Sharing Thanksgiving traditions in Luang Prabang, Laos

By: Nicole Long – Laos Country Director

The Thanksgiving holiday might have officially passed, but there really is no reason not to use any random day to give thanks.  I want to take the opportunity to give thanks to Journeys Within for giving me the rare and amazing experience to live in Laos and work for such supportive and amazing people.

I was given this ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity by Andrea and Brandon Ross three years ago. They believed in me and gave me the chance to fulfill my dream of living in SE Asia and working with a company that understood the importance of philanthropy and being socially conscious to the communities where they worked.  I am so thankful to them for giving me the blessing of the last three years.

Even though I feel blessed for my opportunities, there are times around the holidays when you can’t help to feel sad about not being with family and friends. As a Southern American, I was brought up believing in the importance of the traditions of the holidays.  I believe most of our traditions as Americans occur around the holidays since over time we have lost other ancestral customs and practices.  My family was always apart for most of the year, but the holidays of this season would always bring us back together.

A week ago I was speaking with a fellow expat American and expressing my grief on wishing to be with my family and celebrating this holiday. Her solution was for us to put on our very own Thanksgiving Dinner and share it with friends and colleagues living in Luang Prabang. What a fantastic way to continue and share our tradition with others!

So, we began our planning of the dinner and luckily it all quickly fell into place.  The owners of one of the best restaurants in town, L’Elephant, said they would cater and even lend us tables, plates, flatware and glasses for the event.  It always helps to have friends that own restaurants!  We thought that perhaps we would host the dinner in one of our respective front lawns, but then we received an offer that we couldn’t refuse. The founder of Project Space, an art gallery housed in the tallest building in Luang Prabang (it’s only four stories) offered his roof when we invited him for dinner. A roof top overlooking Phousi Mountain and the twinkling lights of the town sounded perfect!  We put the final touches on the night with table settings, decorations and music playlists to set the tone.

It turned out to be a magical night spent with old and new friends.  Most of the people who attended expressed it was their very first Thanksgiving, but they quickly understood why it was so special to us. Everyone had the common spirit of gratitude for sharing the tradition of the holiday together.

We ate a delicious meal, shared laughs and enjoyed a fabulous evening in Luang Prabang.

I may have spent another Thanksgiving away from loved ones in the US, but I was so thankful to share a tradition with the people who have come to mean so much to me the past three years. If only I could have flown the Ross family over for turkey, then it would have been perfect!