Kids, beer bottles and a public pool - how Laos' swimmer, 14, trains for Rio

By: Thanaporn Promyamyai, Marion Thibaut
AFP News Agency, July 31, 2016

Credit:  AFP, Thanaporn Promyamyai, Marion Thibaut

VIENTIANE (AFP) - On one side of the cramped outdoor pool, children are taking swimming lessons. Opposite, another group of kids riotously splash around. In the middle, a teenager is desperately trying to train for the Rio Olympics.

Laotian Teenager Pursues Olympic Swimming Dream

Video Credit:  AFP News Agency via Youtube, July 31, 2016.

Lao Phrases: Art Talk - A Conversation in Appreciating Art

Edible Bamboo Garden

Do you like to eat bamboo?  Have you ever seen how it's grown, cultivated and propagated?  Watch this episode of LaoStarTV's Tum Geen Yu Teen Lao (ທຳກິນຢູ່ຖິ່ນລາວ) as the host visits a bamboo garden.  In Lao language.

Video credit:  LaoStarTV via Youtube, October 15, 2015

A Facebook Page about Life in Refugee Camps

Candid Photos of Old Lao Leaders - Kaysone Phomvihane

One of the original Lao communist leaders, Kaysone Phomvihane, 

doing calisthenics exercises in 1990.

Photo Credit:  Lao National Sports Museum.

A Train of Buffaloes?

In some countries, boys ride their little red wagons.
In Laos, some children ride their water buffaloes together.

Photo Credit:  Grivaux Louis, via Flickr, June 10, 2016.

Candid Photos of Old Lao Leaders - Prince Souphanouvong

He was both a member of the royal family and one of the original communist Lao leaders - for that he was nicknamed the Red Prince.  Prince Souphanouvong doing exercises in 1971.

Photo Credit:  Lao National Sports Museum.

Lao Buddhist Temple Altar

This is one of my favorite photos I took in Luangprabang, Laos, 

inside one of the many temples I visited.

It was so tranquil and beautiful when I stepped inside.

Photo Credit:  Laoconnection.com

Candid Photos of Old Lao Leaders - King Sisavavong

Former King of Laos, King Sisavavong.
Photo Credit:  Ruedes Archives, date unknown.

Video of the Vientiane Flood in 1966

Old video footage of the floods of Vientiane.  Click link below to view.

ຄລິບເກົ່າໆ ນຳຖ້ວມ ວຽງຈັນ ປີ 1966.  ທີ່ມາ: ກົມຮູບເງົາ

Video Credit:  Lao Old Pictures, via Facebook.

Gold Stencil Painting of a Temple Drum

Buddhist monk in Luangprabang, Laos, decorates a temple drum with gold stencil painting.

Photo Credit:  Beatrice BDM, via Flickr.

The Rise, Fall and Possible Renewal of a Town in Laos on China’s Border

By:  Sebastian Strangio, The New York Times, July 6, 2016

Photo Credit:  Gilles Sabrie, The New York Times

BOTEN, Laos — For five years, this remote town on the China-Laos border has lived in the shadow of more prosperous times.

On the main street, weeds grow where bustling shops and restaurants once stood. Old nightclub signs blister and peel in the tropical climate. Around town, abandoned multistory hotels loom like decaying sentinels, colonized by armies of jungle insects.

'Horrific' First Amphibious Centipede Discovered

By:  Mary Bates, National Geographic, June 26, 2016

Photo Credit:  Warut Siriwut, via National Geographic.

Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water—look out for giant, swimming centipedes!

Scientists have recently described the world’s first known amphibious centipede. It belongs to a group of giant centipedes called Scolopendra and grows up to 20 centimeters (7.9 inches) long.

Like all centipedes, it is venomous and carnivorous. Thankfully, this new water-loving species appears to live only in Southeast Asia. The creature’s description was published last month in the journal ZooKeys.