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I noticed what appears to be a henna painting on my co-worker’s right arm; he recently visited Karachi and Dubai. I believed Dubai is where he had the henna painting, rode the camel, sand boarding, and smoked a hookah, all in one day.
I knew what it was because I recently read a Thai article in Koosang Koosom Magazine (photos below) about henna or mehndi, which the article describes the art of henna as the cultural symbol of love. My co-worker described the painting as the symbol of love and lust, he has scorpion henna. I asked him if it was painted by a female, and he said yes, and she is also a belly dancer. Interesting I thought and I didn’t ask him further.
According to Wikipedia, Mehndi (or Henna) is the application of henna as a temporary form of skin decoration, in South Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and Somaliland as well as expatriate communities from these areas. It is typically employed for special occasions, particularly weddings. It is usually drawn on the hands and feet, where the color will be darkest because the skin contains higher levels of keratin, which binds permanently to lawsone, also known as hennotannic acid, which is a red-orange dye present in the leaves of the henna plant.
The patterns of mehndi are typically quite intricate and predominantly applied to brides before wedding ceremonies (photo below). However, traditions in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sudan sometimes expect bridegrooms to be painted as well. In Arabic and Persian speaking countries, such as Morocco, it is done for any special occasion. It is done during the seventh month of pregnancy, after having the baby, weddings, engagements, family get-togethers, as well as many other reasons to simply celebrate an event.
According to the Thai article, this is an old age tradition, it is evidenced that Egypt were the first nation to have used henna painting because they discovered henna painting on a finger, and toe of a 5,000 years old mummy. Henna is used for hair coloring, mainly to cover gray hair, and also used as herbal medicine to treat skin problems. Therefore, it is highly likely that the tradition of henna painting later on migrated to India by means of merchants, and migration due to war.
In India, henna is first used as hair coloring, then later on used to henna body for various occasions, and mainly for beauty. It is even used for occasion such as Sati, an inhumane tradition where the wife is being burned alive on her husband’s funeral pyres, even before death, she still wants to henna painting for beauty.
High Definition videos of Luang Prabang, Laos by James Quilty at Vimeo.
- Mee and Tho’s Luang Prabang
Mee and Tho are children who live on the other side of the Mekong river from Luang Prabang, the ancient capital of Laos. Each day they cross it to sell trinkets to the tourists and help their family in the markets. We met them at a museum devoted to traditional Lao houses where they and their friends hang out and attend art classes on weekends. Mee and Tho offered to show us their Luang Prabang. This is the first of a three part series. The traditional music is from the album “Music of Laos: the Buddhist Tradition.”
- Mee and Tho’s Luang Prabang - The Mekong
On the second day Mee and Tho show us the morning market and we take a journey along the Mekong to see the Buddha caves and the waterfalls. We end the day watching the semi-annual boat races. This is the second of a three part series. The traditional music is from the album “Music of Laos: the Buddhist Tradition.”
- Mee and Tho’s Luang Prabang - Almsgiving
On the final day of our trip to Luang Prabang, Yui and I cross the Mekong to visit Mee and Tho’s villiage, Ban Xiangmen. We participate in the almsgiving to the local monks and meet with the senior monk who shows us the ancient temples Wat Chom Pet and Wat Long Khon. Ban Xiangmen is almost as rich with history and architectural beauty as Luang Prabang. This is the third of a three part series. The traditional music is from the album “Vision of the Orient - Music from Laos”
Updated Photos 5/1/2008:
Wat in the last clip at 4:43 with the animal in question (Screen shot 1) that the Thai interpreter claimed that it is a symbol that Laos was once ruled by Thai King, which I don’t believe it is the case. In Buddhist iconography, we find the lions (Singhto) in their role of dharma protectors supporting the throne of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. They are also found at the entrance of the monasteries and shrines. I think the lions here are symbolic of the bodhisattvas, the “sons of the Buddha” or “Buddha’s lions” holds true here, and not the sign of Thai King. See full explanation in comment, below are screen shots, and photos by James Quilty at Flickr.
Screen shot 1:
Screen shot 2:
You can visit his blog at Notes From Thailand, and I also added him to my blogroll for future visit.
I think a zoo is a great place to spend your day, when I was little, my mom used to take us to Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn, NY, and of course a city zoo is very crowded, and there is not a lot of space for the animals to roam around. Often times it was a brief visit because the aroma is unbearable, but we always looking forward to our next stop, which was the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, it is within a walking distance from the zoo, and also within walking distance from our old apartment building.
The advantages of living in a country is the fresh air and open spaces that the city is lacking. I’m fortunate enough to have a nice zoo in my state, but unfortunate that it’s a bit far from my house, it takes me almost 2 hours but I think it’s worth it. My mom had visited this zoo twice, and she really liked it. My dad has never visited but decided to join us this time, partly because he has never seen it before, but I think mainly because it was a place that my mom had visited, and I believed that he must have missed her as much as we do.
One thing that I love about this zoo is the walking trail, there are 5 miles of paths and the views are breathtaking.
It was a nice day, so the animals are very lazy, talking about not having a lot to do. Whist I was walking around, I’m thinking about my oldest sister that has to work so hard on preparing tax returns for her clients, as today is April 15th, but by the time she has a chance to read this post, all the mad rush is over. This polar bear was taking a nap, nice pillow by the way.
Living by the lake has many advantages, for one thing, you have a million dollar Lake view from your window, and literally, that’s how much you have to pay to live in a lake access house depending on where you are, if not more. For most of us, it’s a luxury that we couldn’t afford, and it’s something that we can forgo, for some it’s a struggle striving to live a life of luxury, and for others, they simply belong there.
As for me, I was fortunate enough to set foot in one, and I do have to admit that it’s nice, but definitely not for me, it is a luxury that I can’t afford and can forgo. As I was driving around, I noticed that there are many houses in the area for sale, either by owner or by Realtor, made me think that many of these homeowners simply bought a house that they couldn’t afford, of course luxury does come with a higher price.
As for our area, we are still on water restrictions but the lakes are up to a normal level from what I can see, and as we travel further down south, as you can see from these photos of Lake Lanier that the water level is very low, you can see the packed red clay on the shore, obviously showing sign of a drought that is hitting hard in the Southeastern part of the United States. It was cloudy on Saturday morning, but the view is still beautiful and it rained later on that afternoon.
Laos Water Buffalo, Southeast Asia, 1968, this was taken almost 40 years ago, photograph by Wilbur E. Garrett.
A herd of water buffalo charges down a dirt road in rural Laos. In Laos, one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia, domesticated water buffalo are used for their meat, hides, and milk, and also for plowing and transportation.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, “The Mekong: River of Terror and Hope,” December 1968, National Geographic magazine) Source.
In 1975 the communist took over Laos, hundreds of thousands of Laotians fled our homeland as refugees to our neighboring countries, one being Thailand, and then immigrated to various parts of the world. As I recalled while living at the Camp in Thailand before coming to the US, my parents and others had to answer a series of questions as to their profession whilst living in Laos, and of course as we all know that Laos is a predominately majority agriculture country therefore many are farmers. As farmers, one had to own water buffalo(es) for plowing the land for farming, and one of the questions that were asked was, ‘How many teeth does a water buffalo have on top and bottom?’ I think it doesn’t take a genius to answer this question, but it does take a real farmer because most of us don’t pay much attention to water buffaloes even when they’re smiling at us.
See what I’m talking about, of course those that lied about being farmers didn’t pass and this delayed their getting acceptance to the US, and other counties as well. Most people just assumed that water buffaloes have a full set of teeth on top and bottom, but the ones in Laos’s only have teeth on the bottom, please correct me if yours have teeth on top 
.
The photos from Laos reflect the serenity, the laid-back life style of the people, something that I remembered as a kid. Laos is predominately Buddhism, our Buddhist lifestyle is described as the daily living in simplicity, peace, gratitude, wisdom, and compassion, and when I see videos and photos from Laos, they clearly reflect and confirm the simplicity of life that Laos has to offer.
Of course, you hear different story from people that went back to visit, from relatives that live there, from those that came to visit, especially about young Lao girls, the accumulation of material wealth seems to be on the mind for most, and for some, sad to say that they are willing to farm on their little piece of land (yes, it means that they’d go into pr0stitution by choice), and some would choose the profession of Mia Noy (mistress) as Chinese people called it Ernai, a modern version of concubines, a new profession for women in China. Is this profession gradually inching up on Lao girls as well?
I think there is certain expectation of Lao woman, an expectation for her to be traditional regardless of how far we’ve come in civilization, there is still that tradition that bonds her and makes her somewhat of a traditional classic in my opinion. One of my male friends once said, “I once heard, ‘a good woman is like a diamond in the rough, she just needs a little polishing to shine.’” When I first heard this, I disagree and I though it was just me, so I asked two of my American co-workers, and as soon as they heard the statement, they both made a face. I guess we all thought that it was an inappropriate statement to be used with woman. I think if she is going to shine, she doesn’t need any polish because she shines from within.
The phrase is clearly a metaphor for the original unpolished state of diamond gemstones, especially those that have the potential to become high quality jewels. It is more commonly expressed in the form ‘rough diamond’. The first recorded use in print is in John Fletcher’s A Wife for a Month, 1624: “She is very honest, and will be as hard to cut as a rough diamond.”
However, the term ‘a diamond in the rough’ has a somewhat of a different meaning, it is referred to someone who is basically good hearted but lacking social graces and respect for the law. In this case, it should not be used, and referred to a woman as ‘a diamond in the rough.’ I know I wouldn’t like it if someone were to call me this. I’m wondering how other females feel about this?
When I translated an article, Sayo Laos Magazine at Laovoices.com, I realized that the owner, Ardina Mahavong is somewhat of a modern classic Lao woman, with high self-confident that is living in the digital world. She is a working “Laos” woman that’s juggling between import and export, magazine and television. She was born and raised in Vientiane, Laos, and is of mixed Lao-Pakistan descent, growing up in the modern society of Lao Muslim. You can read more about her career here.
Photo by Adam Cathro
As a person that was raised partly in Laos and Thailand, a lot of the cultural way of thinking has made me of who I am today, but growing up in the western society, I’m beginning to see that some of the ideas behind as to why we do certain things are not the best solutions because I personally feel that it should be handled differently. For example, one of the biggest things for Laotians is face, we’ll do anything to save face, and at whatever cost, whether it’s going into debts to get material processions to show off, or carrying our children’s photos to show off their achievements even to the extreme of blindly lied about the situations.
As a typical Laotian having to show respect for others, strangely I find myself agreeable even knowingly that they lied to me. I didn’t have the heart to tell them how I feel. I couldn’t bring myself to tell them to wake up and smell the coffee. I couldn’t tell them that I knew the truth, that I’m not that naïve and ignorance. I couldn’t tell them that they’re making a fool of themselves, even in my writing, I find myself beating around the bush, couldn’t bring myself to write as is but write about things indirectly, and not stating exactly what I mean…might be for fearing that they might lose face, one day this way of thinking has to change.
One of the things that I admire about the westerners is their ability to tell you how they feel, assuming that if you were to ask to borrow money from a friend, and s/he can’t help you, s/he would come straight out and say, ‘sorry, I can’t help you because I don’t have that kind of money,’ and everything is cool and when you meet again, then it’s the normal greeting of hello and that little incident has not changed the relationship between the two of you.
Sadly, I can’t say that this holds true for Laotians, forget about borrowing money, from my own personal experience of the time that I lost my job over 10 years ago, I lost many friends, people tried to avoid me even when I ran into them at the supermarket. It’s as if I had a disease that looked obvious, and they made me feel like I had one that was highly contagious. I just lost my job, which in today’s economy is very normal. I often wonder why they treated me that way; I guess they were afraid that I might borrow money from them. That was a wake up call for me, this is how many relationships are based on, friendship with conditions, it was something new to me, but as I got older and met more Laotians, I’m beginning to see the trend that friendship comes with conditions.
I wrote a post on the Lao Traditional Wedding that I didn’t have the opportunity to publish yet, which starts out as,
“Courting, Love, Marriage. If you are Laotian what better way to assure a lifetime of love and marriage than a Lao traditional wedding ceremony. It’s considered to be one of the most honorable duties for Lao girls, and most joyful for her parents to see their daughter honoring and respecting them by choosing Lao traditional wedding as a median in transition of starting a family. It might not legally be recognized as a marriage but more so of a tradition. This is to value the Lao ways, respect Lao culture, and respect our elders. The couple can make it official at a city hall prior or after the Lao traditional wedding. Some might also have a Christian ceremony in conjunction with Lao traditional wedding, which is also acceptable and at the same time, legally recognized.” (read full post here)
Of course this tradition is also shared by the Thais as well, might vary slightly in certain area but not by much. As for Lao people, it is a normal traditional wedding, but for the westerners, this might be somewhat strange to witness, below are photos from B-Vong website of a Lao Traditional Wedding.
As I was reading Laotian Teacher, Karmadiva’s post of “Why should we put up with racial discrimination,” which referred to an old article back in 2000 of “John McCain’s racist remark very troubling” On his campaign, Sen. John McCain told reporters, “I hated the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live.” … Contrary to McCain’s attempt to narrowly define “gook” to mean only his “sadistic” captors, this term has historically been used to describe all Asians.
There’re many good questions raised in her post, her very word “However, since it is targeting Asians, it is no big deal? Where is our “Al Sharpton” ? Who is going to stand up for the Asian America population? Just because we do not protest everything does not mean that we do not care how we are treated. As a member of the Asian community I find it unfair and disappointing that our feelings are not being considered and our opinions are not being heard. Are Asians underrepresented? Are we still invisible? Do people see us as a stepping stone? Do we give this impression that we are too accepting? Are we too nice? Are we indifferent?”
I know exactly what she is talking about and a lot of it has to do with how we perceived ourselves as well, just like I’m Laotian, I’m proud to tell people this, even though we might be one of the poorest countries, but really, there’s nothing to be ashamed of, that’s who I am. As for my blog, I can easily pass for a Thai blogger, obviously I wrote more about Thai because it’s mostly translated articles from Thai magazines, but I choose not to, I’m not ashamed of who I am, I kind of like the sound to it on the Internet that I’m a Laotian blogger, it’s a nice ring, in my opinion.
Sadly some Laotians don’t like to consider themselves Laotians, especially the ones that were born here. I knew of a young man that’s making a name for himself, his mom is part Thai, but was born in Laos, she considered herself Thai, even though she came to the US as a Laotian refugee, just like me, what’s wrong with telling people that you’re Laotian, that you’re a refugee, there’s nothing to be ashamed of, but that’s her choice in life and I think his mom’s mentality rubbed off on him, if you were to ask him, he is an American, and if were to ask for his nationality, then he is Thai. I believe this was what he told numerous magazines that interviewed him. Where is this thinking coming from, his parents, why Thai? Obviously ashamed to be Laotian is all I can think of.
Full moon in September seems to have different meaning to different people in different culture; many cultures celebrate with gatherings, festivals, and rituals that are intricately attuned to September full moon.
As for the people of Lanna, Northern part of Thailand such as Chiang Rai, it’s called Peng Put, Wednesday with a full moon where people would wake up at midnight for midnight alms giving to a famous Buddhist monk named Pra Upakut; it is believed that every Peng Put day before dawn, this revered monk will rise from the bottom of the sea to accept food offerings from people and he’d bring good luck and wealth to those who respect and offering him food in midnight alms giving (read more here.)
As for the Chinese people, it’s the Moon Festival aka Mooncake or Mid-Autumn festival that falls on September 25th of this year, it’s the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, when the moon is at its maximum brightness for the entire year, the Chinese celebrate this day with dances, feasting, moon gazing, and one of my favorites, eating mooncakes.
Then there’s the Harvest Moon which I recently heard from one of my co-workers, it’s the full moon in September that we’re seeing the past few nights that seems to be somehow bigger or brighter or yellower in color than other full moons. This is an illusion. The yellow or golden or orangish or reddish color of the moon shortly after it rises is a physical effect, which stems from the fact that, when you see the moon low in the sky, you are looking at it through a greater amount of atmosphere than when the moon is overhead. The atmosphere scatters the bluish component of white moonlight, which is really reflected sunlight, but allows the reddish component of the light to travel a straighter path to your eyes. Hence, all moons, stars, and planets look reddish when they are low in the sky.
It’s a personal matter, but it seems that it’s everyone’s business, if you’re still single then they’ll ask, when will you get married?
Whether you’re a guy or gal, if you’re at the age that you should be marrying (by their standard), especially in the Lao (Asian) community, most likely your friends and family members will ask you, as if concern for your well being, as to when will you get married (more likely being nosy, I believe.) Sure enough, asking once is not enough, most likely they’ll ask you repeatedly, the same question over and over…until you’re sick and tire of hearing this question…when will you get married?
It’s worse if you’re a female, and your age is approaching 30 and still single; not only will they ask you when will you get married?, but many other questions to follow such as, are you a lesbian?, seeing these questions coming at you’d make you want to run and hide.
As for those single gals and guys out there, especially in the Lao (Asian) community, people will scrutinize you to see why you’re still single, such as not pretty (handsome) enough, possibly ill manner or might not be normal, if you’re a guy then possibly gay. You obviously can’t convince anyone that you truly want to be single, that you’re happy being by yourself.
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