Pi Mai in Laos

Laos. A country shrouded in mystery. Though briefly during the Cold War its name was splashed across the headlines, I doubt most people remember it today. Nestled along the Mekong valley beneath verdant carst peaks, it rests chiefly between Vietnam and Thailand, sharing borders with Burma, China, and Cambodia. A communist country, still pock-marked with unexploded ordinance left from bitter fighting, it would hardly seem like the ideal vacation spot.



Yet Communism seems to have done nothing to dull the open friendliness of the Lao people. Perhaps, as has been said, Communism was just not designed for the agricultural lifestyle of the average Lao. Whatever the reason, Laos is an amazingly relaxed country, even in the "big city" Luang Prabang.



The ancient capital city of Laos is today an ideal spot to just unwind. Most of the people still make their living in an agricultural economy, though commercialism is coming in along with the "falang" as word of Laos spreads. Still, there is plenty of traditional culture in Luang Prabang, which is a city of temples--the oldest founded in the 16th century.



We were there with friends whom Ellen had met online. Peter had been to Luang Prabang several times before, and two years ago made reservations for his own family and friends at the Apsara, a cozy little place on the Nam Kan river-side. He then asked friends to join him--and a few of us did.



The reservations were deliberately made for Pi Mai, the Lao new year (their version of Songkran).



As in Thailand, Songkran is a water festival. Water fights erupt everywhere, and going out means getting wet. Not that this is an objectionable thing in the heat of the day. Still, we were rotating through clothes to keep dry.



Everyone gets involved in the water fights in Laos, which started early--there were already kids hitting passing tuktuks and motorcycles as early as Friday before the official festivities.



Foreigners, including Westerners ("falang," the Lao term for the Thai word "farang," but used more amongst foreigners themselves than by the Lao), Thai, and others were everywhere. Thai tourists often came as much for the merit making activities as anything else--such as getting up early in the morning to give alms to the monks as they parade through the city.



In both Thai and Laos, where the people are intimately connected with the rivers, streams, and canals, water holds an especially prominent place. This seems doubly true along the Mekong, where it seems that ancient practices are mingled with Buddhist ritual.



For instance, instead of building the sand chedis in the temple grounds, along the Mekong the people build sand (or mud) chedis along the river. It is a busy family gathering, and many of the chedis are built directly on the riverbank, with a small channel dug between the chedi and the water. This apparently allows for the spirit of the river, usually envisioned as a naga, to come or go from the chedi.




There is also a festival of salting the clouds. Handmade rockets are launched from a bamboo platform. They are supposed to help encourage the rain. Here you can see one going off:



Pi Mai lasts for much longer in Luang Prabang than in Thailand, and there are numerous little festivals. One of the local villages, known for their silk, had a small ceremony and festival.



Local or regional worthies were invited as guests of honor, who were welcomed in style. After a long speech (in which I have no idea what was said), there were various dances performed by men and women, apparently from the local area.



Despite the local atmosphere (it was mostly Lao there), the tourist papparazzi were there in force.



Besides the local festivals, people also take the time just to go out. We spent some time up at the local waterfalls--a beautiful area.



They even have an Asian bear rescue center.



The waterfall itself is beautiful, but the smooth cascades below were even moreso.



Granted, the hike to the top was probably more than we had bargained on, but the view was incredible.



Unfortunately, going down wasn't nearly as peaceful! A steep gradiant with little to no real trail. We started leapfrogging down--the person in front helping the people in back, etc.



After coming back down, we headed towards some of the pools where swimming was allowed. The best had a tree leaning out that one could swing from before splashing into the pool below.



Back in the "big city," there is a carnival atmosphere on the outskirts, complete with dart games and bumper cars. Although perhaps driving around in a vehicle connected to an electric grid in the middle of a thunder storm might not have been the best idea ever.



Later in the week, there is a beauty pageant, followed by a parade with all of the contestants and anyone else who wants to join in.



The real center of the festivities, though, is the Prabang (or Pabang)--the royal Buddha.



It is taken to a local temple, where it is installed so that people may pour water over it in a ritual of cleansing. It is believed that this will help make merit for the people doing it, allowing them to get closer to their goal of attaining Buddhahood themselves.



Unfortunately, that ceremony was to take place the day after we were to leave. Still, we had a wonderful time, and I definitely look forward to returning some day, even if it is just to sit by the river and watch the sunset.

DON'T PANIC :)

Okay, I'm not sure if those are "large, friendly letters," but I just thought it might be a useful phrase to reuse these days.

For all of our friends and neighbors reading about the current situation in Bangkok, I just want to tell you not to worry about us. We are actually quite happy here in Luang Prabang, Laos, where we are celebrating "Pi Mai" with some friends. Pi Mai is the Lao and Thai New Year (also called Songkran in Thailand), with a huge water fight everywhere.

Pictures are going to take a while to load due to the connection speeds, but we'll do what we can. As soon as we have them, pictures will be up at our flickr page: http://flickr.com/photos/tatsushu.


More info as we know what is happening.

Just an update...

Not much going on, but I thought I'd try this whole updating thing.

Ellen's parents are in town, and we're going to be taking them around for the next couple of days. We'll probably visit the Grand Palace and Wat Po, but everything else is rather up in the air. It is great to have them, though.

Oh, we have another SCAdian out in Bangkok. Yay! If we can find two more, we could have an actual Canton, which is one of the smaller groups you can have in the Society. We are also all Japanese personas, which is rather an interesting stroke of luck. This is motivating me to work on a new set of armor for the SCA as well. We'll see how that turns out. Part of the problem is finding the correct materials.

We also went down to the fabric market recently. Wow! 3 meters of nice fabric (i.e. not muslin) for 100THB, which is under $3 USD, and in good widths. Silks for maybe 100THB/meter. Lots of dance costumes, Thai fabrics, etc. Didn't quite find what we need for SCA stuff, yet, but I think it probably is in there, somewhere. Lots of good Chinese silks that we could use for some Chinese stuff.

I also picked up some pearls in Bangaladesh. I'm thinking of making one of the Chinese Imperial mortarboard caps, with the dangling pearls. My only problem is that it would not be something I could use much. The Japanese don't seem to have used pearls too much (mother of pearl they used a lot), but I may be able to do something Elizabethan. Perhaps a nice doublet, studded all over with pearls? I picked up some white, pink, and black pearls there for incredible prices.

That's about it for now. We'll have pictures up about our trips with Ellen's parents around Thailand and Japan, just as soon as we finish taking them!

สวัสดีปีใหม่ (Sawasdee Pi Mai!)

Happy New Year from Thailand! One of our New Year's Resolutions will be to try to update this thing more often... Well, we'll see how that goes!

Here's wishing all of our friends and family a Happy New Year!

We're all okay (a long-overdue update!)

It's been way too long since we posted anything...we've been planning to, but with all the stuff we've been up to, it takes a while to get everything up! I definitely have a backlog I want to work through, including things like the World Gourmet Festival at the end of September. But right now I wanted to assure everyone that we are totally okay!

To simplify, Thailand is now suffering what Josh has described as a marked lack of common sense. PAD anti-government protestors have taken over the two Bangkok airports and have refused to move until the prime minister steps down. Things are getting "interesting" and we hope that the situation can be ended without unnecessary violence. To follow the news on one of the better Thai English-language newspapers, check out http://nationmultimedia.com.

Josh and I are currently in Japan-- we came here for Josh's Batto-do tournament on November 24th, and were supposed to return to Bangkok on the 27th, then turn around and fly out a week later for the US, where we will be for the entire month of December. Since the airport shutdown started on the 26th, we haven't been able to get back to Bangkok...but the airline has allowed us to rearrange things so that we will just fly straight from here to the US, a day or two early. We're missing only a couple of important things (driver's licenses, my work computer, Christmas presents) and all of those can be gotten around without much trouble. Plus, Japan is not exactly an unpleasant place to be stuck-- we've been touring some of the more obscure Tokyo historical sites, eating great food, and generally having a more relaxing sort of trip than we otherwise would.

We are in direct contact with our friends (and Josh's coworkers) in Bangkok, and they are completely safe. Indeed, our neighbor told us that in the area we live in, you would have no idea it wasn't business as usual if you didn't read the papers! The foreign community is not a target in any of this-- it is internal Thai politics, unlike the truly horrible tragedy that happened in Mumbai. The important thing is to avoid areas where the demonstrations are happening, as tempers are running high.

One of the ways in which we have been letting off steam is reading an "alternate" account of Thailand's politics at http://notthenation.com, a parody site based on The Nation newspaper. Some of the material will probably only be funny if you live in Thailand, but I suggest you check it out. I hear Bruce Willis is in the Suvarnabhumi Airport vent system right now...and let me quote the best article of all, in case you are worried about us being in Thailand from here on out(here's looking at you, Mom):

(http://notthenation.com/pages/news/getnews.php?id=577)

World Media Insists All of Thailand On Fire, All Thais Dead

BANGKOK - Despite the relative calm following PAD intrusions into several government offices, the world media continue to claim that the country has collapsed into anarchy and chaos. As ordinary Thais go to their daily jobs and lives, The New York Times writes that the “government has been shut down and social order revoked by an organized army of over a million protestors.” Even though only three schools near the Government House have suspended classes, CNN has placed all Thailand-related stories under a flaming banner reading “Civil War in Siam,” with story leaders describing city-wide power outages, roving mobs of homicidal anarchists, and rumors of an inevitable military intervention by “UN peacekeepers.” Even with the actual death toll at 0 and the number of severely injured at 0, FOX NEWS continues to stand by its story that Parliament was burned to death in its chambers, Communists are fighting monks in running street battles using tactical nuclear weapons, and every Thai child is being raped by a foreign pedophile who supports Barack Obama.

Krabi Vacation

So, this past weekend we experienced some of the pleasures of Thailand's western coast along the Andaman Sea, staying at Le Passe-Temps, a boutique bungalow resort run by two French gentlemen, one of whom practices Taichi with Ellen here in Bangkok. They had a chance to practice together out in the surf our first evening there.



The bungalows are out in Ao Thalen, on the western outskirts of Krabi, are truly out of the way, surrounded by tropical trees and jungle foliage. A walk along the beach will find you surrounded on one side by thick mangrove trees, with the deep blue ocean on the other. During low tide, you can walk far out onto the flats, even wading out to the local weirs, if you are up to it.



Just down the road from Le Passe-Temps is a sea-kayak rental and tour company, where we took a breathtaking tour of the mangroves. A kayak or similar craft is required to get into the mangroves, you should go at high tide, and you'd better have a guide or you could easily get lost. The walls of the karst cliffs towered over us, providing views that you only ever see in movies and nature documentaries.



Dappled light falls down through the broad leaves of the mangroves and the towering limestone walls, upon which are inscribed enigmatic paintings from travelers long since past. Within various walls and crevices are stashed the remains of some of those travelers--the sea gypsies who would journey up and down the south-east Asian archipelago.



The trees themselves were teeming with life. From birds, to lizards, and monkeys deep in the mangroves. There are even gibbons, though they are usually too high up the cliff walls to see well. The monkeys--long-tailed macaques to be precise--will actually jump on the boats as they pass by, searching for food. Of course, that's better than the monkeys at our next adventure, where they will jump on you!



The macaques at the Tiger Cave Temple were quite brazen, jumping on people and doing whatever they could to get food, water, or just something shiny. With the steep steps up to the top of the mountain, you are always at eye level with one or more of them, though they do scatter if they see you act dominant. They have, however, learned that young Thai women are easy prey, and seem to figure most other women fall into the same category.



The thieving monkeys can hardly stop you from enjoying the view from the steep sides of the mountain, though. Unfortunately, I only made it up about 3/4 of the 1200+ steps before night began rapidly descending. Ellen had stopped even further below. I wouldn't mind trying it next time, just starting a little earlier. After all, here is the goal:



See the golden spire at the top? From the gray spire at the bottom to the gold stupa at the top--that's the goal. It is supposed to be an impressive view, especially at sunset.



The next day, we got up early. A walk across the flats really can bring you right up to those nets, as you can see here. The birds (I think they might be sea swiftlets--the ones that make the edible nests) also seemed to like to partake of these vantage points.



Walking along the beach, one of the dogs at the resort decided to follow us. Robert enjoys exploring the beach, and really seemed to enjoy digging for crabs.



Of course, once you find it...



...what do you do with it?



This really was a wonderfully relaxing vacation... the only problem is the stress of leaving it all and coming back home. Oh well. The coconuts, the oil palms, the rubber trees, and the mangroves--and everything that makes them their homes--will still be there when we return.

A note about voting!

So last night, Josh and I voted in the 2008 US Presidential Election. We were very pleased at how easy it was, actually-- a week or so ago, we each received an email with instructions on how to print and mail our absentee ballots! It was simply a matter of printing the ballot, filling it out, and wrapping it in the second "envelope" sheet of paper, which then had to be signed and dated and witnessed. Pop it in the APO mail, and voila! (Before leaving the US, we had filled out change-of-address forms and overseas voter applications...it's funny, I don't remember giving them my email address, but I guess I did!)

For some extra fun, the Democrats Abroad in Thailand have come out with a couple of Obama T-shirts: one says "Obama" in Thai letters, and the other says "Bangkok for Barack" in a very Thai (and red, white, and blue) style. Awesome!

Everyone else, remember to vote in November!