of.
sii phan don
Here are pix from the Sii Phan Don, translated to English means 4,000 Islands. The island we stayed on was Don Khon near the border with Cambodia. We really loved it !! It was very beautiful and nice to ride bikes around. It is a true river culture, people use boats as the main transportation system and fishing is a very important part of their economy.
We saw the "Irrawaddy Dolphin" from a distance, there are only 100 left on the planet. We also went to boat racing festival in Ban Nakasone.
We saw the "Irrawaddy Dolphin" from a distance, there are only 100 left on the planet. We also went to boat racing festival in Ban Nakasone.
SOKDII PIMAY !!!
Happy New Year To All !
And sorry for the long delay in updating the blog. We were away and then our internet connection was down for over a week upon our return. And to those who checked the blog regularly, my apologies, you must be sick and tired of looking at those chicken heads. However, I am happy to say I now know what those round liver looking patties are: cooked pork blood cakes. Whenever I have had it it has tasted so mild I thought it was tofu. In Lao recipes it is usually served with noodles. If you look closely at the pic of the food table you will see it in the noodles, cut into squares.
We have been very fortunate to have had friends visit us from San Francisco these holidays. Gaby, Kevin, Tito, Corina, Iva (the Dixons) and our friend Deirdre. We met Deirdre in Bangkok and the Dixons in Pakse, southern Laos. We went on to ride elephants and travel by smaller and smaller boats to the Si Phan Don Islands, the 4000 Islands region of the Mekong. The trip ended in Vientiane where we celebrated New Years with a traditional Lao Baci . We'll post pictures of the trip soon.
Some images of our New Year's Celebration and Party.
Below is a slide show of the Basi ceremony. On the soundtrack is the mohkwan or village elder doing his chanting.
After the ceremony everyone gets into party mode. Beer starts flowing and the feasting commences. Madame Noi, our house cleaner, prepared all the food with her friend. All the people present were friends, family, extended family and everyone's neighbor. People kept dropping in and/or dropping out.
Mr. Johnny teaching us his groovy moves
More party pics
Mr. Johnny and one of his kids
Charlotte doing the Lao dance
with Gaby
Ms. Van (Noi's neighbor) and friends
Noi, Deirdre, Charlotte and Corina
Marc, Charlotte, Madame Noi and husband
Eliana and Corina. There are no pics of Iva or Miranda, I think they were watching a movie on the computer...
Mr. Hui (he’s got the hand signal down!) with Kevin, Tito and Ms. Van
As the night progressed Mr Hui, the night guard, and Ms.Van, Noi’s neighbor who speaks English very well, shared the microphone singing traditional Lao New Year songs. In Vientiane people celebrate three new years; the falang (Euro/American) the Chinese (and Vietnamese) and finally the Lao New Year sometime in April. Here are some video clips:
Mr. Hui and Ms.Van singing a Lao New Year song
As the night progressed the kids asserted themselves and turned the party into a jump rope free for all
Lao Lao dance
And sorry for the long delay in updating the blog. We were away and then our internet connection was down for over a week upon our return. And to those who checked the blog regularly, my apologies, you must be sick and tired of looking at those chicken heads. However, I am happy to say I now know what those round liver looking patties are: cooked pork blood cakes. Whenever I have had it it has tasted so mild I thought it was tofu. In Lao recipes it is usually served with noodles. If you look closely at the pic of the food table you will see it in the noodles, cut into squares.
We have been very fortunate to have had friends visit us from San Francisco these holidays. Gaby, Kevin, Tito, Corina, Iva (the Dixons) and our friend Deirdre. We met Deirdre in Bangkok and the Dixons in Pakse, southern Laos. We went on to ride elephants and travel by smaller and smaller boats to the Si Phan Don Islands, the 4000 Islands region of the Mekong. The trip ended in Vientiane where we celebrated New Years with a traditional Lao Baci . We'll post pictures of the trip soon.
Some images of our New Year's Celebration and Party.
Below is a slide show of the Basi ceremony. On the soundtrack is the mohkwan or village elder doing his chanting.
After the ceremony everyone gets into party mode. Beer starts flowing and the feasting commences. Madame Noi, our house cleaner, prepared all the food with her friend. All the people present were friends, family, extended family and everyone's neighbor. People kept dropping in and/or dropping out.
Mr. Johnny teaching us his groovy moves
More party pics
Mr. Johnny and one of his kids
Charlotte doing the Lao dance
with Gaby
Ms. Van (Noi's neighbor) and friends
Noi, Deirdre, Charlotte and Corina
Marc, Charlotte, Madame Noi and husband
Eliana and Corina. There are no pics of Iva or Miranda, I think they were watching a movie on the computer...
Mr. Hui (he’s got the hand signal down!) with Kevin, Tito and Ms. Van
As the night progressed Mr Hui, the night guard, and Ms.Van, Noi’s neighbor who speaks English very well, shared the microphone singing traditional Lao New Year songs. In Vientiane people celebrate three new years; the falang (Euro/American) the Chinese (and Vietnamese) and finally the Lao New Year sometime in April. Here are some video clips:
Mr. Hui and Ms.Van singing a Lao New Year song
As the night progressed the kids asserted themselves and turned the party into a jump rope free for all
Lao Lao dance
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