After the last post of April 15th, the next day I went into Vientiane to take in a few other places, a temple (wat) and one of the few restaurants that were open. Rather than post a lot of individual photos, I ran all my videos through the DaVinci Resolve editor and made one fairly short 10 minute video. You can watch it below. Enjoy.
The Farm
Pi Mai Laos 2026
Pi (pee) Mai (my) Laos translates into Happy Laos New Year, which occurred last week from about April 13th through the 18th. The official observance was from the 14th through the 17th, according to the government, with the New Year day on the 15th. I usually go out to Nai’s sister’s house near the Mekong River about 8 km from my house, an easy ride out. The celebration includes house cleaning, sprinkling and washing the Buddha statues at the various temples (wats) throughout the country, water play (a lot of it) among friends and family with buckets of water and high-powered super squirt guns, and eating and drinking, a lot of that too. Which category do I fall into? Probably visit friends, clean my house (a usual daily chore anyway, no holiday necessary), and drinking too much?? beer Lao. But not too much!
It’s mostly a fun time and it occurs during the hottest time of the year, so the water play is usually welcome. Some foreigners living in Laos hate Pi Mai, but mostly don’t mind it or actually enjoy it. Me? I mostly like it. Here are a few images from this year’s celebration.
These photos are from the 15th, when I went out to the farm along the village. Click on them 2 or 3 times to see a full size view. Below is a photo of Nai’s farm, which is usually tended by Nui.
This very new road, opened in January, out to the villages along the Mekong River was a great revelation. The old road was one of the worst around this area that you could travel on. It was a nightmare during rainy season, with no street lights, severely pot-holed, dangerous at night. This new one is great, lit with street lights and very smooth all the way out to the village where I’m going and beyond, traveling along the river all the way to Vientiane.
The new road out to the villages along the Mekong River.
Now, about the water play. Despite the great road, I’m sure I’ll get somewhat wet going out to the village. Here’s what I have to look forward to! However, I didn’t get too wet going out there, but coming back later in the evening was horrible. I got soaked, my glasses got wet ( I couldn’t put down my motorbike helmet visor because it has a dark tint), and I don’t see that well at night. I made it home OK, though.
Not looking forward to this.
OK, I got to Nui’s house without too many water problems. Here are a few of the people who were there and a look at the food we ate, along with the ubiquitous Beer Lao.
Here’s Nui along with her friend, Ms. Tia, from the neighborhood.
Nui and Tia.
This is another of Nai’s sisters, Lot, in the blue dress, with her girlfriend, Bui.
Lot and Bui.
Here Lot and Bui enjoy a little water play.
Lot and Bui enjoy some water play.
This cute young boy of about 3 1/2 years old was given to Nai and Nui by one of Nai’s nieces to look after until he’s grown up, not an unusual practice among some Lao people.
Young boy Ai (pronounced eye)
Here’s some of the food we ate. Plenty to go around for all.
Some of the food we ate.
Here’s one of my favorite Laos foods, grilled fish from the river. Yum!
More of the food, including my favorite, grilled fish.
Lot, Bui, and Ai play in the water from a hose. Looks like they’re having fun.
Lot, Bui, and Ai play in the water from a hose.
Oh-oh. Lot has a bucket full of water and she’s heading straight for me. However, she only got me wet a little bit and doled out wetness to the others around the table. This happened quite often, though, with Ai being the chief perpetrator.
Lot with a full bucket of water.
That’s all for the time I spent out at Nai’s sister’s house. The next day I went into Vientiane to check out the celebrations. I do that in the next post. I’ve also made quite a few posts from past Pi Mais. You can do a search in the search box, but here are ones from 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2021. That’s all for now. Stay tuned for more later.
P.S. Oddly enough, I didn’t get any photos of Nai. I think he was mostly in back doing the cooking. Oh, well, sorry Nai. If your curious, you can see him in the 2016 and 2017 photos by clicking on the links above.
Rain, Rain, Go Away
It’s monsoon season in Laos, when the rainy weather is prevalent from May to the end of September, so wet days are to be expected. However, if I recall correctly, last year I only had to ride my motorbike in the rain for just a few times during the entire season. This year, though, has seen me put on my rain poncho more times than I can count, and it seems that it’s been raining whenever I go to work in the early afternoon and when I ride home around 8:30 at night. During the last four days, including last Saturday, that has been the case, and the rainfall has been very steady all day and night, though only heavy for just a few periods; it’s mostly been moderate or light. Luckily, the front yard hasn’t flooded (yet) like it has in the past. This photo is from August of 2018.
flooded front yard in 2018
The view from our front porch is quite different now. The house in front of us was torn down, and this past January and February a large, warehouse-sized building was constructed, though it hasn’t been rented out yet. Here’s what the view is now.
view from the front porch
Yikes, looks like the grass needs to be cut; I’ll pay the neighbor to do it when it’s a bit drier.
[Edited on Aug. 9] Here’s a shot of the grass that the neighbor cut today.
Then, lo and behold, the sun came out!!! It’s been quite awhile since we’ve had any sunshine. This is looking at the neighbors’ pond to the side of my house. Notice the blue sky.
[End edit]
The rain has stopped for now, but more is forecast for later. This is the last day of the second term this year at Vientiane College so now we get a month-long vacation, and guess what? I won’t be riding my motorbike in the rain for awhile!
Of course, it hasn’t been only Vientiane that has had a lot of rain, and many areas are much worse off than us. Landslides and floods are prevalent throughout Laos, as reported in these Laotian Times articles: Provinces hit, Vietnamese Nationals Stranded and Landslides. Unfortunately, there’s still a ways to go in August, and September is also quite wet. Hopefully, the fatalities, and landslides and floods will stop.
Flooding on the Farm
So, I did make it out to the old place where I used to live, out on The Farm, to see what the extent of the flooding is. It’s not nearly as bad as in 2008; the water has quite a way to go before it reaches the houses, and, unless we get a region wide typhoon, I expect the river level to begin falling. (Update: I just talked to Nai and he told me that China is releasing a lot of water from their upstream dams due to heavy rain farther north. I’d forgotten about that factor, so the threat of further, heavier flooding looms.)
We had a lot of rain a few days ago, but none yesterday or today. Today is joyful–it’s been nicely sunny all day for the first time in a long time. We’ve had a few bouts of sunshine, but only for a couple of hours at a time. Maybe things will start to finally dry out. Here are a few photos of the flooding.
This was taken in January, 2015, during the dry season, and it shows what the crop land usually looks like in a view from Nai’s sister’s house.
This is what the field looked like a few days ago. Not as bad as in 2008, but the crops of chili peppers and marigolds (used in the Buddhist temples by worshipers) were wiped out.
Just up the road is this drainage channel from the rice fields. This was taken during the rainy season in July, 2016. There is normally much less water flowing through here during the dry season.
Here’s the channel a few days ago, engorged by the river.
This is our front yard during the heavy rain we had this past Thursday. All the sun we’ve had today is starting to dry it out, making for easier navigation for motorbikes.
The front yard was a soggy mess after heavy rain on Thursday, Aug. 30. It’s starting to dry out. I’m glad I didn’t have to ride through the muck–the school is still on break. Back to work on Sep. 13th.
New House, New Location
The school has been closed since April 8th, but we go back to work this week, with a teachers’ workshop on Thursday and regular classes on Friday and Saturday. I’ll be quite happy to be starting up again. The break has seemed interminable with several “disasters” punctuating the time off.
First, my computer crashed and I had to get Windows reinstalled. Unfortunately, I lost some data and applications that I hadn’t backed up, but, thankfully, most of the important data (photos, documents, etc.) were saved. Then I had trouble with my debit card at the ATM and had to straighten that out. A few nights ago, Nai had an altercation with a couple of guys who tried to rob him and he got knocked around pretty badly, but seems to be OK. He told me he gave as good as he got. The cops arrested the thugs. A few other nuisance situations also occurred to make this a less than enjoyable break.
On a more positive note, though, I’ve moved into a, literally, new house in a new location. I’m the first one to live here and the owner is still upgrading the surrounding “yard.” (Not so much a yard as a weed patch; he hauled in a bunch of dirt to cover a lot of it, and I hope he plans to add some real grass.)
Here’s why I made the move. The old place, which I used to think was paradisaical, had gradually been degraded over the last year. The owner took out the entirety of the banana grove that had surrounded the house, erected fences that encompass the land, and started raising goats. Goats, goats and more goats. There were 13 of them on the tract that the house is on, and they had free run of the place, meaning that they crapped and urinated everywhere when I couldn’t chase them off–on the front porch and the concrete walkway surrounding the house and anywhere else they could find. The smell was atrocious and the noise they made destroyed the tranquility of the place. Not to mention that the neighbors had some parties at which they used huge concert-appropriate speakers and amps and cranked up the music until it was pulsing through your body; you couldn’t escape the noise and it was impossible to sleep or to even carry on a conversation. It was like a torture chamber. A few times I just gave up and rented a guesthouse room in Vientiane for the night. Then the owner said he wanted me out by May 1st because he wanted to move back into the house. Absolutely. No. Problem.
So, Nai found this new place and it’s much nicer than what the other place had become. It’s 30 minutes closer to town and I don’t have to ride my motorbike over that completely sh**ty dirt road leading to the village. For that reason alone, I am grateful to have made the move. The house is located about 100 yards off the main road that runs between Vientiane and the border crossing between Laos and Thailand. It’s a bit noisy at times, being located near a couple of karaoke restaurants, but it’s not that bad. It’s a heavily traveled road, so the traffic noise can be disturbing. However, the karaokes are good neighbors and close when they’re legally supposed to close (11:30 pm), which not all similar places do, and the traffic settles down at night.
I was disappointed, though, when I found that the device I was using in the countryside to connect to the internet rarely works at all here. I thought I would have better reception, being closer to town, but most days I can’t connect at all. Lo and behold, there’s an internet cafe which has extremely good, fast internet right in front of the house on the main road. Not only that, since I’m near the main road, one of the local internet providers is going to run a fiber optic line to the house in a couple of weeks, so I’ll have my own connection, always on. Hooray! It costs about $37 a month and I hope it’s worth it.
Of course, since the house was unfurnished, I’ve been spending money hand over fist buying furniture and what-not for it. (Another good reason to be getting back to work, earning money again.) We hired a pick-up truck to haul our other stuff (refrigerator, stove, bed, personal items) here. There are still a few more items I have to purchase, so more money will be leaving the coffers before all is said and done. Oh, yes, the old place cost $50 a month; this one is $200. But, I guess that’s the price to pay for leaving “paradise.”
The beneficial things about living here are that it’s much closer to Vientiane, it’s on a paved road and I’ll have a nice internet connection. Being closer to the city, I’ll probably be much more inclined to go to the movie theater or to take in some cultural events on the weekends.
Not beneficial–the cost and the noise (at times). Mostly, however, the noise won’t be a problem since I’ll be at work during the day and into the early part of the night. So far, it’s not been a big problem.
We’ll see how this new place works out. I signed a six-month lease, so I’ll have lots of time to either get to like it or to hate it. More later.
This is a view of the front of the house. In the back there’s a very large field (see previous post), and behind me and to the right of the house there are some other houses-not too close, but not much to see. To the left of this photo are some fish ponds. See the next photo.
Here’s one view of the fish pond. There’s another larger one beyond it. Yes, it is stocked with fish, which the vendor in front of us grills and sells. I might end up stuffing my self too often.
Here’s another view of the pond.
It’s Time For Pi Mai Lao 2017
The end of the first term of 2017 is near–this coming Saturday, in fact. So, I’m free from April 9th to May 5th, the start of the next term. What to do, what to do? Next week is easy–it’s Pi Mai Lao or Lao New Year, the biggest Lao holiday of all. It’s a five-day affair this year because of the weekend, so the official date of the holiday is April 13th through the 17th. I’ve posted about it before here, and here, with some videos on this post. In Thailand it’s called Songkran, the Water Festival.
In both countries, devout Buddhists visit the temples, clean their houses and honor their elders. That’s the traditional part. Then there’s the water-throwing aspect. Most of the young people and many older people toss water on their friends and on strangers, along with flour, and smear faces with soot from smoke-stained pots, all in good fun. But, it can get out of hand, with people using super-soaker squirt guns or small buckets to soak friends and passers-by alike. It’s not too bad out in the countryside, where the population seems a bit more conservative than in the larger cities. In Vientiane and Bangkok and in other metro areas, it’s like a small war. The danger is in throwing water at motorbike riders and causing them to have an accident. There’s also the usual carnage on the roads caused by drunk driving, but it’s multiplied at this time of year because of all the parties. (As if Lao people needed a reason to have a party.) Below are a few photos from a couple of years back.
Khoon, Seo’s husband, has been out running around the village, meeting friends, drinking beer, and getting his face coated with baby powder, another Pi Mai Lao tradition.
Nai after his face has been powdered, one of the rituals of Pi Mai. Sometimes lipstick and soot from the bottom of pans is also applied.
Suwon and friend, the lady who grilled most of the food. Suwon’s quite a camera hound, so she’s in lots of the photos.
Suwon and Noh enjoy a real soaking.
Thankfully, I won’t be riding my motorbike back and forth to work because of our time off, but I still have to be more than extra careful because the partying starts well in advance of the official holiday. But, I have only a few more days of riding until I’ll put the bike away, mostly, until after the holidays. I’ll visit some friends on a few of the days and celebrate the New Year with them. They’re within walking distance!
So, that’s next week’s plan. After that, I’m moving into a different house. It seems that the guy we’re renting from has given us until the first of May to move out because he wants to move back in. He’s going to refund May and June’s rent money to me. Fair enough. I’ve already put a down payment of 50% for six months’ rent on another place, one that’s in a much more favorable location. Nai and I are going to start moving in around April 20th or so. We’re both sick and tired of our current house, so we think the fellow is actually doing us a favor by moving back in. When the time comes, I’ll have a longer post about why my current residence, which I used to think was wonderful, is less than optimal and about why the new house is much more to my liking. More later.
School’s Out Forever
No, it’s not; it just seemed that way. After a 5-week break, we’re back at it. I didn’t do a lot during that five weeks due to all the rain we got. The Mekong is quite high, but it’s not at a dangerous level. We’re nearing the end of the rainy season, so the level should start dropping. I did get into Nongkhai, across the river in Thailand, and I stayed in Vientiane for a few days last week during the ASEAN summit that was hosted by Laos from September 6-8. I was hoping to see some of the high level dipolomats that attended, including President Obama. I didn’t see him, but I did see his motorcade-very large, with about 15 vehicles and an extensive police escort in front and back. I waved, but I doubt that he saw me.
So, classes have started and, again, I’m working full-time, six days a week. It’s not so bad except for the ride in and back, a total of 50 kilometers (30 miles) every day. The pay is quite nice, however, and I need to save up some money for the holiday break in December, when I plan on going to Phuket in Thailand. I’ve already bought the airline tickets because they were on sale a few weeks ago, but I haven’t booked a hotel yet. I’ll do that in a few more weeks, perhaps in October, unless I find some discounts now for booking early.
Let’s see, what else has been going on? Mostly, I just sat around reading and putting on weight over the break, and I find myself getting winded going up the stairs at the school, so I’ve decided to join one of the fitness centers in Vientiane, Sengdara Fitness. It’s on my way in to school, so I’ll stop there in the mornings and do some treadmill running and weight training. I’d jog out here in the country except for the dogs that chase me, the large sand and gravel trucks that take up most of the road, the constant flow of motorbikes and the general crappiness of the road that runs through the village. It’s quite a hassle, so using a treadmill is the next best choice. I’m starting this Saturday, after classes, so I can take my time and get a feel for the place.
I also bought a new refrigerator to replace our small, worn-out old one. It’s a good-sized Samsung, but I hope there are no exploding batteries in it!
Despite the rain, we’ve had some very nice sunsets. Here are some photos of recent ones.
I like the silhouette of the palm trees and part of the temple on the road running through the village against the backdrop of the rays from the setting sun.
Another closer view of the palm trees and the temple.
Here’s one from Nongkhai that I took with my pocket camera. I was sitting at an outdoor restaurant near the river. It was getting too dark to hold the camera steady, so I set it on a flat spot on a metal railing and set the self timer to 10 seconds.
This one was taken the next evening from the same location.
From the same spot a few nights later, I took this shot of an approaching rainstorm coming in from Laos. It hit Nongkhai about 15 minutes later and it rained quite heavily for about 10 minutes, then stopped.
The Internet connection out in the country has been complete crap the past couple of months, so being away from the school for five weeks has led to zero posts. Now that we’re back in action, I can use the school’s internet (most of the time, not much better than the one out in the country) to get more posts up. More later.
Chili and (Ant) Eggs
Not your typical breakfast, but I guess it’s the season for ant larva out here. Nai’s brother, Guay, came over and “shook down” some of the smaller trees and bushes for the “eggs,” of which he got thousands. He sells them for 50,000 kips a batch. That’s about $6, which is pretty expensive, in my opinion. They get eaten as a snack, boiled first. Throw in some hot chilis and you’ve got yourself a… well, the Lao people like them, but no thanks.
Here they are, thousands of the little critters, long dead. They’ve been boiled, but you can see some of their progenitors in the mix. They get eaten too. I’m adventurous in many things, but I’m not much of a food explorer. I’ll pass on these.
Well, you sure can’t eat ’em just plain. Let’s throw in a few chopped up chili peppers for the heat and the color. Dig in.
Nai digs in. Looks like he’s thrown in a few chopped green onions, too. Happy eating, Nai, but I’m certainly not going to drink from the same glass. The same rule as when you’re eating crickets!
Pi Mai Lao Holiday
Just a few photos from the recent Laos New Year (Pi Mai Lao), a holiday called Songkran in Thailand, where there are huge waterfights to mark the three-day event. Here in the village, the water throwing was much more subdued than elsewhere. Most people ask first if they can pour cold water down your back in a ritual cleansing, so to speak. It can get a bit out of hand, with water being slung about to include any bystanders, but it’s nothing like in Bangkok or even Vientiane, where there were some large-scale water fights on the main streets.
It’s also a religious celebration, where Buddhists go to their local temple and cleanse the Buddha statues, and it’s a time for house cleaning. Most people will do a thorough cleaning of their homes, sweeping, mopping, dusting and even a bit of painting to spruce the place up.
There were a few parties at Nai’s family compound, just a five-minute walk from where we live. Lots of food, beer and loud music (too loud). And fun.
P.S. I’m just now getting this posted due to a couple of factors. First, I couldn’t get any posting done at the farm because of the extremely crappy internet connection. Finally, the new school term started, so I can make use of the school internet, which is mostly…hmmm, just OK, I suppose, but it works. However, I’m teaching on a full-time basis this term, six days a week, so I’ve been quite busy at the start. I’m finally up to par on everything, so I’m able to get this up today. Enjoy. More later.
Nai’s niece, Seo (pronounced, approximately, Saw) tends to some grilled duck. She and her husband, Khoon, live not too far from Vientiane.
The duck’s grilling and it’s just the start of all the food that’ll be eaten today.
Squid, cut up and almost ready to grill over an open fire. I don’t much care for it, so I’ll wait for the grilled fish.
Now it’s ready to grill, after marinating in a spicy chili sauce for a few minutes. Too hot for my taste buds.
Nai takes charge of grilling the squid. He’ll end up eating the most, since he loves it.
It’s finally been grilled and cut into pieces. Ready to eat!
Nai’s sister, Awl, enjoys some of the squid. She’d better get her share before Nai starts digging in.
One of Nai’s numerous cousins shreds raw papaya in preparation for making another staple, papaya salad.
Nai prepares the extremely spicy hot fixings that the papaya goes into. The mixture includes very hot chili peppers (the more, the better), tomatoes, lime juice and a fermented fish paste, which looks just awful. This concoction, when mixed with the papaya , is extremely hot, much too fiery for me. I nibble a little, but I soon rush to find some cold water. Whew!
Here, Nai uses a mortar and pestle to mix all the ingredients together. Next stop, mouth.
And, finally, everyone (except me) enjoys the papaya salad. I don’t know how they can eat something this hot and be so nonchalant about it. I guess it comes from a lifetime of eating it. Bon apetite.
Now this is more like it. I love this fresh fish from the Mekong, grilled over a charcoal flame and stuffed with a few herbs. Simply delicious. These cost about 25,000 kips each, around $3.
Nai’s brother, Guay, enjoys a couple of beers with some duck blood soup, kind of a staple (both beer and soup) on Pi Mai Lao.
Khoon, Seo’s husband, has been out running around the village, meeting friends, drinking beer, and getting his face coated with baby powder, another Pi Mai Lao tradition.
It’s been very hot lately, so what better way for the kids to cool off than to hop in a small wading pool. The boy in front on the left is Leo, Nai’s two-year old nephew. Whenever he sees me taking photos, he makes this little square with his hands, which represents the camera, I suppose. He’s quite a ham. To his left is Guay’s daughter, Muoy. I’m not sure who the boy is in the back, just that it’s another one of the cousins.
This is Pang showing obeisance to her mother, Awl, by washing her feet at the end of the day. When she finished the washing, she bowed down and placed her mother’s feet on the top of her head to show further respect. She did the same for her father’s feet.
Gaith, Pang’s father, and Awl enjoying the end of the day. I think the look on Gaith’s face was caused by little Leo, his grandson, pouring some ice water down his pants.
Gaith and Awl enjoy a happy moment. I love Awl’s smile.
Gaith, Pang and Awl pose for a photo. The end of a long day for everyone. Bedtime.
Evil Spirit Loose in Village
Forgive the paucity of posts lately, but my internet connection out here at the farm has been horrendous the past few weeks. I can barely check out my email, let alone upload any photos to the blog or, indeed, even get access to the blog. Right now, the connection isn’t totally crappy, so I’ll do this short post. The new school term begins next week, so I’ll have better access at the school than I get out here.
Ghosts in the Village
Well, something has the villagers upset. The monks at one of the temples said that people should be very cautious about “spirits.” It seems that 15 villagers have died in their sleep over the past week. Nai tells me that we must be careful of “Dracula.” Because his English is limited, that’s his word for anything that might be monstrous or ghostly. I’m skeptical. Where did the monks get this information? I’ve seen nothing in the Vientiane newspaper that mentions the deaths, which surely would have caused a stir with that many people dying mysteriously in their sleep in such a small area. If true, it should have raised an alarm outside the village. The monks urged people to visit their particular temple to seek guidance, protection and advice to stay safe. I assume people donated money to the temple. Sounds to me like a racket. At any rate, the neighbors and Nai encircled the house with twine that had been blessed by the monks. Whew! We’re safe until the next money-raising scheme.
Postscript: I rode my motorbike to a neighboring village to buy a few things at one of the chain store mini-marts and I noticed that the protective twine was strung along both sides of the road, running uninterrupted from house to house up to the end of the village, the “spirit line network” emanating from the temple in question. Our house is connected to the main line, as are other homes that are located beyond the road. It must have taken a lot of time and twine to connect everyone. I might not take this seriously, but the villagers do.
Coming up (when I have a better connection): Laos New Year (with photos), a visit to Nong Khai (with photos), the extremely hot weather we’ve been experiencing, and another Laos delicacy–ant larva (with photos). Stay tuned.