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Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Pearly Sea Cruise

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Footstep Travel is an experienced and professional tour operator in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Our wide range of services are inclusive of package tour reservation, daily tours booking, tour guide booking, car booking, flight reservation, train ticket booking, visa arrangements and more. With our professional staffs, qualified tour guides and stable service partners, twenty-four hours a day, we are currently providing travel services to travelers from dozens of countries around the world. Now we are the trust local tour operator in Indochina countries with head office based in Hanoi (Vietnam) and branch/retail offices or coordinator in Hue, Nhatrang, Saigon (Vietnam), Vientiane (Laos), Phnompenh (Cambodia). Please contact us at:
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Wednesday, June 13, 2007

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Thursday, April 26, 2007

Laos News Year Festival

Laos New Year Information:

Lao people have celebrated Lao New Year for thousand of years. This festive occasion is held each year from April 13 to 15. In Laos, this is hottest month of the year and the rainy season is just around the corner. It is the time when people ask for and give each other forgiveness and give and receive wishes. Lao New Year is considered a national holiday in Laos. Government offices are closed for three days to observe the Lao New Year.

Lao New Year is also called SONGKARN FESTIVAL, or WATER FESTIVAL. The festival is celebrated in many countries such as Laos, South China where Lao ethnic reside, Myanmar, Thailand, and Cambodia.

Culturally, the SONGKARN celebrate for three days. Each day may practice different activities as the following description:

The first day is the day that people organize the celebration. It includes cleaning the house, preparing food and offerings to the Buddhist monks. At the temple, the monks take Buddha statues from "Sim," "Salahongtham," and the other buildings and place them in a small, colorful house for the Buddha statues to undergo "Song Pha"

Ceremony in which the people and the monks pour water mixed with perfumes and flowers onto the statues for blessing and good wishes. The scented water from the ceremony, now a holy water, is taken home to wash away bad luck from the house and family members.
On the second day, family members, relatives, and friends gather together for a "baci" ceremony to welcome the New Year, and all the souls, which represent different parts of a human body, are asked to come back. At the "baci" ceremony, Lao people tie a white thread around the each other’s wrist and wish one another love, peace, prosperity, longevity, good health, and happiness. At home, Lao people also hold a ceremony in which they offer food and offerings to the Buddhist monks a mean of paying homage to ancestors, relatives, and loved ones. It is also a time when youngsters pay respect to the elders and, in return, they receive wishes for peace, health, and prosperity. In the evening, there is a community celebration where people can watch beautiful classical and folk dances, and enjoy a social dance, "Lamvong."
On the third day, Lao people go the temple to give offering to the monks. It is a time to free animals (birds and/or fishes) from cages and tanks. Lao people believe that by freeing the animals they are casting away sickness and bad luck from their bodies. On this day, Nang-Sang-Kan (the Lao New Year Princess) is chosen to sit on the back of her personal animal of the year. Then a beautiful, organized procession, with Nang-Sang-Khan as the key figure of the event, parades around the town or city. Dances from different schools and town were performed in the procession.

In Laos, during the full three days, Lao people stand along the roads with water ready on hand to splash it on travelers. Groups of people walk or ride with water pots to splash water on each other for good luck, well wishes, and fun.
Why Do People Celebrate Lao New Year?

Lao people celebrate Lao New Year because of the following legend long. Long ago, there was a rich man who married a very kind and beautiful woman in a small town in a far away land. Although they had been husband and wife for about four years, his wife did not bear a child. So, one beautiful day, the rich man held a sacred ceremony, begging for a child from a big, tall three called, "Toll Hi." At the Toll Hi tree lived a "Tavarbood." "Tavarbood" is a male angel who lives at the bottom of heaven. After hearing the request, Tavarbood brought it to "Phra-Ya-In." Phra-Ya-In is also a deity, but has higher nobility and title and lives at a higher level of heaven.
As a result, Phra-Ya-In granted one deity named, "Tham-Ma-Barn" (Buddha in a previous Yuka), to incarnate as a son to the couple. Then the wife of the rich man had a baby boy named, "Tham-Ma-Barn." Since childhood Tham-Ma-Barn had received special training and education, which allowed him to know and do everything. Tham-Ma-Barn could answer any question when asked. He was clever and knowledgeable. Tham-Ma-Barn was a great teacher and conducted many holy ceremonies for the people.

Hearing about the extraordinary reputation of Tham-Ma-Barn, "Ca-Bin-Ra-Pom," who was a deity and lived at the highest level of Heaven, came down to the world to test Tham-Ma-Barn’s knowledge and wisdom. Before Ca-Bin-Ra-Pom asked Tham-Ma-Barn any questions, he asked Tham-Ma-Barn to agree on his proposal. Ca-bin-Ra-Pom suggested, "I will ask you three questions. If you cannot answer them, I will cut off your head as a sacrifice to the teaching of Buddha. On the other hand, if you can answer all three questions, I will cut off my head out of my respect for your knowlege."

Tham-Ma-Barn agreed on the suggestion and the three questions given to him were:
One, where is the virtue of a person in the morning? Two, where is the virtue of a person at noon? Three, where is the virtue of a person in the evening?
Ca-Bin-Ra-Pom gave Tham-Ma-Barn seven days to supply him with answers. Day one, day two, day three, day four, and day five went by quickly and Tham-Ma-Barn did not find any answer to even one question of Ca-Bin-Ra-Pom. When six days arrived, Tham-Ma-Barn still could not find the answers. He was so tired of thinking and searching for the right answers. He was so exhausted that when he came upon a big tree in the forest, he took a rest at its foot. As he closed his eyes, he heard two excited voices from a far above branch of the tree. At the time, two eagles on the branch, husband and wife were discussing the contest of Ca-Bin-Ra-Pom and Tham-Ma-Barn. Tham-Ma-Barn, who was resting quietly at the bottom of the tree, still had his eyes closed, but he continued to listen in on the two eagles conversation.

The husband eagles told his wife that Tham-Ma-Barn would lose the bet for sure, because the questions were very hard and no one on this world knew the answers except the questioner and him. The wife eagle was curious to know the answers to the questions and she begged her husband to tell her. Without any hesitation, the husband explained the answers to his wife and Tham-Ma-Barn now knew the answers and went home happily.

On the following day, the seventh day, Tham-Ma-Barn and Ca-Bin-Ra-Pom came face-to-face again and Ca-Bin-Ra-Pom asked for the answers. Tham-Ma-Barn answered, " In the morning, the person’s virtue is on the face, because when a person wakes up he or she washes his/her face." At noon, the virtue of a person is on the chest and the body, because he/she puts water on the chest and takes a bath. In the evening, the virtue of a person is on the feet, because he/she washes his/her feet before going to bed." Ca-Bin-Ra-Pom was very surprised that Tham-Ma-Barn answered all the questions correctly, but he gracefully acknowledged his defeat by agreeing to cut of his own head, as he had promised.

Because Ca-Bin-Ra-Pom’s head was so holy that if it dropped onto the ground, it would cause fire and burn down the whole world; if his head rose into the air, the land would become arid and parched and people would die; if his head fell into the ocean, the ocean would dry up. Therefore, before cutting off his head, he asked his seven daughters to gather around to receive his instruction. "My daughters," he stated, "after I cut off my head, take my head and parade it around the earth axis 60 times, and then take it to "Kay-Rad" Mountain. Each year, one of you has to take turns to parade my head around the earth axis and bathe it with holy and perfumed water to show your respect, loyalty, and thankfulness to your father in order to give rain and prosperity to the earth." When Ca-Bin-Ra-Pom finished speaking, he cut off his own head and the seven princesses conducted the procession of their father’s head as instructed, and then they went back to heaven. This is the birth of the Lao New Year celebration and the parade of Nang-Sang Kan. The seven daughters of Ca-Bin-Ra-Pom were born on each of the seven days, so each year the daughter whose birthday falls on the first day of the New Year will hold her father’s head and lead the grand parade. In Lao language, Lao New year is called, "Boun-Pee-Mai," "Boun-Hod-Nam" (Water Festival), or "Boun-Kout-Song-Karn."

A family ceremony is held, as well as a visit to the temple to do the merit offering, offering food to Buddhist monks as a way of paying homage to ancestors and depositing wealth for the next birth, and conducting the ritual of "Song Phra." Family members and friends get together to do the Baci. At the Baci Ceremony, the Brahman, and everyone, asks all the souls, which represent all parts of the body, to come back. This is the time that youngsters pay respect to the elders and, in return, receive the elders’ wishes of good luck and prosperity, and success in life. This is also the time when people ask for and give forgiveness for the past year’s wrong doings, those done intentionally and unintentionally. All the bad luck, sickness, sorrow, and poverty are banished form the house, the human body, and the clothes. From now on, everyone receives good blessings of longevity, health, prosperity, and success.

Therefore, for this Lao New Year Days, may you enjoy your peace, prosperity, longevity, good health, and happiness. "Happy New Year!" or "Sa-By-Dee-Pee-Mai!"

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Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Laos festival by http://www.traveltolao.com

Lao Festivals And Major Events

FebruaryVat Phu festival in Champasak province.This festival is held during the full moon of the lunar calendar on the ground of the enchanting pre-Ankorian Vat Phu ruins in Champassak. Includes elephant races, buffalo fights, cock fighting and performances of traditional music and dance. There is a trade fair displaying products of southern Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. That Sikhotabong festival in Kammouane province.This traditional religious festival is held in That Sikhotabong stupa located about 8 km south of Thakhek. Built during 9th and 10th centuries, the stupa was restored in 1950s. AprilLaos new year festival in many places especially in Vientiane and Luang Prabang provinces."Pi Mai" or lunar new year is the time when the entire country (it also is celebrated in Thailand and Myanmar at the same times) take part in this water cleansing event to mark the entering into new year. People dose each other with water, clean their households and temple places, and many performances and shows are also held during this period. AugustBoat racing festival in Luang Prabang.There are boat racing on Khane river, and trade shows in the Luang prabang city. SeptemberBoat racing festival in Kammouane province.There are boat racing on Sebangfai river, trade fair showing agricultural products and local handicrafts, traditional music and dance, etc. OctoberBoat racing in Vientiane, Champasak and Savannakhet provinces.They are held in association with Ork Pansa which marks the end of the monks' three months fast and retreat during the rainy season. Long boat racing are held in order to worship the river spirits. In Vientiane there are also candle light processions around the temples in the evening of Ork Pansa followed by the exciting boat race in Mekong river next day. NovemberThat Luang festival in Vientiane.This religious festival is held in and around That Luang stupa. It includes giving alms to the monks, trade fairs and fireworks at night. DecemberHmong new year in Oudomxay, Xieng Khouang and Luang Prabang provinces.These include colorful display of traditional costumes made from green, red and white silk and silver jewellery, musical instruments, and festivities including ox fighting, spinning top race, cross-bow demonstrations.
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Laos history by http://www.traveltolao.com

Laos History

Stone tools discovered in Huaphanh and Luang Prabang provinces attest the presence of prehistoric man in its stage of hunters and gatherers over the Lao territory since at least 40,000 years ago. Agriculturist society seemed to appear during the 4th millenia BC as evidences have been found by archeologists-jar burials and other kinds of sepulchres have revealed a complex society in which Bronze objects appeared around 1500 BC and iron tools were known since 700 BC. The proto historic period is characterized by contacts with Chinese and Indian civilisations. As a result between the fourth and eighth century. Between the fourth and eighth century communities along the Mekong River began to form into towships, so called muang. This development culminated in the formation of the Lan Xang (Million Elephants) Kingdom. In 1340 AD, Kind Fa Ngum led an army of 10,000 men in conquests in all directions: to the south, as far as the Khmer border; to the north as far as Sipsong Phanna (Yunnan, southwestern China), to the east to the watershed of the Mekong and Red Rivers; to the northwest as far as Chiang Saen Lanna; and westward to Korat-Dong Phannaphay. King Fa Ngum established the mighty and glorious Kingdom of Lan Xang in 1353. Meanwhile, he introduced Buddhism (Hinayana) into the Kingdom, took the sacred Phra Bang Buddha image from the Khmer Kingdom and installed it in Swa (now Luang Prabang). Chao Ounheuane succeeded King Fa Ngum to the throne in 1373. In his 43 years reign, King Ounheuane maintained the territorial integrity of the kingdom, which his father has united. After repelling an invasion by Burmese feudalism, King Ounheuane conducted a population census, which showed that there were 300.000 Tai Lao people and 400,000 people of other ethnic groups. The census gave King Ounheuane the new name of King Samsenethai, meaning “Three hundred thousand Tai people”. Throughout the fifteenth century, 14 monarchs ruled the Kingdom of Lan Xang. In 1520 AD Prince Phothisarath ascended the throne, following King Visounnarath. Prince Phothisarath was born in 1506 and married a princess of Chiang Mai. In 1548, he made prince Sayasetthathirath King of Chiang Mai (at that time the kingdom of Lanna was a sister kingdom to Lan Xang). When, in the same year, King Phothisarath suddenly died, Prince Sayasetthathirath returned to Swa to take the throne of the kingdom of Lan Xang. Between 1563 and 1565, King Sayasetthirath moved the capital from Luang Prabang to Vientiane. In this same year, a Burmese army led by Ba Ying Nong raided King Sayasetthathirath, but forced Chiang Mai and Vientiane, to retreat. In 1569-1570 the Burmese made another attempt and suffered another reverse, being forced again to retreat. “These were the two victorious struggles (1563 and 1569) under the able command of King Sayasetthathirath, a hero of national salvation against the aggression of the Burmese feudalism, then a strong enemy. There were continued uprisings and struggles of the masses over the last 24 years of the sixteenth century against the yoke of vassalage of Burmese feudalism, including the overthrow of a throne under Burmese vassalage (1579). After the reign of King Sayasetthathirath, the Kingdom of Lan Xang fell into chaos for years before Prince Sourignavongsa assumed the throne in 1637. He reigned for 57 years, during that time the Kingdom of Lan Xang was at peace. The Kingdom also began to open up for trade with the rest of the world. Education and literature developed noticeably, and the most outstanding works of poetry and literature of the Kingdom of Lan Xang were created during this period. The eighteenth century brought the decline of the Lan Xang monarchy. The Kingdom split into three hostile dynasties and was invaded and controlled by Siamese feudalism. However, the Lao people maintained their unity, frequently rebelling against Siamese dominance. The most outstanding movement was the nation wide campaign in 1827-1828 led by King Anouvong, a national hero. Through the uprising was quelled, the movement was a significant page in Lao history in the case of national defence and has ever been remembered as such. Between 1828 and 1829 Siamese forced 100,000 Lao people to cross the Mekong River and resettled as prisoners of war. The Siamese ransacked and burned 6,000 houses in the capital, stealing valuable from all temples in Vientiane (except Sisaket temple). They also took the Emerald Buddha to Bangkok where it remains till today. In 1870 King Ounkham ascended the throne of the Luang Prabang dynasty of the Kingdom of Lane Xang. In the late 19th century, as foreigners expanded their colonies, the country was plunged into darkness. In 1893, Laos (on the east bank of the Mekong River) was captured by the French army. And the west bank has remained isaan park of Thailand. King Sackarin reigned from 1888 to 1903, and was succeeded by King Sisavangvong. In the early 20th century, heedless of the subservience of the privileged classed to foreign rule, the Lao people of various ethnic groups rose in waves against French colonialism. Some resistance movements were quite large-scale. Some outstanding examples include:- The movement of the Lao people in the central region under the guidance of Father Kadouad (Pau Kadouad) (1901-1902); - The 36-year uprising of the people in the south (1901-1937) led by Ong Keo and Ong Komadam; - The resistance movement of the Hmong ethnic group in the north led by Chao Fa Padchay (1918-1922); - The Tai-Lue movement in Meuang Sing (now Luang Namtha Province) (1914-1918);- The Red Tai movement in Samneua (Houaphanh Province) (1916). In 1930, the Communist Party of Indochina was established and led by President Ho Chi Minh. This marked the turning point in the history of the revolutions in the three Indochinese countries. From then onwards, under the leadership of the genuine Marxist Leninist party and under the banner of nationalism and democracy, the revolutionary struggle of the Lao people of all ethnic groups entered a new period of sure new qualities. In 1945, the Red Army of the Soviet Union defeated the German, Italian and Japanese Nazis, forcing them to surrender unconditionally, ending the Second World War. Our Party resolutely led the people’s struggle in co-ordination with the August revolution of the Vietnamese people, seized administrative power from the Japanese fascists and the French colonialists, and declared to the world the independence of Laos on 12 October, 1945.” Not long after that, the French colonialists sent their mercenary and henchmen to raid and occupy towns, suppressing the Lao people cruelly, and restoring French control. They pretended to hand over “ independence” to Laos in 1949 and formed a puppet army. They tied the three Indochinese countries together under the “French Union of Indochina” rule over by the Governor General and the Commander of the French Union Army. On 20 January 1949, the Lao Issara Unit was set up, which later became the Lao People’s Liberation Army. On 13 August,1950, a national Congress of the Lao Resistance Front agreed to set up the Neo Lao Issara (Free Lao Front), laid out a 12-point political programme, and set up a resistance government with Kayson Phomvihane as Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense. The resistance movement of the Lao people developed to a new level. In 1953, the armed forces of Pathet Lao in collaboration with the Vietnamese volunteer army launched a series of battles, which liberated vast areas of the country: Samnuea, Xiengkhouang, Khammouane, Attapeu, Boliven Plateau. In early 1956, the northernmost Phongsaly Province and most of Luang Prabang Province were liberated by the victory in Dien Bien Phu (Vietnam), this forced the French imperialists to sign the 1954 Geneva Accord to restore peace in Indochina, and to acknowledge the independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Lao, Vietnam and Cambodia. The Accord further acknowledges the legitimate position of the Lao revolutionary forces and the status of the province of Phongsaly and Samneua as the concentration zone of the Pathet Lao forces. Not long after the signing of the Geneva Accord, the American imperialists, who had been involved in the Indochina War from the outset., jumped in, kicked the French out, and invaded Laos. The US had forced the French to sign an US-France joint communiqué in Washington on 29 September 1954, as a legal basis for direct US assistance. The document also allowed the US to take over from the French in training the Royal Army of the Kingdom of Laos, and the armies of South Vietnam and Combodia. The situation worsened during the Vietnam war although the Geneva accord of 1962 had recognised the neutrality of Laos and forbade the presence of all foreign military perssonel. By bombing the portion of the Ho Chi Minh trail crossing Laos, US forces dropped more bombs on Laos than they did world-wide during World War II. On a per capita basis Laos is hence the most heavily bombed nation in history. Especially in Huaphanh and Xieng Khuang provinces, where international teams are still clearing the terrain of unexploded ordinance, people still suffer from the legacy of the war. It took 20 years of struggle against US imperialism before the Lao people of all ethnic groups could rid themselves of the yoke of foreign domination, abolish backward feudalism, and proudly and gloriously establish a new regime, the regime of Lao people’s democracy on 2nd December 1975. At present the multi ethnic Lao people are making afforts to defend and develop Laos in line with the new policy of the Party and Government in order to lead the country to progress and prosperity.

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