Right at the same time that our new cookbook, Food from Northern Laos,

http://www.foodfromnorthernlaos.com

arrived back from the printer, our friend Khamsuk Philatorm invited us to her graduation.
I'd met her one morning about 4 or 5 years ago, waiting for some transport outside her village. The transport was late, she was running a little roadside store where I sat down to wait, we got talking. She was a student at Vientiane University, home for the holidays and asked me for some help with her english lessons. We met later in Vientiane, I became her private tutor in english and computer studies, we assisted her a bit with her study, and hey, presto, 4 years later she graduated.
To my regret, we couldn't make it to the graduation, but as consolation prize, we met her a few weeks later in vientiane and travelled up north with her. She had decided to put on a big celebration for us, to thank us for our support over the years.
This gallery will document the celebration, which of course was accompanied by lots of food, delicious food.
We are grateful to her and her family for the honour they bestowed on us, and proud of this feisty young woman, from a Khmu village where no one usually got more then primary education, who came back with a Bachelors degree in biology, a diploma in English and a certificate in computer studies.
She features also in several pages in our cookbook, cooking Khmu recipes for us.

As this folder develops, so does the blog. The story behind the photos shown here are further explained by Dorothy's blog, those posts between 13 October and 5th of November, 2010 on
http://www.foodfromnorthernlaos.com/2010/10/28/baci-at-ban-chalensouk/