Nye

It’s a Lao Birthday Party

One of the things about a Lao Birthday party is that being punctual is not a big deal and the party seems to last forever. You get there whenever and there’s plenty of food. I think I got over my food allergy, funny that the last time I had it was in 2005, a reaction from a flu shot and it lasted for a year.  This time it only lasted for 6 months, and hope that it’s the last time.  It would be very sad for me not to be able to eat Lao food anymore, especially at a gathering at PaNoy son’s birthday party. There were so much food, and I didn’t do too bad after eating what’s on my plate,

the bamboo soup,

Tum Mak Houng or Spicy papaya salad freshly picked from PaNoy’s garden.

And the dessert.

Aii Nuk’s hot sauce looks much better sitting next to a sticky rice basket.

PaNoy made a seafood dish for us with freshly picked herbs from his garden, it was delicious by the way.

And the birthday boy, as you can see he had a great birthday.

And not so happy younger brother.

I was not happy with the set that I took, actually very disappointed since my camera doesn’t do too well indoor since I don’t like to use flash, and shooting at ISO 3200 would be optimal in low light situation but there’s so much digital noise that I took my chance and shot at ISO 1600 and the result was blurry when there’s a lot of movement. I had to delete more than half, but there are a few nice photos and after cropping and editing they didn’t look too bad. I still don’t have a solution to my problem, perhaps it’s better to have some digital noise than a blurry image.

Photos were taken with a Canon T2i and EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens.

17 comments

  1. I love Lao parties for that exact reason – no start or end time and you can guarantee food!

    • Hi LC, it’s great for the host also, Laotian guests bring food for the party. You could easily get 2 meals from a Lao party. 🙂

    • Hi salalao, the yellow dessert is a Thai desert called Med Kanoun or Durian seed. I’m not sure why they call that since it doesn’t taste or smell like Durian.

  6. Lao gatherings are great fun and with so much traditional Lao food too! Your photos look amazing Nye. Love the photo with Aii Nuk’s hot sauce and the khao neow basket. Do you use Flickr? It’s good to host photos for your blog with. 🙂

    • Hi Padaek, thanks for your compliment on my photos. I do have Flickr and used up all the free portion, so I haven’t been using it since. I don’t want to pay for posting the photos yet, and I do take lots of photos. I don’t prepare that much traditional Lao food at home, so it’s a great photo opportunity for me to take pictures of Lao food at the Lao gatherings.

  7. My Lao neighbors gave my an invite to the blessing ceremony of their granddaughter…should I bring a present or food/drink to the party? Any suggestions? I thought about making them something, I make origami presents and cards for all my family and friends. I know origami is Japanese, not Lao, but I kind of wanted to make the baby something. Like a card or something with origami animals or flowers to hang up. What would be good for a baby girl? Birds? Butterflies? Flowers? What color? I could make jewelry too if that would be a better present. Or just buy something lol. I would appreciate any help.
    PS I was going to dress nicely, but my hair is dyed teal. Is that going to freak everybody out??? (My neighbors really like me, I think they think I’m a little strange though.)

    • Hi Simone, it’s probably a Baci ceremony and you can bring any kind of gifts, some give money or small jewelry like bracelet or necklace. Giving handmade gifts are nice also, especially for baby girls and this way they can hang it in her room. Dress is casual to formal and your hair will be fine, just standing out a bit but it’s not a big deal. You don’t have to bring any food, there will be plenty of foods there prepared by the family. below are the links to the Baci ceremony that I attended in the US and one from France were photos from my cousins.

      https://nyenoona.wordpress.com/2008/03/31/baci-ceremony/
      https://nyenoona.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/baci-ceremony-in-france/

      • Thanks for your help! Once you told me the name of the ceremony, I was able to read up on it so I could understand what was going on. I ended up bringing an envelope with some money and making a hanging string thing with beads and origami flowers and elephants for the baby. Had a great time and some amazing food! No one mentioned my hair, but I think people were impressed I was able to eat a bunch of the spicy papaya salad, lol.

        • Hi Simone, glad you had a good time. I love attending a Lao event because of the foods and love the spicy papaya salad. The envelope with money is a norm, and your handmade gift sounds really nice. Thanks for stopping by to let me know that it went well.

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