Lao Voices

As much as I love this temple, it’s not a feast for the eyes, it does need a lot of repair. This small building structure is at the entrance of the Wat, every time I see it, I want to peel the paint off, and put a fresh coat of paint, ivory color preferred. As [...]

I think the laws of gravity of, “What goes up must come down” doesn’t hold true anymore, it appears that gas prices are on the rise.
It’s a big commotion here at my work about the price of gas, just yesterday; I paid $3.71 per gallon for 87 gas. One of my co-workers went by the [...]

Graduation party at the park, I think this is not a typical Lao way of celebrating graduation in the US, especially if one earned a Bachelor degree; most would have it at the Civic center or indoor location with over 200 to 300 in attendance, where there is live band and partying the Lao way [...]

It seems that Laos is getting a lot of recognition lately, and appears as the next potential hot spots for tourists, another great article in The New York Times: 36 hours in Luang Prabang, Laos. I also posted more photos of A Weekend in Luang Prabang, Laos at my blog. As for those that [...]

Nike ACG pro kayaker Brad Ludden paddles a fall on the Mekong River deep in the jungle on the Laos & Cambodian borders. 7 years ago he walked away from arguably the toughest (and inaccessible) of rapids in the area. This time he’s back to tame it.

leaving is not the same as forgetting…
When does experience end? When does reflection begin? Until a people can reflect on where they’ve come from, they will spend all of time searching for where they are.
This is the Hmong refugee experience, reflected and refracted in the scope of a lyric documentary by Kao Kalia Yang, writer, [...]

This legal battle of LAOTIAN CULTURE CENTER OF NC -VS- WAT LAO BUDDHARAM made me think of an article that I read in the fist issue, April-May 2007 of Lao Roots Magazine written by Meiling Arounnarath called the Buddhist Monk Who Led, Who Inspired. He was the Ajahn that started the temple, I often wondered [...]

Scrapbook from Laos 2008 of The Today Show from Laos

Mekong sunset
In between duties for his Where in the World segments, Peter Alexander found some time to see the sights and observe the locals.
Here, the sun sets over the Mekong River in Vientiane. The 2,703 mile-long river is the 12th-longest river in the world.
But unlike [...]

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers around the world…
Thai song by Dan-D2B: ‘Kong Kwan Wan Mae’ (Mother’s day gift)

“The War of Art”, Could Your Life Be More? by Steven Pressfield seems like an interesting book that Darly has mentioned. I believed that all of us are creative in someway but we (Lao people, including myself) don’t use our full potential because there is something that is holding most of us back that is [...]

I’ve heard so many Chinese name jokes in the past, but this one is funny, I thought I share with you all.
Su Wong marries Lee Wong. The next year, the Wongs have a new baby.
The nurse brings over a lovely, healthy, bouncy, but definitely a Caucasian, WHITE baby boy.
‘Congratulations,’ says the nurse to the new [...]

I thought I was the only one that’s unsure of who to vote for, as the primary election rolls around in our area. Surprisingly, even one of my republican co-workers is unsure of her candidate, surprisingly only one left. She is not impressed, and the term that she used was that “he is not strong [...]