(no subject)

[which_chick]

I am certain that everyone is as interested as I am in Laos, a landlocked country in southeastern asia whose principal export to the United States is the Hmong ethnic minority. I would like to go there someday and have enlisted cousin_sue as my partner in crime for at least a portion of that journey. (*ahem* Pencil that in for sometime in the late spring (Mid-April to Mid-June) of 2008, will you?)



BUT ANYWAY, everyone who isn't going to Laos with me can still get an idea of what the language sounds like from the fine folks at Northern Illinois University, an institution that has a delightful website with free fonts and lots of downloadable sound files including (and yes, there IS a point here) rhymes in Lao. Yes. Rhymes in Lao. (That'd be the language spoken in Laos, for those who aren't quick on connecting-the-dots, here.) They give you free fonts so that you can totally fail to read what is being said in a native font -- it might look like scribbles to you, but at least they're authentic scribbles. They also helpfully transliterate AND translate the rhymes. Isn't that nice?

Because, y'know, we were all talking about rhymes in foreign, particularly in non-English, tonal languages, the other day and I'm sure that lingered on everyone's mind just like it did on mine, right? So now here are rhymes in foreign. Way, way foreign. With cool, free fonts for your Lao-reading needs, as if any of you can read the language. Yes, indeedy. I'm sure that this is just the sort of everyday helpfulness that you've come to depend on from One a day, plus iron.

(Lao isn't even *close* to English. It's so not-like-English that I feel very, very daunted. Japanese makes more sense and is easier to read. Plus it's tonal, like I needed an additional challenge. Chalk this up to What was I thinking? Learn some of the language? Gah. Two years is not going to be enough time...)

Anyway, here's the page with the rhymes. Further information on the language and country can be found on their main page: http://www.seasite.niu.edu/lao/. They've got folksongs! Have I mentioned how much I *heart* the internet? Because if I haven't mentioned that lately, I do. I really, really do.

Comments

[wootsauce.livejournal.com]

Ooh, sweet!

[wootsauce.livejournal.com]

PS: Lasagna?

[cousin-sue.livejournal.com]

Note to self...

start working on convincing the spouse that I am serious about going on this trip...

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

I think I've been talking about it for at least two years... and the departure date is a hair more than two years away. You should have plenty of time to convince him. :)

[ksleet.livejournal.com]

So... if I may enquire... why Laos?

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

Actually, we are going to go to Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, time permitting. They're all sort of convenient to each other, you see.

These countries are pretty affordable -- according to reports from the field, you can survive quite nicely in Laos and Cambodia on thirty dollars a day (including food, shelter, and travel expenses) once you get there. Vietnam is allegedly more expensive, particularly in the cities you have heard of, but it's still not impossible.

While I'd love to see Japan and I would not mind visiting first-world Europe, those countries are far beyond my economic reach, the trip to Amsterdam notwithstanding. (It's going to cost me an arm and a leg to do nine days in Amsterdam. For the same amount of money, I could do two months in southeast asia. Would we like to guess whether I would have more fun in nine days or in two months? Would I learn more interesting things by spending nine days in a first-world country with predictable transportation, working utilities, Merkin-style food on every corner, and a broad base of English-speaking locals ready to accomodate me and my tourist dollars or would I learn more spending two months in a third-world country that does not have very many of those features?) I can afford southeast asia as long as I don't go to the expensive, touristy parts of Thailand that all got tsunami'd here a year or so ago.

The three countries I've listed are fairly politically stable. Myanmar (also interesting) was crossed off the "I could vacation there" list because it's currently being ruled by some sort of military junta. I am not going somewhere that is ruled by a military junta. I'm just not.

The countries listed do not have a concentration of people who practice Islam. Indonesia (approximately 88% Muslim) is not on the "could vacation there" list because of the odds of it containing anti-Merkin islamic extremists. (I'm not going to vacation somewhere I think it likely I'll wind up dead for something as fucking stupid as religious reasons.)

The food's not bad. Vietnam, in particular, is a food-tourism destination. As a former French colony, it's got some right-interesting food vibes going on over there.

Hope that this helps.

[ksleet.livejournal.com]

Aha, all becomes clear. It sounds impressive. (Me, I'd probably have difficulty handling a weekend in Wisconsin. Look, they have really weird kinds of cheese up there, OK? And they call a Coke "soda"!)

I know a guy here in Chi. -- actually, my former manager -- who is a hobbyist cook and gourmet and who is definitely all over the whole food-tourism thing. He's been to Thailand a few times; I don't know if he's been elsewhere in the region, but I could ask if he's been to the countries you mention and has any thoughts from a food-tourism perspective.

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

Don't sweat it -- you're not the only person to ask why I might go there rather than to a more usual vacation destination.