Lao Voices

I was at the food market the other day and saw some mozzarella cheese made from Buffalo milk. I thought that was interesting and purchased one. It has an interesting taste, very creamy but doesn’t have the aftertaste of cow milk cheese at all. It actually reminded me of young coconut meat. [...]

I thought I add to the observation made by  Dallas from one of Darly’s picture from the Lao school.  Dallas had noticed that most of the children were girls. But from Darly’s statistics ( 0-14 years: 41% (male 1,374,966/female 1,362,945) there actually seem to be more young boys then girls. Other have also commented [...]

I thought I elaborate on what Dan Shriver asked from my last post about the Fruit & Spice Park. I am not familiar with any of the fruits mentioned and was hoping someone else can help. I think some of these may grow in the wild but never cultivated in large numbers. They are definitely [...]

When I think of New Zealand, I usually think of Lord of the Rings.  And of course the endless beauty of the natural landscape and kind people.  But I was surprised to learn that there are some Lao refugees that got resettled there in the ’80s.  Despite the beauty of the land, the Lao refugees [...]

Bob Malaythong, championship badminton player, who was born in Vientiane, Laos is representing the USA at the 2008 Olympic Games. He will be teaming up with Howard Bach for men’s badminton. It’s really nice to hear about these things once in a while. And if you ever catch the VitaminsWater commercial [...]

There will be a Lao Textile Festival held in Sebastapol, California on the weekend of July 18 - 20 th. The event will include Lao silk weaving demonstration, photo exhibit of Laos, Lao fashion show, Lao dance troupe, sampling of authentic Lao food, and a trunk show (where you can purchase the silks).
The event [...]

The 29th Olympic Games will be coming to Beijing this August. I know China is a controversial place of choice for some people, especially with it’s take on human rights and the environment. But I think as China becomes more modernize and gain more knowledge (of the environment, social equality, etc), they will change for [...]

Summer is usually the best time to do some travelling, hiking, or just spend more time being outdoors. And along with outdoor fun, comes outdoor insects such as mosquitoes and ticks. But not to worry, as you can now wear insect repellant clothing that will make the mosquito want to stay [...]

There are many unique and interesting looking flowers out there in the world. But this one has to be one of my favorite. Not to be mistaken with the sala of a Wat or anything else. The Sala flower is related to the Brazilian nut family tree. I’m not sure if [...]

On a foggy morning of November 7 th, a 901-foot container ship sideswiped the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The crash spilled 58,000 gallons of fuel into San Francisco Bay. Authorities shut down many of the beaches, including Baker Beach, Crissy Field, China Beach, Kirby Cove and Fort Point due to the contamination. [...]

This common flower, found in many Lao and Thai homes, has gain much interest in Hawaii. But there are some landscape designers in Southern California that find it attractive too. In Lao we call it, “Dok Said Tee” which translates to “the wealthy plant.” In Thai, it’s called Poysean. It English, [...]

Well I’m glad my mother’s tea recipe is helping Darly fight the sniffles. For anyone who would like to make a cup of their own, here is a list of the ingredients and picture too.  As for me, I like to chew on the ginger for the extra zing too.

Ingredients: honey, lime (or [...]

Since Ginger made a very informative post about the 529 Plan, I just wanted to mention another neat idea to save for college. These plans are similar to shopping reward cards, but the rewards is cash to be deposited into your child’s college savings fund. With every purchase you make, the retailers will deposit [...]

If anyone has visited Nye Noona’s blog lately, they will definitely notice her beautiful coverage of Elle Fashion Week Thailand. I won’t be surprise to see some of the designers cross over to the US soon. And one of the most popular fashion designer of Thai descent (here in the US) is Thakoon [...]

The cover of Town & Country’s latest travel edition features a beautiful picture of a temple in Laos. In this winter 2007 issue, there is an article written by by Laurel Delp. Delp returns 50 years later after having spent her childhood in Vientiane and Luang Prabang. There are also some really beautiful pictures taken [...]