Sao Lao

It’s time to wrap up the long story of my visit to Laos. I only have a few posts left and would have been finished with all of them by now if I didn’t get distract by other sites. I miss posting at my own site but sometimes I have to do what I must do, to promote the other more important sites like Laoplanet.net, Laovoices.com, Laomusic.nu, and Laocuisine.net. I have not even started the rebuilding of Helplao.org. I should do that this weekend.

Anyway, enough with the rambling. The last time I was talking about the visit to Vang Vieng. On our way back from Vang Vieng, we took a different route and had to cross a river which I can’t recall the name. I wanted to get back before the sun goes down so I can get ready for dinner with my buddy, Fong. We made a stop in Banh Kern, a home town of my mother’s family. Her mother was born there, so was her grandmother and her great-grandmother. I have been there when I was in pre-school and can’t recall much of the town, except for the garden, the farm, the river, the playground, and the house of my great-grandparents.

We had to take a little detour because there is a new bridge being built at the moment. The men on the buk told me to take pictures and recording of them. They said by next year there won’t be a buk anymore and they won’t be there.

Banh Kern is on the other side.

Vehicles lining up for a spot on the buk.

The small buk is for pedestrians and motorbikes.

The big one and only one is for cars and trucks and extra people.

The power behind the buk, one to push and one to steer the buk.

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What is the myth with Sao Banh Kern and why are they so sought after? Perhaps it is because of the salt in Banh Kern. This is a song for all those guys out there looking for Sao Banh Kern. Sorry I was not born in Banh Kern, but my mother, my Grandmother, and my Great Grandmother are from there.

I had a chance to spend a day in Vang Vieng. My mother wanted to see her old work place when she was a teenager. She used to work at Vang Vieng Hospital as a nurse. She also wanted to see the places she used to hang out. We went to see my Grandmother’s old house as well. As a wife of a soldier my Grandmother had houses all over Laos. When her husband was stationed in Vang Vieng, she had to move there for many years. I wonder how my mother felt when she saw the old house. She said the toilet is the same one that they built. Like most Lao parents that came to the US, they kept so many secrets with so much sorrows in their hearts. I can only look at my mother’s face and try to read her mind.

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