Lao Voices

Additional photos from the naming ceremony of Phonsikhay as Lao cultural village of Pakse, Champassak Province.

Ban Phonsikhay, home to one of our book box library has been named a cultural village of Pakse or Ban Wattanatham. There are several crierias that a village must met before being given a certificate of recoginition. The ceremony took place on the school ground and was covered by Lao National Television. Below are photos [...]

Many villages in Champassak Province would celebrate Boun Ban or Village Festival on an annual basis if they could. When they is a village festival, the people would make khao phoon and would feed anyone that would make a visit to a home. Usually when one village will have a boun and then the next [...]

More photos from Wat Phu Festival 2008. The next festival will take place in February of 2009 so mark your calendar and get there. This is a place that must be visit by all khon Lao, even for once in a life time. As a little kid I had a dream of seeing this historical [...]

On the last day of Wat Phu Festival there is a Morning Alms Giving with long lines of Buddhist faithfuls, eager to make merit on this special day. Hundreds of people would travel from all over the country to take part in the festiviy. They would camp out the night before on the holy ground [...]

Here are the rest of the photos from NongDong Elementary School in Muang Phone Thong, Khang Champassak.

NongDong Elementary School is located in Muang Phone Thong, Khang Champassak, not too far from the Lao/Thai border. The name is special to us because we (members and visitors) to the site (formerly Laoplanet) donated a book box library to the school in March of last year (see photos in the Gallery). We now have [...]

A documentary film about Lao New Year celebration in Philadelphia.

This rice paddy belongs to a Hmong family; I posted some photos at my blog last week, but they have gotten taller today, and they will be ready to harvest by mid August. It is also the same rice paddy that I talked about at the old Laoplanet forum, but never have the courage to [...]

Wat Phou is a ruined temple complex in Champasak, southern Laos. It is known for its Boun, also know as Wat Phu Festival and usually takes place on the full moon of the third lunar month (usually in early February for 3 days). Pilgrims from near and far come for Boun Wat Phu, and the [...]

Pa Suam waterfall is located in the coffee capital of Laos (Bolaven plateau) and home to many ethic tribes. This beautiful waterfall is a perfect place for a picnic. You can stroll around and check out the various ethnic villages and can stay overnight at one of the tree house type bungalows or opt for [...]

A few weeks ago one Japanese NGO traveled to Champassak Province with their mobile clinic to provide free health services for those that were living too far from a hospital and also can’t afford certain procedures. There were two teams, one is a surgical team and another a dental team. The two teams visited several [...]

Some might think that I’m a bit weird that I think Jury duty is interesting, I recently served and became $52 richer. This is not my first time, actually third time, and second time for this county. My first time was in Queens County, in Jamaica courthouse, Jamaica, NY. I was only in my early [...]

A documentary film by Lao TV Canada about Dr. Khampha Sidavong.

Video by Daniel Braha, description: We take a trek through Laos to visit some hill tribes. Watch a kid eating a delicious chicken head and see how much fun paper airplanes can be!