I was privileged to be invited to a Lao party celebrating graduation from a university. Heather's friend, Weung, graduated the first week of September and she was throwing a party to celebrate. Now, in Laos, the person who is celebrating is supposed to do all the work...this means that if its your birthday, you're going to be doing a lot of work to make other people feel like your birthday was worth it!
So, we drove out to Weung's parent's house which was a fair distance from where we were staying in Vientiane (but apparently, it was still part of the larger Vientiane city area). Right before we left for the party, we were given these awesome coconut ice cream cones...problem was riding on a motorbike with them! Here is Amy trying to keep her's from dripping over the motorbike:
Now, when we arrived, they were just beginning to prepare the meal and setup the mats, so we got to mull around and see the place...Click any photo to see a larger version:
FOOD PREPARATION:The Yard and Surrounding Area
The meal was placed on mats spread over a part of the yard; it consisted of sticky rice (kept in these wicker baskets) which went with several dips and vegetables along with a spicy soup and rice noodles. Some of the vegetables were leaves that I had never had before... the spice in Lao is not really comparable to the spice in America because... it just isn't. Lao spice is much hotter, and its a good thing I like spicy food! Some of the food was good, but several things were a little hard to get used to. Here are some good pictures of the spread:
 |
The Lao use a lot of mint with their soups and rice and spring rolls. In the first plate of leafy greens on the left, there should be some mint, lettuce, and another bitter leafy vegetable. |
Here is the full crowd celebrating! A couple things to note: The order of people is important. Laos is a very hierarchical society that has rules and protocol for how to sit and interact between people. Those who are of higher status sit toward the head of the table. Age has a lot to do with status, but other factors affect it such as jobs, government positions, wealth, family name or status, and even being a foreigner. We are given a higher status automatically because we are American and teaching. Notice, the people at the far end are at the end of the 'table'. I'm not sure what status we are right now; I'm just really happy to eat (I was STARVING in that picture). |
This is me...trying a very bitter leafy vegetable. This was definitely before the full taste of bitterness has hit my tongue. |
And this is their home of bamboo and thatched roofing:
No comments:
Post a Comment