Sao Lao

A museum in Champassak with collection of rare and priceless Lao artifacts at the former house of Chao Boun Oum Nachampasak.

A short video clip about the origin of Boun Horkhao Padapdin. The observation of Boun Horkhao Padapdin is different for the people in Luang Prabang with the display of arts and crafts during this time at a local market.

A couple of days ago I was invited for high tea with a request to dress for the occasion. That means no jeans, no tennis shoes, and t-shirts. So how fancy will this thing be and what am I going to wear? This will be my first high tea and I am trying to not look like a tai banh nork, if you know what I mean.

Why is that when you have an important event to attend, there is nothing in the closet to wear? I will have to hunt through my tiny closet to see if I can find a dress fancy enough for the occasion. If not, then I will have to hit the shops and look for a “perfect” dress that I can wear later. There is no point to buy something new and then wear it just one time.

On another note, I’ve been thinking about what to do with Laocuisine.net. I asked myself whether or not creating a full blown site is the way to go or is there an alternative? I have some ideas of what to do with the site now. You just have to wait and see.

A documentary on Lao TV about the museum in Sayabouri Province.

A short clip from Lao TV about the origin of Boun Khao Phansa. This is to mark the beginning of the rain season in the Lao month of August and has a very important meaning and practice for Buddhism in Laos.

The life of Lao fishermen in Muang Khong, Siphandon or 4000 Island area in Champassak, Laos.

After months of waiting, I found out Alexandra Bounxouei just released her second album as of yesterday.

Even though I have never met Alexandra in real life, I am very proud of her. She is a very talented and beautiful girl. She has transformed herself from the first Laos’ teen pop idol, at the age of 16 into a true princess of Lao pop. I hope Alexandra’s music career will soar high in the international scene and make all of us proud. You go girl!

If you don’t know about Alexandra, known to many of her faithful fans as Sandra then check out her official site at www.alexandrabounxouei.com and also see her profile page at Laomusic.la. I can’t wait to get a copy of Alexadra’s latest CD and would be the first in line if I was in California right now.

Finally, I had the opportunity to see The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Narnia.com, IMDb) and was not disappointed in the way the story was presented. I do have to confess that it is a movie made for children and for those that have not read the book, grab one and dive into it before you see the movie for more viewing pleasure.

I already made up my mind not to get a DVD copy of this movie. Yes it was a good movie but it didn’t trigger a “must have dvd” signal to my brain, unlike the Matrix and The Lord of The Rings sets. I tend to collect only the movies that I will watch over and over again without getting sick and tired of them. To my surprise the other day, I noticed the only girly dvd’s I have are Ever After and Notting Hill.

It is now 2:30 AM and I am sitting here sipping green tea and listening to Epica, updating a couple of things on Laoplanet.net and posting on my blog. Yeah I should be in bed but hey it’s Friday night and the fun has just begun.

I don’t know why it is actually soothing to hear Epica or Dream Theater late at night. I like staying up late at night or get up extra early in the morning because it is quiet. When I was in high school I like to go sit on the back porch gazing at the stars late at night when everyone else are sleeping. Come to think of it I did a great deal of stars gazing too when we were in Laos and in the Thai refugee camps. I saw a shooting star at Napho camp and guess what kind of wish I made? I wished my family would be accepted into the United States. Making a wish on a shooting star must be a practice that goes beyond cultural borders?

It’s a pity though that I can’t see much stars from where I am. I should go visit Sweden to see how beautiful the night sky is over there. My Swedish buddy invited me a couple of times to visit during the Hultsfred Festival so maybe this summer I will treat myself to some great sounds. But what I really like to witness is the indescribable Northern Lights.

I’ve been debating for months now on whether or not to get Cannon EOS 350D or EOS 20D. I’ve been using Canon IXUS 400 for two years now and wanting to have a more powerful camera since I like to take pictures a great deal. I didn’t like how the photos that I took from the First International Conference on Lao Studies (May 2005) came out. The day shots were good enough but the night shots were blah…

So, I devoted some time last summer to search for a good camera review site and found dpreview.com which has a really good review article for Cannon EOS 20D. After spending sometime going over the review, I was like whoa, this baby is too powerful for me! I will have to take a digital photography course for this. I will have to visit my high school art/photography teacher this summer since she is now teaching digital photography class and ask for some tips and tricks.

There goes the old days of seeking solitude in the dark room and the occasional panic attack because you’re not sure if the Home Coming Game pics will turn out well or not. Now I don’t have to worry about not capturing that special moment because I can see what is on the view screen. There is no need for me anymore to build a dark room either. I just need to buy a big enough external hard drive to store all my photos and vdo clips.

Now which Canon EOS is the best for me? I will be happy with either one of them and will put it to great use when I go to Laos later. In the mean time I can practice taking pictures of windmills, canals, and tulip fields.

Welcome to Darly.net. I’ve decided to start blogging. This is my first test blog for the new year. Let’s see how long I can keep it up.