Sarah and Maren were visiting, and did their part too, carrying a new broom and fan-type thing.

The man in the foreground is a local Lao man who became a monk for the week to create good karma for his son, a marine who was killed in Iraq.

Most Lao men (and boys) become monks for at least a short period of time in their lives, whether to create merit (good karma) for their parents or other family members, or just to spend time studying and living according to the many precepts that monks have to follow.