Sao Lao

A few times in a year there would be special Morning Alms Giving in Vientiane where Buddhist monks will travel a long distance to collect food offerings from the faithfuls. I don’t quite know the name of this occasion but aunt Kian and aunt Phone have told me about it a few times.

A few weeks ago I asked Aunt Kian to take some photos of my Grand-Papa’s old house. I used to visit him often when my mother took me to That Luang market for evening grocery shopping. Sometimes she parked her motorbike infront of this house and we walked to the market and back for a short visit. When we used to live around That Luang marsh, I walked and walked to Grand-Papa’s house just to visit his wife and kids. The house still looks the same with the exception of one additional floor (top roof) the new owner recently added. Grand-Papa sold this house a few years ago. I had hope to go back and see this house in person.

I watched the contruction of the house from start to finish. Since Grand-Papa owned a construction company, he built the house himself. Watching the construction of this house got me interested in architecture. I wanted to be an architect and then one day run Grand-Papa’s company. Of course at that time I also wanted to be an ambassador like my Great Uncle, Maha Khang. He was my grandmother’s older brother. Those were the only two things I wanted to grow up and be as a kid in Laos. Now, I don’t know what I want to be at times.