Official Banquet for Lao Prime Minister
Last night, I was at the banquet hall of the Palace - Istana Nurul Iman – for the Official Banquet given by His Majesty in honour of Bouasone Bouphavanh, the Prime Minister of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. The previous banquet for a visiting head was almost a year ago when it was a State Banquet for the visiting Indonesian President. I thought the food wasn’t as lavish as the last one as this was an Official Banquet as opposed to a State Banquet. The Lao Prime Minister is a Head of Government, so this is an Official Banquet. The Indonesian President was a Head of State, so it was a State Banquet. There were also other differences. There was no national anthem, so His Majesty together with the Prime Minister walked in and sat down and a doa selamat was read. Of course, there were still speeches by both His Majesty and the Prime Minister. As usual, after a banquet, this blog becomes a temporary food blog. The banquet last night was lighter and not so heavy. After the starter and ...