Laos Here I come!

Hi world! I'm back to blogging again! It's less than 24 hours till I depart for Laos so I'm short on time for a thorough introduction but here's a brief overview.....

I'll be in Laos from 5/31 till around 8/16 working as a summer development intern for an eco-fashion fairtrade company!

and here's my pre-departure blog....! (taken from http://blog.weargianna.com/2010/05/48-hours-countdown.html)

It’s 12:20 am in Kitakyushu, Japan. Sitting at my dining table at home, my heart is pounding with excitement for my departure for Laos in less than 48 hours!

Leslie’s amazing and insightful blogs, as well as my Laos tour guidebook have been keeping me company for the last few weeks. Coming from a quite multi-cultural background, I’ve always been interested in the intermixing of cultures, such as the way Creole languages are formed, the exchange and intermingling of cultures that happen on the Silk Road, and extinct cultures that form in regions along country borders.

Laos, a country bordering China, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia, is definitely an alluring place that cannot be missed! I’ve read that due to the Annamese Cordillera mountain range that runs from north to south along the eastern border with Vietnam, the Lao culture is less influenced by the Chinese culture and more by the Thai and Indian cultures as compared to its neighbor, Vietnam. The bright orange robes of the Buddhist monks that appear in my guidebook resemble nothing of the plain gray/ black and white robes of Buddhist monks in Japan and Taiwan. Yet, Quan Am a goddess who is apparently commonly worshipped in Laos, is seen everywhere in Taiwan, displayed on family altars and worshipped in temples. These subtle differences between the Lao culture and the cultures of its neighbors and other East Asian cultures that I’m familiar with, is something that I cannot wait to explore further.

I am looking forward to the countless wonders that Laos will bring, and of course, the rain!