Today we traveled to Laos, finally arriving at our hotel after one boat, two airplanes, one layover, and two cars. We found a very pleasant and interesting hotel, but had to leave again to attend a Laotian welcome ceremony and authentic dinner.
We entered someone's house, took off our shoes and were given sashes to wear. We sat on the floor around a short table that had small plates of food on it, as well as flowers and other symbolic objects. We learned that white means purity, and the many people there for the ceremony tied white cotton on our wrists for good fortune. They passed around the food, many
of which were jello/pudding like dishes made from rice. The people prayed in the traditional Buddhist fashion for luck.
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| These are the white cotton string they tried onto our wrists. |
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| This is us sitting in the circle. |
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| This is the ceremony table. |
They cleared the table and brought in dishes of traditional Laotian food for the dinner. There was fish, soup, two different kinds of vegetables with meat, chicken coated in coconut milk, and rice. It was all delicious and while we ate some two people played the drums and xylophone.
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| These are the instruments and musicians. |
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| This is the Laotian food we ate. |
After we had finished the main course, someone brought in a plate of sweet rice cakes on banana leaves for dessert. It was very interesting and delicious! I loved being immersed in the traditional culture from another part of the world.
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| This is us at the end with our sashes on. |
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