============================================================== To reach ALL SJD members, please send to sjd@satjadham.net ... Do NOT include any other addresses when sending to the list... Include as LITTLE of the original messages as possible........ Message sent by: "Kongkeo Saycocie" ============================================================== Sabaydii my fellow sjders, Below is my account during my early happy years in Savannakhet, Thakek and Thadeua Vientiane. Though I didn't have any idea to keep a journal at that time, every event occurring during those times from 1960 to 1971 is still fresh in my mind. What's more the event of 1981, the year I left Muang Lao for good, was still deep imprinted in my psyches... the small boat, the receding shore of the Mekong River, the trembling of my heart and the sobbing of my soul... And lastly, the event of 1998, the year I went back to Muang Lao, to get a good glimpse of this majestic river and relearn what it is like to be along the shores of the Mekong River one more time... A few words with this account...I won't say that I am a voice of Laos for I have only experienced a tiny part of the modern Laos history. Anyway, I will say that I speak for many, many Lao whose voices are mute or even silenced. I hope that I will be able to incorporate every event in the history of Laos that I have witnessed, observed and been told in this account. If there is any good from my rambling, I would like to give the credit to Thip who once suggested me to write about our beloved Laos which we left behind and to all Lao patriots who had to leave Laos with a torn heart. This account will come to you once a week for I have time to write only on the weekend. Anyway, at the beginning, I will post this account twice a week as I have already written for quite some time. Likely, this twice a month posting will last for a month. Any comments are greatly appreciated. ***** Along the shores of the Mekong River... I grew up in various places along the shores of the Mekong River. I saw what the Mekong was like. Its current was swift during the rainy season and slow-flowing to the point of standing still during the dry season. In a word, it is very much like the life of ourselves. Sometimes, we are so saturated with happiness that we think this world belongs to us. At another time, we are so sick of the recurring misfortune that we don't want to live anymore. If you ask what teaches me the most. I would say that it is not the Lycee de Vientiane, not the University of California at Berkeley, not the tremendous amount of books I read but the Mekong River. Do keep reading then you will see what I mean... Savannakhet years (1960-1967) I don't know exactly the year my family moved from Xiengkhouang, the place I was born, to Savannakhet. What I did know was my next-to-me sister was born in Savannakhet in that year. According to my mom, it was the year that we fled to Savannakhet when it was not safe any more to live in Xiengkhouang, the contested town between the Royal forces and the Ai Nong. As in Xiengkhouang, my dad was the headmaster of the post office in Savannakhet (the government job which ranks no less inferior than any other high-level govenment jobs in town). What I liked the most about Savannakhet was the place we lived. It was not any other place but the post office itself. Situated at almost the southern end of the town and flanked by the hospital, the bank, the military headquarter and the Mekong River, this place was a heaven to me. Just witnessing a mere sunset would be enough to transport anyone to another world. I will have more to say about the river. Not far away, I could see the airport from the balcony of my 2-story residence. Sometimes, they would have a military parachute show. What a spectacular view indeed even though some of the parachuters landed on the roof of the houses nearby instead of the airfield. In fact, I wouldn't look to the airport much if it was not for my big brother who was a famous T-28 pilot (he was one of General Ma's favorites). He once told me that he would take me for a ride in his T-28 so I always imagined that I flew in any T-28 that took off or landed in the airfield. (to be continued) Hakphaang, Kongkeo Saycocie _ ***************************************************************** Visit SatJaDham Homepage at: http://www.satjadham.org (or .net) *****************************************************************