Snow designs

I usually say this several times/ year - wow, it's been a long time since I posted something. I also decided to try these new designs. I kinda like this mountain design right now. While I was back in the US over the past two months, I kept reflecting - I haven't seen snow for ages (The last time was on the train in Oregon in 2003), and the last time I was out in it was in 1995.

I was standing at REI in Seattle, after having bought socks (strange thing to buy since I don't wear socks very often in Lao, but the cold season is approaching) and saw people with their purchases of snow gear and cross-country skis. I suddenly got a great yearning for staying in the US and engaging in snow sports.

The feeling didn't last long - and I'm back here in Lao. In spite of the end of the rainy season (and when the air should turn cold for several months), the temperatures were sweltering yesterday.

A Plane Old Shadow

Plane and shadow racing to land first.

Taken for Shadow Shot Sunday

Camera Critters: A Xieng Khouang Lizard

Just happened to be walking by this house and looked up - and saw this lizard eying me, wondering if I was good to eat, or just too large to be worth the trouble.

This is my contribution to "Camera Critters", creatures from around the world.

Road

Photohunter #261 is "Road."

This used to be the main road between Xieng Khouang and Paksan. Over the past few years, they have built a new highway, which is still a dirt road but a bit wider. Vehicles can go faster, leaving huge clouds of dust behind them. But this road, which meanders through small towns and through the rice fields is from a different time, and a slower mind-set.

My contribution to  Photo Hunter

Lao New Year in Kham District

This past week has been devoted to Lao New Year. I've been up in Xieng Khouang Province, where most of my Lao friends live. I enjoy making the rounds of relatives, parties at the offices of Lao development partners, attending very ceremonies, etc. This often involves eating a lot and drinking BeerLao.

The skies threaten rain, a bit early and a bit heavy for this time of the year. The mornings start off very foggy, followed by clear skies in the late morning/ early afternoon. In the late afternoons, the thunderclouds roll in, followed by a storm for several hours.



Thunderclouds moving in.



We climbed partway up the mountain to make offerings to Am's parents and clear the area around their monuments (which contain the ashes). We hurried back across the fields as the sky started to get darker.



We stopped at the Buddhist temple in Mun Village, where Am was born. During the war, the B52s made daily bombing raids. Am remembers running across the field to take refuge in this temple. One day, a plane dropped a 250 lb. bomb, which landed next to the temple - but did not explode. The villagers revere the Buddha image in this temple for its ability to protect people.



View from the back of the temple, past a prayer flag.



The roof and monument were replaced on the temple six years ago.

We returned to Phonsavanh, meeting the thunderstorm along the way

That's my contribution for Skywatch Friday - other pictures from around the world can be found at Skywatch Friday.

Temple guardian

Chinese Dragon, originally uploaded by c_p_lew.

Two lions guard the entrance to the Chinese Temple in Pakse. It's a beautiful place and follows the Feng Shui rules, with river and mountains in their correct places. A statue of Kuan Yin, the Boddhisattva of Compassion, looks out over the Mekong.

I hope this qualifies as a critter! In any case, this is my contribution to "Camera Critters", creatures from around the world.

Shadows

Carved wooden panels and their shadows

Taken for Shadow Shot Sunday, #151

Dok Khun and tree

Dok Khun and tree, originally uploaded by c_p_lew.

This time of the year, the 'Golden Showers' trees are displaying the thick ropes of hanging yellow flowers. When I see the flowers, I know that it is really hot season - then I feel the heat and feel lazy.

Posted for Photohunt #260.

A few skies from Laos

It's been a while since I've posted. I've been on the road, doing work for various projects. Just returned to Vientiane today after three weeks of travel. The weather has also been uninspiring sky-wise - constant rain and extremely cold temperatures for most of March, which is really unusual for the hot season.



One of the few evenings when the sun was out.



Sunset in Vientiane. The government has been renovating the whole waterfront area by the Mekong, part as flood prevention, part for beautification. Many people are drawn to the river, to walk out on the sandbars during the dry season.



Just the past few days, the weather has returned to normal, reaching 100 F during the day. The water buffaloes only venture out in the late afternoons.

That's my contribution for Skywatch Friday - other pictures from around the world can be found at Skywatch Friday.

snails for sale

snails for sale, originally uploaded by c_p_lew.

A split second in time. Someone caught her attention, lighting up her face at the end of a long day.

This photo was entered into the I Heart Faces photo challenge – http://iheartfaces.com

Last Look at Earth in 2010

Last Look at Earth in 2010, originally uploaded by NASA Goddard Photo and Video.

It's hard to imagine that we all live on this planet, floating in space. The ground may feel hard under our feet but when we step back, so many miles into space, we see the reality of our existence.

I hope that in 2011, people will wake up and take care of our home. It really is all we have right now.

TBR time again and resolutions

I've read about 80 books this year (and the year isn't over yet).... On the TBR list, I've read 14 out the 36 books I wanted to read this year, and I'm working on "Physics of the Impossible" which I'll finish this week. So what am I going to do for this year....

I'm going from Left to Right for my Primary List:
1. Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks
2. Post-War Laos by Vatthana Pholsena
3. To What End by War Just
4. Buddha by Karen Armstrong
5. A Brief History of the Human Race by Michael Cook
6. To Live Again by Robert Silverberg
7. The Granta Book of India
8. Shadows on the Hudson by Isaac Bashevis Singer
9. Spook Country by William Gibson
10. Life and Death are Wearing Me Out by Mo Yan
11. Hotel of the Saints by Ursula Hegi
I'll skip the Thai-English dictionary which is next along the line
12. Invisible Nation by Quil Lawrence

My Alternative List (continued from 2010)
1. A War of Nerves by Ben Shephard (I think this is the third year. It's really interesting. I don't know why I haven't finished it, well, other than the subject content is so heavy)
2. Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen (slow reading but good for the soul)
3. What I talk about When I talk about running by Murakami
4. Bleak House by Charles Dickens
5. The World without Us by Alan Weisman
6. 2666: A Novel by Roberto Bolano
7. A Grand Delusion by Robert Mann
8. BuddhaDa by Anne Donovan
9. The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene
10. The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama
11. I am a Cat by Soseki Natsume
12. Slan by A.E. Van Vogt

Audiobooks:
1. Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder
2. Await your Reply by Dan Chaon
3. Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
4. Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee
5. Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem
6. Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow
7. Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco
8. The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli
9. Some Sing, Some Cry by Ntozake Shanga, Ifa Bayeza
10. Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart
11. Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey
12. The Surrendered by Chang-Rae Lee

Let's see how it goes this year! TBR is stimulated by "The Reader Challenges" blog, which seems not to want to load right now. Addendum: Here's the link!

My other resolutions this year? Try to enjoy working part time and not take on extra work (even though what I do for my consulting is only what interests me), try to get back into my writing habit. Exercise every day and take care of my health. Don't procrastinate (ha! see how long that lasts...)

Sky Watch Friday - 5 Nov 2010

The rains have finally stopped and we're now into cool season. I enjoy the weather a lot - about 10 - 15 degrees C in the mornings. It's nippy as the houses don't have heating so it's great to get out for nice morning walks.

Another benefit is the glowing later afternoon light. I don't know why the light takes on this characteristic but it's beautiful. A week ago, I was in Pakse and took the above photo of an abandoned house, with a wisp of cloud over it. 

For the past eight months, Vientiane has been working on the waterfront park. It used to be a mostly untended strip of land by the river, maintained by vendors who built small temporary shacks for cooking and selling food and beer to enhance the experience of viewing the sunset over the Mekong River.

This year, Vientiane is celebrating the '450 year road,' of its existence so the park is part of the beautification of the city. Earlier this week, the eight-meter tall statue of King Anouvong was placed on its base. Like anything out of the ordinary, lots of people came to the park to watch the workers weld the King to his pedestal. Well, I was there too!

And under a threatening sky, a family of five people all on one motorcycle.

Hope you enjoyed my photos. This is my contribution to Skywatch Friday, whose members post pictures of the skies around the world.

This is my world 2 Nov 2010

The rainy season seems to be finished and now we're into the cool clear days of winter. I'm back in my morning run/ walk routine and passed a neighbor's house. Their business is khao lahm, a confection made from sticky rice, black beans, sweetened coconut milk and shredded coconut - steamed in bamboo tubes. When the cooking is done, the vendors strip off the outer layer of the bamboo so when you buy it, you peel back the inner layer of bamboo to eat the sticky rice, which has been colored purple by the beans and is very sweet. Yum.

This is another view of the outdoor kitchen:

A few photos to contribute to That's My World Check out other pictures from other people's worlds!

Wordless Wendesday

15 October 2010

The end of the rainy season puts on quite a show - dramatic clouds over the Mekong River, looking towards Nakorn Phanom, Thailand.

This little boy was looking out towards Thailand as well. I think he was looking through the wrong end of the toy field glasses. I captured him at a temple fair. The end of the rainy season is also the end of Buddhist Lent. All along the Mekong, people from villages and cities celebrate by holding boat races.  Temple fairs and gathering of merchants selling everything accompanies the boat racing.

There still are periods of rain. I went out to some villages near the Lao - Vietnam border this week. There were floods in those areas last week - in fact, the other side of the border on the Vietnamese side had some of the worst flooding in years.

Buddhist Lent ends with the next full moon. People are watching the moon and counting off the days.

Hope you enjoyed my photos. This is my contribution to Skywatch Friday, whose members post pictures of the skies around the world.

Sky Watch Friday - 20 August 2010

I was a bit occupied with things before traveling to Vietnam. These photos are from the week before last, when we traveled to Salavan and Champasak Provinces. After a late start to the rainy season, the rice fields are filling up, people are transplanting seedlings and the rice is starting to grow. Here are a few highlights:

The brown in the foreground is not a road but the edge of the field, under water, which has not been planted yet.

Behind the Dept of Health while we were talking outside. A few moments later, the clouds started to move in on our part of the sky.

Early in the morning in Pakse. The ground is starting to warm up and the ground clouds are starting to make their morning rounds.

Hope you enjoyed my photos. This is my contribution to Skywatch Friday, whose members post pictures of the skies around the world.

Monsoon skies 30 July 2010

The rains are finally coming in - though too much in some places. We drove up to Xieng Khouang last Saturday and passed about 10 minor landslides along the way. None of them blocked more than half the road, though some big trees did fall down; however, the hardy local villagers had already cut up the trees and carried most of the remains away.

Yesterday, after some meetings, I suggested we drive up to one of the highest hills around Phonsavanh. Recently, a road appeared on the hill; I thought it was neat until I realized that something would be built up there. As we enjoyed the view, we looked down on the foundations for a new hotel. The top two photos are from the top of the hill.

Yesterday, I joined my staff for a special blessing ceremony for our truck, which was in a minor accident a few days ago. No one was hurt - a motorcycle hit the side of the truck and fortunately, the rider was wearing a helmet. So we went to a local temple for a ceremony - however, the special bee's wax candle, which the person measures around the head, the length of the forearm, and the collar bone to the belly button, didn't light. So K. drove back to market and I walked around the temple. The monk performing the ceremony took a moment to contemplate the view.

Near my house - the rice is starting to take root.

Hope you enjoyed my photos. This is my contribution to Skywatch Friday, whose members post pictures of the skies around the world.

16 July: Some rainy season views around Vietnam

I just finished two weeks of field visits in Vietnam. On our last day, we drove up to Lao Bao, the Vietnamese side of the border crossing to Laos. Both sides of the border have big markets so people, even if they're not crossing over, go for shopping, to see what kinds of deals they can find.

The town itself is pretty ugly and there wasn't much interesting in the shops. However, the scenery outside town is beautiful.

The other side of this hill is the Sepon River, the border between Laos and Vietnam. Not too far from home.

We traveled to Hue, in Central Vietnam, with a rain storm to the west of us. We didn't get wet.

The central provinces are very poor. Many of the communities upstream were wiped out during Typhoon Ketsana last year - and now they are suffering drought. During our trip, we saw many fields which were brown and rock hard, with blades of green rice plants standing up. I hope the rains got to those fields.

We reached our destination on Saturday - Hue, the site of the ancient city which was destroyed during the Vietnam War. The bridge on the Perfume River is lit up at night with lights that change colors.

Hope you enjoyed my photos. This is my contribution to Skywatch Friday, whose members post pictures of the skies around the world.