Graduation party at the park, I think this is not a typical Lao way of celebrating graduation in the US, especially if one earned a Bachelor degree; most would have it at the Civic center or indoor location with over 200 to 300 in attendance, where there is live band and partying the Lao way that can go on till midnight.
Of course, this is a very small gathering for 2 people graduating party, only family and close friends attended, this was yesterday, family and friends attended the graduating ceremony in the morning, and had the party in the afternoon.
One thing that I can always count on at any Lao party or gathering is Tum Buk Houng, if anyone were to ask me what is Lao food, I would say “Ping Kai, Tum Buk Houng, and Sticky rice” (Lao style BB chicken, spicy papaya salad and sweet rice). Of course, I was busy eating and only took the picture of Tum Buk Houng.
This is a huge fish, Lao Canadian called it Pa Har Hoi, meaning that if you go fishing and catch one of this Striped Bass, you’ll be fined $500 each and that is because Lao people don’t follow the rule, such as catching the ones that are too small, or catching too many. This Striped Bass was for Pun Pa, as you can see the mountain of vegetables.
I met a Tai Tai that has interesting stories; he said that since I love taking pictures, I’d definitely love Laos. He once visited a village of the Lao Ka and the men wear huge earrings (this seems so intriguing to me, I can’t wait to see, maybe Flickr would do it for now) and he stayed with one family and they have 6 dogs. He doesn’t know if this still holds true because time has changed, but after a meal, they would leave the dirty dishes out and the dogs would come up and lick it clean, then they would put the dishes away. He said that the first meal was not bad because of not seeing and knowing this, but the second and third were harder to swallow, I could imagine. I’m glad that he told us this story after we ate, he did try to tell us the story of how they make Padek, but we asked him to wait until we finish eating and he never did come around to that story.
I asked him about the Lao phrase ‘Hoi or Loi’ that Dallas Lao once asked, and he said that it should really be Hoi because that is how it’s written out in Lao wording, but when the people see the number of 100, then they say Loi, makes sense to me, sort of like a Lao slang. I wish I had a recorder with me, very interesting person indeed.
Nye Noona 