This little village boy watched with much anticipation and excitement as the men prepared a home grown pig for the feast for my parents memorial service.
Every single part of the pig is used and even the blood did not go to waste.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
LAO VILLAGE DELICACY
I think I'll pass on this favorite delicacy and save my share for the villagers who find these little frogs a tasty treat. I could only wonder how much time it must have taken a poor little lady to hunt these frogs down in the cracks of the soil. I don't know how it was cooked cause it had all been consumed all too fast.
GOT TUM MAK HOUNG?
Fresh green papaya....it was begging to be picked and "phucked." and "tummed." Tum som mak houang (green papaya salad) is a favorite Lao dish enjoyed throughout all regions of Laos. For "farangs" or foreigners, it may just be a bit too spicy and too potent in flavor, because the secret ingredient used in making this dish is "padek" or fermented fish. For me, I was in papaya heaven....
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
A TRAVEL BACK IN TIME TO LAOS
The year 2008 was fast approaching in a couple of days.... yet as we travel on the road less traveled heading towards a small and remote village of Paktapan in the province of Salavan, Laos I feel as if time has been set back a hundred years. Brace yourself, save yourself. A short 8 kilometer ride will turn into an hour ATV excursion ride of your life. It's a very fun and interesting ride as we stop traffic for our fellow water buffalos, livestocks and domesticated animals as well. You will be amazed at the little huts on stilts that dot the main red dirt road. Finally, we make it to my parents home and the land where I and my brothers and sisters were raised until our escape to the Sates in 1980. 
I had the greatest blessing to be able to return to Laos with my family, including my older sisters Noi and Noe and baby brother Vonkey. It has been 3 years since our parents have lost their lives and we were going back to their home village to do a memorial service for them and we especially wanted to include their brothers and sisters and cousins. We had a beautiful service in memory of them. I believe we had the pleasure of entertaining the whole village. Tui was the guest of honor and greatest main attraction at the event as they have never seen a white guy before, let alone a big white guy who speaks their tongue. He had a swarm of young audiences who wasn't afraid to speak their tongue and ask him many silly questions regarding his size and stature.
We had the sweetest time spent with our relatives and all of the villagers. Even if the lodging was not 5 stars the service and people there were 5 stars plus. Our children did not seem to mind the squat down toilet in the out house and Lela especially was fond of the home made shower in buckets that she asked me why we couldn't have this kind of shower in the States. However, MIss Kayley was not very enthusiastic about her stand up bath time. MIcheal J had his fair share of admirers as well, but the girls wondered why he would not talk to them. mmmmm...... Could it be because he does not know how to talk to them in Laotian?? Lela truly enjoyed handing out her old clothes to the little girls in the village. She had such a joyous beam in her smile and found it such a delight to see these cute little girls wearing her Sunday dress. My nephew Brandon got a kick out of seeing a 3 year old wear his size 7 underwear and than jumped in the water with just his undies to fetch some fish. Even little two year old Ella got in the spirit of giving as she handed out some of her own candies to the village kids.
The experience on this special trip has taught me much about love, life, giving, sharing and caring. I cannot say enough how little these relatives of mine and all of the village people had in their lives. Only a handful had a paid salary which was between $20 to $100 a month. The rest of the villagers depended on their live stocks and rice farm for their families living needs. They had very little and gave what little they had when they came to pay their respect at my parents memorial service. It touched my heart to see all who came brought forth with them a small bag of rice that they had milled themselves as a token of their gift and love for us. And for those that could afford it, they included $1 worth of money in their rice gift. And all these rice gifted by the villagers was the very rice that would feed us in addition to other foods that we served at the service. I was so honored to partake of the rice that was planted, cultivated, harvested and milled by the villagers very own hands that I happily consumed it despite the fact that it wasn't the whitest rice I've eaten. It sure smelled wonderful though.
Thoughts of their plight in life seemed to linger in my mind... I especially felt for the little children of the village. What chance and opportunities do theses children really have compared to our own children? Micheal J's school sends out a letter to discuss his four days of absence from school while no one cares that a little 8 year old cannot attend school because she has to stay home to tend to her little 3 year old brother while her parents are working the family's rice farm. An 11 year old boy has to quit going to school because there is no secondary school in his village, and the nearest secondary school is two hours away. Yet he cannot attend because it would cost money, money that his family doesn't have to send him off to secondary school. And they also need him to help farm the rice. And so continues another generation of poor rice farmers.
In Laos there is no law against the number or age of people riding on motorcycles... so Micheal J, Lela and cousin Brandon were able to all catch a ride with my cousin Lair who is actually 21!!!! She looks smaller than even Lela! Notice Kayley in the background wanting to catch a ride too!
Goodness~~I wish I could give some of my BABY FAT to my cousin Lair! Look at her tummy and mine!!! YIKES!
Micheal was very well received and loved by my aunts and uncles and all of the villagers. They embraced him by tying a string around his wrist and offering words of blessings.
I had the greatest blessing to be able to return to Laos with my family, including my older sisters Noi and Noe and baby brother Vonkey. It has been 3 years since our parents have lost their lives and we were going back to their home village to do a memorial service for them and we especially wanted to include their brothers and sisters and cousins. We had a beautiful service in memory of them. I believe we had the pleasure of entertaining the whole village. Tui was the guest of honor and greatest main attraction at the event as they have never seen a white guy before, let alone a big white guy who speaks their tongue. He had a swarm of young audiences who wasn't afraid to speak their tongue and ask him many silly questions regarding his size and stature.
We had the sweetest time spent with our relatives and all of the villagers. Even if the lodging was not 5 stars the service and people there were 5 stars plus. Our children did not seem to mind the squat down toilet in the out house and Lela especially was fond of the home made shower in buckets that she asked me why we couldn't have this kind of shower in the States. However, MIss Kayley was not very enthusiastic about her stand up bath time. MIcheal J had his fair share of admirers as well, but the girls wondered why he would not talk to them. mmmmm...... Could it be because he does not know how to talk to them in Laotian?? Lela truly enjoyed handing out her old clothes to the little girls in the village. She had such a joyous beam in her smile and found it such a delight to see these cute little girls wearing her Sunday dress. My nephew Brandon got a kick out of seeing a 3 year old wear his size 7 underwear and than jumped in the water with just his undies to fetch some fish. Even little two year old Ella got in the spirit of giving as she handed out some of her own candies to the village kids.
The experience on this special trip has taught me much about love, life, giving, sharing and caring. I cannot say enough how little these relatives of mine and all of the village people had in their lives. Only a handful had a paid salary which was between $20 to $100 a month. The rest of the villagers depended on their live stocks and rice farm for their families living needs. They had very little and gave what little they had when they came to pay their respect at my parents memorial service. It touched my heart to see all who came brought forth with them a small bag of rice that they had milled themselves as a token of their gift and love for us. And for those that could afford it, they included $1 worth of money in their rice gift. And all these rice gifted by the villagers was the very rice that would feed us in addition to other foods that we served at the service. I was so honored to partake of the rice that was planted, cultivated, harvested and milled by the villagers very own hands that I happily consumed it despite the fact that it wasn't the whitest rice I've eaten. It sure smelled wonderful though.
Thoughts of their plight in life seemed to linger in my mind... I especially felt for the little children of the village. What chance and opportunities do theses children really have compared to our own children? Micheal J's school sends out a letter to discuss his four days of absence from school while no one cares that a little 8 year old cannot attend school because she has to stay home to tend to her little 3 year old brother while her parents are working the family's rice farm. An 11 year old boy has to quit going to school because there is no secondary school in his village, and the nearest secondary school is two hours away. Yet he cannot attend because it would cost money, money that his family doesn't have to send him off to secondary school. And they also need him to help farm the rice. And so continues another generation of poor rice farmers.
In Laos there is no law against the number or age of people riding on motorcycles... so Micheal J, Lela and cousin Brandon were able to all catch a ride with my cousin Lair who is actually 21!!!! She looks smaller than even Lela! Notice Kayley in the background wanting to catch a ride too!
Goodness~~I wish I could give some of my BABY FAT to my cousin Lair! Look at her tummy and mine!!! YIKES!
Micheal was very well received and loved by my aunts and uncles and all of the villagers. They embraced him by tying a string around his wrist and offering words of blessings.
I'M BACK.....
I feel as if I am starting a whole new fresh blog, because it has been so long since I've updated my blog. Callie, this one's for you:) heheha! I'm sorry I've been MIA for a good 5 months I believe. LIfe comes at you so fast I think. The past few months we've celebrated Kayley's first birthday, Lela's 8th and Micheal J's 11th birthday. Thanksgiving and Christmas came and went in a blink of an eye. Life is not like a movie where we can rewind it to different chapters. Once it slips us by than that's it. We only have memories and sometimes even fragments of those precious memories etched into our brain. We only have one chance and one lifetime to create a movie of our life's story. And here I continue the story of my life.......
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