Happy Lao New Year
April 14, 2008 by Sim
Today is a day to celebrate the Lao new year. The starting date is on the 9th of this month but some claim that the 13 is the official date. Unlike most countries, The the New year festival can last for days. It’s been wonderful so far. I’m testing out Vimeo’s high definition video hosting to remind me of Laos. The video is set to widescreen to fit in with HD standard but somehow stretched it, I’ll fix when time permits. The quality is great on slide-shows but isn’t an efficient way to make a slide-show, check it out.
All images are Lao except the bike on field. The soundtrack is chosen at random…it should have been a cultural music. This is my last slideshow. I’ll stick with video.
Check out this Radio (RFA) interview with Lao Children learning to read and write Lao in Virginia.
I came accross a facebook list of what makes Laotians… Laotians. Very funny, although not official. 
You know you’re Lao when…
1. You can name all the ingredients that go into thum mak hoong.
2. At least one person drives a Honda (or Toyota) in your family.
3. You got more than one generation living in your house.
4. Everyone in your house eats out of the same bowl.
5. Your gramps is making whiskey out of rocks and twigs.
6. You got a jar of fermenting fish heads in the bottom cabinet FOR THUM MAK HOONG.
7. You’ve climbed the neighbor’s tree while you were younger to satisfy the appetite for sour berries and hot sauce.
8. Your last name is a bazillion letters long and everyone jacks it up trying to pronounce it.
..
11. At one point, you must have helped a dad or an uncle slaughter a duck for bloody lap.
12. You or someone close to you has a Lao nickname of “short, fat, skinny….etc.”
13. Your parents dry meat in the back yard…sometimes on the clothesline (or on a dirty steel window screen.)
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17. In the summer time u turn hella dark (almost black).
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19. Rice goes with anything.
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21. You(guys) shave your head and eye brows and rock a robe when family dies.
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26. You got a mechanic in the family.
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32. Chances r most of your parents escaped Laos to get over here.
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35. When there’s a party (birthday, marriage, baby shower… etc) usually all the adults are gambling.
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43. Funerals are long.
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47. You have pho every month or week.
48. You have a frozen fish in your freezer without a bag or anything.
49. You have too many cousins and forget their names sometimes.
50. you have a pile of flip-flops by each entrance to your house
51. you eat just about everything with your hands
52. you call everyone who’s lao “aunt” or “uncle”
53. nothing beats sitting on the floor eating sticky rice
54.You have a 40 lb. bag of rice in your pantry
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56. You’ve had to eat parts of animals they don’t even put in hot dogs
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60. The weddings you go to have 600 people in attendance
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65. If you have 2 birthdays…your legitimate birthday and the one you chose for immigration purposes (n/a for those of you born here!)
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68. you have a garden in your backyard and there are no flowers in it
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86. when you mention the word “laotian”.. your friends say “what? ocean?” …you say ur Thai to avoid any unwanted confusion
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96. You feel the need to purchase big screen TVs (Sony preferably) and Louis Vuitton Handbags to impress other laotions
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99. When you burn yourself, your parents’ remedy is to apply toothpaste directly to the burn and vicks vapour rub cures everything else
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102. You don’t use a showerhead, instead, the bucket that’s in the tub
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105. Your dad made little wooden seats out of planks so you can sit/squat a few inches off the ground (or a large plank so the whole neighbor could sit in it.)
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107. You talk to your cat/dog in Lao
108. You wrap pants around your neck to see if they’ll fit your waist
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110. The first thing your grandma asks you is, “gin kaow la bor?” (have you eaten) and anyone else who walks in the house
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114. when you eat solid square clumps of blood in your congee
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118. you have a three-headed elephant somewhere in the house
120. you own three or more DVD players
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124. You enter another Laotian’s house without knocking
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159. you run out of space filling out forms
160. your grandparents tie white strings around your wrist for good luck
161. your parents spend hrs lecturing you on one subject and keep repeating the same thing again..and again..and
again
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163. you eat crab apples or mango with spicy jaeo
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Quoted from facebook (members only)
Thanks for sharing your slide show of Laos, it has a good vibe and now I know why I want to go back, there is no doubt in my mind…I think most of us need to reconnect with out past.
I believed the list even stresses more that I’m Lao, I don’t eat Padek anymore because it gives me the itch, but I have a jar that my mom left me before she passed, I do miss her during this time of the year.
Sad that this time of year reminds of who we left behind. Hopefully, the list can bring insightful memories of who we are and help us heal better. Some of my favorite Lao dish are impossible to eat because I get a really bad allergic reaction - I get hives. The remedy for this is to chew uncook sticky (sweet) rice and wipe it on the hives. The hives will go away within seconds. Happy New Year.
Nice photos. I especially like the pictures of the children. And the mountains, the fog, and the river scenes are beautiful too. Happy Lao New Year!
The memories of our passed loved one might bring us a feeling of sadness, but at least we’re thinking of them, they are not forgotten and that’s the most important in my opinion, you might call it tears of joy.
>>The remedy for this is to chew uncook sticky (sweet) rice and wipe it on the hives. The hives will go away within seconds.<<
I’ve never heard this before, but it’d come in handy if you’re in Laos and have no medicine, made me think that the medicine is in the saliva because I used to chew some sort of leaves to patch a wound when I was little, and it healed faster. Since my last flu shot, I got real bad allergy from any salty or spicy food, especially MSG, and have to carry my medicine all the time. Can you imagine me chewing sticky rice and patch it on myself, what would Darly think? Might be a sight to look at.