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LUANG PRABANG, LAOS – Each fall, at the October full moon, the Lao people celebrate Boun Awk Phansa.
The festival marks the end of the three months of Buddhist Lent, a period of meditation, learning and retreat during the height of the rainy season.
Sometimes referred to as the Festival of Lights, the boun (or festival) is held on the 15th day of the 11th month of the lunar calendar.
Continue reading “Boun Awk Phansa in Luang Prabang, Laos (video)”
LUANG PRABANG, LAOS – If you’ve spent any time living or traveling around Southeast Asia, you’ve no doubt seen them. With their shaved heads and brilliant orange robes, they always stand out from the crowd.
I’m talking, of course, about the Buddhist monks in their colorful saffron robes.
Continue reading “A Monk’s Life in Laos (Watch the video)”
XIENG KHOUANG, LAOS – It’s Fall in northern Laos, time to harvest the annual rice crop.
Laos’ beautiful mountainous countryside is filled with terraced rice fields, forming a patchwork mosaic of colorful polygons as far as the eye can see.
Continue reading “It’s rice harvest time in northern Laos (new video)”
CHIAPAS, MEXICO – For an amateur photographer, the mountain town of San Cristobal de las Casas offers plenty of opportunities to capture interesting images. From its colonial architecture, narrow cobbled streets and sweeping views to its lively crafts market, towering cathedrals and indigenous farmers offering their harvest at the farmers market. At nearly every turn, I found myself focusing my lens on yet another colorful scene.
Continue reading ““Pay me or I’ll call the cops””
HANOI, VIETNAM – Vietnam’s Halong Bay is world renowned for its picturesque limestone karsts jutting skyward from the clear blue sea. Thousands of these impossible islands dot the waters off Vietnam’s northern coast.
Adjoining Halong Bay is Lan Ha Bay, less traveled by tour boats and every bit as beautiful. But the bays are not just home to lovely scenery. Thousands of people make their homes and livelihoods on the waters there. Continue reading “The Life Aquatic – Vietnam Style (Watch the video)”