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
