Food For Thought : Kha, Lao Bpen Khmu And Visa Versa

   Just found this small snippet of a post on Asia's Finest and found it to be very informative about the word kha (I know I am little obsessed over Khmu-Tai relations and this word). 

     So what I imagine is that the Khmu people who got to escape got to live their lives the way they had for centuries (or simpler, they might've been town folks but had to revert back to living with nature due to the Tais taking the lowlands? just a theory) but they still had to pay tax and do corvey labor (whatever that means). For those who couldn't run away probably became direct slaves as in they were owned not "rented" and overtime became the Lao folks we know today. If this is true, then this guy on the forum's assumption that " to be Lao is to be Khmu and visa versa" is on spot. It kinda make sense because if you think about it, the Tai Lue in China look Chinese whereas the further you go down, they look more like Khmer and Khmu like which would probably mean that they mixed in with the locals. Anyways just my two cents and as usual my food for thought.


*I remember when me and Frank Proschan had conversation, he told me that the Lao did chase the Khmu out of Luang Prabang into Luang Namtha

Media : Khmu Writing

    Don't know if I shared this already though I probably didn't but for those who have not seen this video, check it out. 

*Sort of reminds me of the Lao government's (at least I think) attempt at writing Khmu with Lao characters and that never released Khmu alphabet Shong Lue Yang (he was supposedly half Khmu, half Hmong or a Khmu adopted into a Hmong family) had in his head before he died.

Food For Thought : กำมือ????

       While searching for ideas for my Khmu-minati logo, I decided to read some basic info on Khmu on wikipedia.com. Scrolling around, my brother notices that there's an English romanization of our name, a Lao spelling and eventually a Thai spelling. Being the bored folks we were that hour we decided to translate it on Thai2English.com and here's what came out.

   What I realized when reading this was that in a PDF I read a while back was that Northern Thai people or Thai folks in general used to mock the Khmu language and it said it was an unclear mumbling of some sort kind of like how Greeks used to call others Barbarians because it was just bar, bar, bar (I hope that was right?). Anyways the bottom translation sounds great, makes us resourceful or hard working? If only I could write Thai because if I did know, it'd write it as ker moo or keu moo. Errrr another random post or food for thought.

Poem : Happy Birthday Mary

  Been a while, been a sad, tough month. Today is the birthday of my deceased cousin Mary who had just passed away last October 3rd (coincidentally same day as my sister's birthday). So I would like to use this time to post up a poem I wrote thinking of her a couple of days ago.



It's still hard to believe that you're gone
Your wall still filled with love and constant missing yous
My heart cries trying to remember your laughter, your reaction to life
Your reaction to my constant nagging of how our last name was spelled
It took a while but I had finally got you to spell it right
Dezo took his sweet time as well
I wish I had taken the time to figure out the real you
Instead of the imaginary one that I depicted
Must’ve been a family sickness 
That kept us like this, left us like this
Closed and so distant 
Instead of being open and so close 
I remember you always aiming
Always in love
I was the opposite 
Always looking down with shame
Loveless, heartbroken
When you left us, me
My spirit was broken, soul soaking
I wish I wasn’t so soft spoken
I wish I could believe in God the way that you did 
But science has corrupted my lid
Now all I do is corrupt and throw fits
I’m sorry we never got to fit into this thing called family
And always waiting annually to see one another
Sincerely your little cousin but you know like my dad says 
You're my big sister and I’m your little brother
Peace

Food For Thought : If There Was A Khmu Country...

   What would be the dialect of choice? Should the Khmu language spoken in the cities or the capital be a minority dialect like for example my dialect which uses yeh (you for men) versus the majority's may (my brother believes these Khmu were originally Mien since in Mien, may is you ha). Maybe the standard Khmu should be a combination of all the other Khmu who may whereas the yeh would be a prestigious (I had to praise my dialect, sorry ahaha) or maybe the other way around but yeah something to think about if there were a Khmu country or if Laos includes Khmu as a secondary language.

Rant : Khmu Star? In Laos?

   It's April, nyam Amanda na Mary (Season of Amanda and Mary), my two beloved cousins who I still miss to this day. Anyways..... I wanted to talk about something that has been on my mind for quite some time but I have to start with a little narrative ha. 
         So yesterday morning, I dropped off my sister at work and for some reason I decided to go eat/order some Thai fried rice at the Public Market in Emeryville because I've been craving for some more since my lovely dinner by myself in the park but stai nor (their style) is very different (korng (because) it has coconut milk, salad and peanuts). The thing about this transaction that had happened while ordering was very different from the many occasions that I usually have while ordering there because this time the woman who served me finally for some reason realized that I was not of the Chinese type but rather some kind of southeast Asian or Tai and it's probably because I was staring at the Thai map for some odd 15 minutes unlike my usual 2 or 1 minute glances. She asked me where are your parents from and I said Pak Beng and with a slight hesitation " I'm Khmu and Tai Lue". For about 10 or so minutes we were talking about the origin of each other and then she said to me " you should go to Meuang Lao and be a dara (star)" and in my head, I'm thinking it's because of my Thai-ness which is supposedly that Chinese look. 
        I have pondered on using my "beautiful" looks to make it in Laos but I have always objected to it because I hate the P.D.R. , don't want to be another teen pop sensation despite adoring Nickhun (how can one not like him?) , and I just don't want to use my looks as an "advantage" of some sort (I might be over thinking it). At the same time I wanted people to know of Khmu, of other ethnic groups who never have the voice to say something, I wanted people to stop being shy  so maybe I should try since I am a capable writer, artist? and overall human being? So should I try?


*Oh yeah gotta show you the picture of the fried rice, my grandma knows I obsess over fried rice, she believes I will marry a Chinese girl

Miscellaneous : The Last Day of March

      Last Sunday or the Sunday that just passed was very awkward but long story short, I felt compelled to be at my Uncle's thuk dti (tying hand ceremony) that I only got a glimpse of Khmer New Year fair in San Francisco, meaning 30 minutes of awkward talks, awkward lam wong-ing (circle dancing)  but on the cool side I got a free krama (Khmer scarf) from my friend Ratha and a cool 15 dollar Khmer shirt from Esnae Chuon that I'm still wearing. So it wasn't that bad but it wasn't that great either because after the fair, I spent 2 hours alone in the city basically working out and eating some great fried chicken over fried rice from King of Thai Noodle which I swear  has the EXACT taste as the restaurant in Berkeley (must be part of the chain? despite not bearing the King part). This post wasn't even Khmu related other than oh yeah me finding out that my Khmu Krong folks did wear white prior to dtamoi-zation ha? or at least according to my father and basically not that black coat that rock on several occasions. Well I'll just shut up and post some awful pictures of my adventure.

The picture I don't think I had permission to post

Me and Ratha

Bon Appetit

That Esnae Chuon gear, thanks Samantha