Northern Laos: Luang Prabang morning market
A colorful and interesting market of mostly food items, early every morning in Luang Prabang.
A woman teaching her son how to use the scale.
The butcher at work. All of the meat, poultry, and fish is laid out in this fashion.
Preparing a fish that a customer has just purchased.
There is a huge variety of fruits and vegetables for sale.
Marigolds have various ceremonial uses.
Flowers and fish….of course!
The upland Lao people are known for their basket making skills. Most of these are sticky rice baskets. (Sticky rice is a staple food in Laos.)
Here you can see some of the staples of Lao cooking, including chilies and and various roots including ginger.
A typical display of fish.
Looking up a side street of the market.
Bai si ritual
In a northern Laos village, at a bai si (baci) ritual for this small boy, who is recovering from an illness. More about the bai si ritual at http://plainofjars.net/baci.htm
Home is where….
I have spent a lot of time lately thinking about the meaning of Home. Is it where the heart is? Is it where you hang your hat? Is it one place, or many places? The idea that a person has just one real Home seems to be fairly popular, but buying in to this idea can, for some people, lead to an endless search for that elusive place.
When I think about my own Home, several different places are part of the equation, and how long I actually lived in a place doesn’t seem to be a factor. To me, Home is any place where I leave some part of myself, and where I want to return to reclaim those parts. It is based more on the people in a place – family and friends – than on the place itself. It is based on how I feel upon returning to that place after an absence – that feeling of returning Home.
My childhood home in Mississippi was part of my Home equation as long as my parents were living there. However, now that my father is gone and my mother lives somewhere else, that place doesn’t feel like Home any more. The place I currently live in Alabama is technically “home,” and I like it there, but it doesn’t feel like Home. It’s just a place I am staying while working there and looking after my mother. There are other places in Alabama, however, that are part of my Home equation.
Chiang Mai is a big part of my Home equation. I remember when I first arrived in Chiang Mai (in April 2012), I immediately felt at home, and it wasn’t long before it became Home. When I arrived here two days ago after an eight month absence, I had that wonderful, euphoric feeling of being Home – of being whole again. I was reunited with my friends and Thai family, and with all those parts of myself that I left behind.
It comes down to wholeness. Where do you feel whole? It might be one place or many places; it might stay the same or it might change over time. Home is anywhere you feel whole.
Home in Chiang Mai
Yi Peng Festival, Chiang Mai Thailand
Thousands of lanterns released in observance of Yi Peng, the Lanna (northern Thai) festival, in Chiang Mai province. This is a frame grab from tonight’s video; stay tuned for more!
Reclining Buddha – and kitty
Both at Wat Yai Chaimongkol, Ayutthaya Thailand, September 2012.
Offering
Wilted by the early morning sun, in the ruins of Wat Ratchaburana in Ayutthaya Thailand. This temple was built in the 15th century, and has been partially restored.
New wheels
After 6 months in Thailand I finally broke down and acquired some transportation – a cheap, used mountain bike (red, of course). Look out, Chiang Mai!
Temple Guardian
This water monitor lizard (Varanus salvator) really startled me – the “guardian” of Prang Prathan (Pedestal of the Central Sanctuary), at Wat Mahathat, Ayutthaya, Thailand. Not knowing how aggressive they might be in the wild, I didn’t want to get close enough to include anything for scale! I zoomed in for this shot, then backed away and took a different route through the temple ruins. He was partly in the crack so I couldn’t see the tail, but I’d estimate his SVL (snout to vent length, or body) at about 1.2 meters. Since the water monitor’s tail is typically about 1.5x the SVL, his length was probably around 3 meters in total. Pretty darn big, in other words! This is one of the largest lizard species in the world (second only to Varanus komodoensis, the “Komodo Dragon”).
The city of Ayutthaya was founded in 1350 A.D., and the Ayutthaya Historical Park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981. The construction of this temple, Wat Mahathat, was begun in 1374. More pics later!
lost in space and time 