~ DEC 12 2003
-
New Airplane for Lao Airlines
From: USA
- I heard Lao Aviation has new airplanes.
Is this true?
-
Are they as good as they say?
-
I remember reading on plane crashes
in previous years.
-
I will be traveling by plane in-country
while in Laos.
Reply:
It is true although
it is only a single airplane. Through a 3 year lease with the Singapore
leasing company SALE, they acquired the use of an Airbus A320 airplane.
It is an incredible step up from Laos' existing fleet of outdated
aircrafts. The new airplane can accomodate up to 120 in the primary
cabin with an additional seating area for 20 business class passengers.
Additionally
just so you know, it's no longer called Lao Aviation but Lao Airlines
which it changed in March of 2003.
As far as I
know, at the time of this writing, there haven't been any reported
problems with this new aircraft. Further, Lao pilots and technicians
have been receiving training from Singapore on the management of
this aircraft.
Legends in
the Weaving
From: USA
- I'm looking for a recently published book on Lao textiles. I can
only find books that are from the mid nineties or earlier. Has anything
been published since 2000?
Reply:
There's a book
called "Papaenee Mee Tum Nahn" or as it's written on the
cover "Legends in the Weaving". It's dated 2001. At LCW
we have fully reviewed this book. It is the only 'recent' book on
this topic that we have been able to find.
It's a beautifully
written and very professional book that was subsidized by the Japan
Foundation (Asia Center). It was written, researched and photographed
by several highly knowledgeable Lao women and one Japanese woman.
It covers almost
every facet of Lao weaving and textiles, including: varied techniques,
colors, styles of different regions and ethnic groups in Laos, equipment
used, hmong embroidery, legends, textiles used for wrapping Buddhist
palm-leaf (palmleafe) manuscripts, history and legends of silk,
terminology, motifs, and more.
There are color
photos throughout the book's 147 pages. Currently, it comes in hardcover
only. Its cover is green with the picture of textiles and leaves
on the front and a title written in both Lao and English.
I highly recommend
this book to anyone who's interested in this topic. It's sure to
become a hot commodity for Lao-related books. I'd say it's one of
the more complete books I've seen since Patricia Cheeseman's book
on Lao textile traditions.
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