Don Det
Don Det ( lo, ດອນເດດ), is an island in the Mekong River in the Si Phan Don ("Four Thousand Islands") archipelago in Champasak Province of southern Laos. History The Don Det–Don Khon railway was a -long narrow-gauge portage railway on the islands of Don Det and Don Khon, opened in 1893 to transport vessels, freight, and passengers along the Mekong River, and closed since the 1940s. Geography The walking path around the island is . Don Det is linked to its twin island Don Khon by a bridge. Don Som, the closest island accessible by pirogue, is from Don Det. There is a Buddhist temple and two primary schools on the northern part of the island. ) in relation with the soul of the deceased. This rope will not be incinerated and may be kept by the monks. Traditionally, cotton strings play an important role in ceremonies in Laos, like in the baci, and can be used in various ways at diverse occasions. In front of the coffin, there is a Buddhist money tree, religious it ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Si Phan Don
The Si Phan Don ( lo, ສີ່ພັນດອນ; meaning '4,000 islands') is a riverine archipelago in the Mekong River, Champasak Province in southern Laos. Si Phan Don is part of Khong District, including the islands and part of the mainland in the east. Si Phan Don is dotted with numerous islands, half of which are submerged when the Mekong River is in flood. The principal islands of Si Phan Don are Don Khong (the largest), Don Som (the second largest), Don Det and Don Khon. Si Phan Don borders Cambodia and historical and cultural ties link the people on both side of the border. Pakse is the closest of the bigger cities in Laos to the area. Key features of the Si Phan Don archipelago include: *The remains of the first railway in Laos, the Don Det–Don Khon narrow gauge railway, built by the French to bypass the Khone Phapheng Falls and enable vessels, freight, and passengers to travel along the Mekong River. *Freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins (''pakha'') that can be viewe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Don Khon
Don Khon ( lo, ດອນຄອນ), is an island in the Mekong River in the Si Phan Don ("Four Thousand Islands") archipelago in Champasak Province of southern Laos. History The Don Det–Don Khon railway was a -long narrow-gauge portage railway on the islands of Don Khon and Don Det, opened in 1893 to transport vessels, freight, and passengers along the Mekong River, and closed since the 1940s.Mad About the Mekong: Exploration and Empire in South East Asia, Harper Collins, 2005. Geography The walking path around the island is . Don Khon is linked to its twin island Don Det by a bridge (Don Det–Don Khon railway). There are two Buddhist temples, a primary school and a college on the island. Climate Don Khon features a tropical wet and dry climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gradually spread throughout much of Asia via the Silk Road. It is the world's fourth-largest religion, with over 520 million followers (Buddhists) who comprise seven percent of the global population. The Buddha taught the Middle Way, a path of spiritual development that avoids both extreme asceticism and hedonism. It aims at liberation from clinging and craving to things which are impermanent (), incapable of satisfying ('), and without a lasting essence (), ending the cycle of death and rebirth (). A summary of this path is expressed in the Noble Eightfold Path, a training of the mind with observance of Buddhist ethics and meditation. Other widely observed practices include: monasticism; " taking refuge" in the Buddha, the , and the ; ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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:en:baci
''Baci/Basi'' ( lo, ບາສີ; th, บายศรี, ) and ''su kwan'' (Lao: ; Thai: , RTGS: ''su khwan''; meaning "calling of the soul") is an important ceremony practised in Lao culture, Sipsong Panna and Northern and Isan Thai culture. Baci is a ''phi'' ritual used to celebrate important events and occasions, like births and marriages and also entering the monkhood, departing, returning, beginning a new year, and welcoming or bidding etc. The ritual of the baci involves tying strings around a person's wrist to preserve good luck, and has become a national custom. History The observance of Baci as a spiritual ceremonial event was prevalent in Laos even before Buddhism made inroads into the country. It is also a common heritage in Southeast Asian countries, particularly in Laos. This practice is linked to the ancient belief that Baci is invoked religiously to synchronise the effects of 32 organs of the human body considered as ''kwan'' () or spirits or the "components o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Khone Phapheng Falls
The Khone Falls and Pha Pheng Falls ( lo, ນ້ຳຕົກຕາດຄອນພະເພັງ; km, ល្បាក់ខោន, ''Lbak Khaon'') together form a waterfall located in Champasak Province on the Mekong River in southern Laos, near the border with Cambodia. At 10,783 metres (35,376 feet or 6.7 miles) in width from one edge of its multiple channels to the other, it is the widest waterfall in the world. The Khone Falls are the largest in southeast Asia, and are the main reason that the Mekong is not fully navigable into China. The falls are characterised by thousands of islands and countless waterways, giving the area its name Si Phan Don or 'the 4,000 islands'. The highest falls reach to ; the succession of rapids stretch of the river's length. The average discharge of the cataract is nearly , with the highest flow on record at over . __NoTOC__ Navigable efforts Because the Khone Falls stop the Mekong river from carrying boat traffic to and from China, in the l ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shadow
A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, or a reverse projection of the object blocking the light. Point and non-point light sources A point source of light casts only a simple shadow, called an "umbra". For a non-point or "extended" source of light, the shadow is divided into the umbra, penumbra, and antumbra. The wider the light source, the more blurred the shadow becomes. If two penumbras overlap, the shadows appear to attract and merge. This is known as the shadow blister effect. The outlines of the shadow zones can be found by tracing the rays of light emitted by the outermost regions of the extended light source. The umbra region does not receive any direct light from any part of the light source and is the darkest. A viewer located in the umbra region cannot directly se ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Paddy Field
A paddy field is a flooded field (agriculture), field of arable land used for growing Aquatic plant, semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in southern China, associated with Austronesian peoples#Neolithic China, pre-Austronesian and Hmong–Mien languages, Hmong-Mien cultures. It was spread in prehistoric times by the Austronesian peoples#Austronesian expansion, expansion of Austronesian peoples to Island Southeast Asia, Southeast Asia including Northeastern India, Madagascar, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. The technology was also acquired by other cultures in mainland Asia for rice farming, spreading to East Asia, Mainland Southeast Asia, and South Asia. Fields can be built into steep hillsides as Terrace (agriculture), terraces or adjacent to depressed or steeply sloped features such as rivers or marshes. They require a great deal of labor and materials to create and need l ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscillation of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) between its limits to the north and south of the equator. Usually, the term monsoon is used to refer to the rainy phase of a seasonally changing pattern, although technically there is also a dry phase. The term is also sometimes used to describe locally heavy but short-term rains. The major monsoon systems of the world consist of the West African, Asia–Australian, the North American, and South American monsoons. The term was first used in English in British India and neighboring countries to refer to the big seasonal winds blowing from the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea in the southwest bringing heavy rainfall to the area. Etymology The etymology of the word monsoon is not wholl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Golden Hour (photography)
In photography, the golden hour is the period of daytime shortly after sunrise or before sunset, during which daylight is redder and softer than when the sun is higher in the sky. The golden hour is also sometimes called the "magic hour," especially by cinematographers and photographers. During these times, the brightness of the sky matches the brightness of streetlights, signs, car headlights and lit windows. The period of time shortly before the magic hour at sunrise, or after it at sunset, is called the "blue hour". This is when the sun is at a significant depth below the horizon, when residual, indirect sunlight takes on a predominantly blue shade, and there are no sharp shadows because the sun either has not risen, or has set. Details upleft, The midday. The color temperature can also change significantly with altitude, latitude, season, and weather conditions. When the sun is low above the horizon, sunlight rays must penetrate the atmosphere for a greater distance, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Paddy Fields
A paddy field is a flooded field of arable land used for growing semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in southern China, associated with pre-Austronesian and Hmong-Mien cultures. It was spread in prehistoric times by the expansion of Austronesian peoples to Island Southeast Asia, Southeast Asia including Northeastern India, Madagascar, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. The technology was also acquired by other cultures in mainland Asia for rice farming, spreading to East Asia, Mainland Southeast Asia, and South Asia. Fields can be built into steep hillsides as terraces or adjacent to depressed or steeply sloped features such as rivers or marshes. They require a great deal of labor and materials to create and need large quantities of water for irrigation. Oxen and water buffalo, adapted for life in wetlands, are important working animals used extensively in paddy field farmin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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:en:Samanea Saman
''Samanea saman'' is a species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, now in the Mimosoid clade and is native to Central and South America. It is often placed in the genus ''Samanea'', which by yet other authors is subsumed in ''Albizia'' entirely. Its range extends from Mexico south to Peru and Brazil, but it has been widely introduced to South and Southeast Asia, as well as the Pacific Islands, including Hawaii. It is a well-known tree, rivaled perhaps only by lebbeck and pink siris among its genus. It is well represented in many languages and has numerous local names in its native range; common English names include saman, rain tree and monkeypod (see also below). In Cambodia it is colloquially known as the Chankiri Tree (can be written or ). Description Tree Saman is a wide-canopied tree with a large symmetrical umbrella-shaped crown. It usually reaches a height of and a diameter of . This species of flowering tree in the Fabaceae family is native to Ce ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dry Season
The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The temperate counterpart to the tropical dry season is summer or winter. Rain belt The tropical rain belt lies in the southern hemisphere roughly from October to March; during that time the northern tropics have a dry season with sparser precipitation, and days are typically sunny throughout. From April to September, the rain belt lies in the northern hemisphere, and the southern tropics have their dry season. Under the Köppen climate classification, for tropical climates, a dry season month is defined as a month when average precipitation is below . The rain belt reaches roughly as far north as the Tropic of Cancer and as far south as the Tropic of Capricorn. Near these latitudes, there is one wet season and one dry season annually. At the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |