Global Voices Online

Boat racing festival marks the end of Buddhist lent in Laos and neighboring countries. Darly at Lao Voices site has posted videos of the recently concluded Boat Racing Festival in Pakse. Pakse is a city on the Mekong river in Southern Laos and a regional commercial hub. Here is one of the segment.

Darly also writes a bit about her childhood (in the comments section) of how she left Lao for Thailand on a boat like the one featured in the Video.

DJ at SaoLao posts pictures writes about the observance of Boun Ok Phansa - the end of Buddhist lent, by the blogger's grand mother.

Grand-Mama didn’t do anything big for Boun Ok Phansa and only spent $50.00 for a small donation in the form of a meal offering at her local temple on the day after the Boat Racing Festival in Pakse. My two aunts were busy making khao thom for the Morning Alms Giving. Since Grand-Mama can’t sit too long with her knees folded, she was not able to attend the service at the wat but my aunts and cousins made sure her bowl of offering made it to the temple.

The khao thom tua dam mentioned above is a snack made with sticky rice and black beans and wrapped in banana leaves. Laocuisine.la has pictorial instructions on how to prepare Khao Thom.