Yiem Yahm

04/11/2023

Talat Noi (means small market) one of Bangkok Thailand’s 🇹🇭 oldest historic neighborhood, turns this narrow alleyway into a hip, vibrant art 🖼️ walk. Around Talat Noi, you’ll also find some of the city’s oldest surviving mechanic shops, multigenerational businesses, new hip cafes, historic temples and religious shrines. Talat Noi is made up of ethnic Chinese community on the southern edge of Bangkok’s Chinatown. It’s also close to the Chao Praya River and there’s a port for the boat bus nearby. Great neighborhood to visit. Lots of yummy food shops to try as well. You’ll get the chance to see how they preserve traditions and appreciate the new take of urban art popping up in the area.

The video clip shows the alleyway with photos 📷 of local life on one side of the alley wall. Painted murals 🎨 on the other side of alley wall.

#ຢ້ຽມຢາມ

30/10/2023

Oklahoma City’s 🇺🇸 Myriad Botanical Gardens 🌲🌺🌳🌸 got super creative with their local farmers’ autumn season pumpkins 🎃 by creating this gorgeous pumpkin mosaic 🖼️ America has a lot of charming destinations that our family plans to visit more. We hope you’ll have the chance to too. We came to Oklahoma City for Kent’s graduation ceremony a couple years back and had the chance to appreciate this charming city. We didn’t get to go inside the botanical garden because it was under renovation at that time, but we explored the area that was open for the public to visit. Random note, we surprisingly found an incredibly good Japanese 🇯🇵 ramen 🍜 restaurant in Oklahoma City too! There’s also a bustling Vietnamese 🇻🇳 Town. Content coming soon.

Myriad Botanical Gardens 🌳🌺 is the most beautiful and vibrant green 15-acre natural escape in the heart of downtown, Oklahoma City and is free to the public! This botanical garden features seasonal activities and events such as spring bulb displays, concerts and movies, classes, annual children’s festivals and more.

https://myriadgardens.org

There is also the newly renovated Crystal Bridge Conservatory developed by the Inasmuch Foundation that you can cross at the botanical garden.

Wishing those who are celebrating Halloween 🎃 to have a fun and safe time celebrating.

For our Lao, Khmer, Myanmar and Thai friends, have a wonderful time celebrating the Light Festival 🕯️(ບຸນອອກພັນສາ) end of Buddhist Lent.

#ຢ້ຽມຢາມ

26/10/2023

This is a nice graphic of Bangkok’s 🇹🇭 pier stops for their shuttle boats (bus boats) 🛥️ a giant poster when we got off the pier stop to get to the Grand Palace. Notice that it also highlights tourist attractions to check out. These bus boats are one of Amy’s favorite public / local transits in the City. Our family loves taking public transits or trying out local transiting systems in general when we travel. These bus boats are pretty fun, timely and cost effective. Staff on the boats are very helpful too. Just remember to ask them for help if you’re unfamiliar with how it works or if your stop is coming up. Fee for each passenger is very reasonable (paid in Baht cash or coins). Let us know if you want to know the ticket price.

Bangkok, Thailand 🇹🇭 is such an incredible city, pretty much an international city. Very welcoming to people visiting and a home to many expats who have chosen to call this vibrant city their home. There’s a lot of migrant workers from neighboring countries as well.

#ຢ້ຽມຢາມ

25/10/2023

Guess who were parasailing 🛥️🪂 in Oahu, Hawaii 🏝️? This trip was awhile back. Amy took mom and dad to Hawaii as a special birthday trip to honor them for bringing her to life and for raising her the best that they could even with the challenges of being a refugee being displaced multiple times and then settling in a new country. This trip was possible thanks to an incredible kind friend who shared their home with us and also Amy with her amazing skills in finding promos and discounts. We also were able to meet and hangout with some awesome locals who showed us around as well. This trip sparked the idea of encouraging and inspiring people to take their parents on trips and have family vacations. We love seeing more children (young adults) taking their parents on trips more. Logistics are never easy, but it is well worth when reflecting back. Don’t splurge on trips. Be financially responsible and travel within your means. Hopefully video content coming soon because momma and papa has been waiting to look back on this Oahu trip as well.

#ຢ້ຽມຢາມ

23/10/2023

Flowers on a banana tree? Guess what the yellow flowers are made from. Have you ever seen it made before? It’s quit creative and they’re beautifully made from good’ol nature. Totally becomes bio-degradable once it serves its beautiful purpose at this festival.

We were lucky to catch this fundraising ceremony at Vat Xieng Tong (Xieng Tong Temple) in Luangrabang, Laos 🇱🇦 with one of our retiree friend from France. We caught the parade that started at the Royal Palace and ended at this temple. It was a community fundraiser to help renovate one of the buildings where the elder monks and novice monks stayed in at another temple. The building needed a lot of fixing up. Happy to share footages of the fundraiser later, we just haven’t had time to do any video production work for awhile.

We’re writing “Vat” instead of “Wat” because the Lao pronunciation is with a “V” sound. “Vat” means temple in Lao language. “Xieng” is a certain level or rank as a monk. “Tong” is a synonym to gold (“Kham” is actually more commonly used saying gold among Lao people). You’ll notice as you’re walking around the peninsula part of Luangprabang (essentially the area near the the palace) each neighborhood has “Xieng” in the beginning of each neighborhoods’ name. You’ll also notice that throughout Luangprabang, there’s a temple in every neighborhood. Long ago, temples were significant in society there. It was a place to be educated, get medical treatment, center to teach arts and sculpturing, a community center and more. It wasn’t only a place for religious purpose.

#ຫຼວງພະບາງ #ຢ້ຽມຢາມ #ເມືອງລາວ

22/10/2023

This beautiful enchanting waterfall, Thaht Kuang Si, is from our previous time in Luangprabang, Laos 🇱🇦 We miss being in Laos so much. There’s so many mythical and historical stories about this waterfall and it’s location. The oral history passed down is really fascinating. There’s also a Sun Bear rescue and rehabilitation center at this site 🐻 Hoping to have an actual interview done next time to share the story of this location. For now, here’s a beautiful glimpse, a photo of this magical waterfall.

#ຫຼວງພະບາງ #ຢ້ຽມຢາມ #ເມືອງລາວ

21/10/2023

We have reached 200 followers! Thank you for your continued support. We could not have done it without each of you. 🙏🤗🎉 Slow and steady, but getting there. Hoping to inspire more families to learn, explore the world and create wonderful family values.

Checkout out our videos on YouTube: https://youtube.com/

Thank you, ຂອບ​ໃຈ, ありがとう, ကျေးဇူးတင်ပါတယ်, ขอบคุณ, Danke, merci

17/07/2023

ມື້ນີ້ງາມຫຼາຍ 🌸🌲🌺🌳 ຍ່າງນໍາລູກໄດ້ສີ່ໄມ ເພື່ອໃຫ້ສຸຂະພາບດີຂຶ້ນ. ໄດ້ວິຕາມິນ (vitamin D) ຈາກຕາເວັນ ☀️ ກັບຍ່າງເພື່ອອອກ​ກໍາ​ລັງ​ກາຍ​.

17/07/2023

Beautiful day to go for a walk at the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. So many people were outside with family and friends.

The Golden Gate Park goes back to the 1860s. A quintessential place of outdoor recreation. The Golden Gate Park offers an array of gems: classical buildings, beautiful landscape, scenic meadows and lakes, monuments, and major museums.

The Conservatory of Flowers (white classical structure in the photo), opened in 1879 was the park’s first formal structure. Its 12,000 square feet, all covered in glass, contains mostly tropical plants. Tickets required, discounts for seniors, children and students. Free for residents, veterans and Golden Gate Park members.

04/07/2023

ຢາກໄປຂີ່ຍົນນ້ອຍຢູຮາວາຍອີກຕື່ມເດ ✈️🏝️ ຢາກໃຫ້ໝູ່ໄປທ່ຽວບ່ອນນີ້ມ່ວນຫຼາຍ!

04/07/2023

ທ່ຽວຮາວາຍ. ຢາກໄປດຳນ້ຳອີກ. ວັນເກີດລູກສາວເອົາພໍ່ກັບແມ່ໄປທ່ຽວ.

25/06/2023

Dad is finally getting healthier. He’s not back in full health, but progressing. Dad wanted to cook, so he prepared us a Lao noodle dish called Khao Pbiek with pork broth for lunch. He hand made the thick rice noodles, it’s almost like Japanese Udon noodles, but has a softer chew texture. Next day, dad hasn’t been to this IKEA in Emeryville, so figured it’d be fun for dad since he likes looking at designs and home improvement ideas. We got some good’ol IKEA style Swedish food at their food court to snack a bit before coming home. We wanted to have a home cooked meal for lunch. Dad stayed back to make the sticky rice, vermicelli noodles, and prep papaya salad ingredients for mom. Mom and the little one walked down to a Chinese to-go shop to get some BBQ pork and crispy pork belly. The whole family finally under one roof, we’re missing Kent, but he video called in while we were having lunch. 2023, we were all scattered around the world at different times. Finally nice to chill and eat together. Video and memory done by Apple’s AI.

Late post, but it’s okay. Oh! Did you know that IKEA has a design application where you can design your ideas from the comfort of your home? Check out their website and use their Planning tools application.

https://youtu.be/uCQbuopLLds

#ຢ້ຽມຢາມ #ວັນພໍ່

22/06/2023

A wonderful Mother’s Day (ວັນ​ແມ່) weekend with our Momma ❤️ Video and memory done by Apple’s AI. Mom enjoyed learning how to use this tool. We walked around a lot. On Saturday, walked to . Had lunch and matcha (green tea) soft serve ice cream. On Sunday, walked across the Golden Gate Park to get to Inner Sunset to check out the flea market. Had lunch at a Korean restaurant and then coffee and dessert at Tartine. Mom loved the flowers 🌸 that were in full bloom at the Golden Gate Park. It was a beautiful weekend.

Late post, but it’s okay. Hopefully you’ll get the chance to see this part of San Francisco. It’s a very walkable friendly area. Plenty to see and yummy food options.

https://youtu.be/paCmimLSYlY

19/06/2023

Blessed to have had a wonderful Father’s Day weekend with our Papa 🐻 Enjoy this video by our dad. Dad’s health got much better and he was able to enjoy his time in Laos with his older brother. We’ve been teaching our parents how to us AI tools to help them with their creative projects. Don’t let age limit you. It’s never too late to learn. Thank you Apple for creating such an awesome tool with accessibility designed in mind.

We’ll show you how our mom has been using Google Bard AI next time 😊

https://youtu.be/hUR_nJiiG6Y

#ຫຼວງພະບາງ #ຢ້ຽມຢາມ #ເມືອງລາວ

12/04/2022

Japantown Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco 🇯🇵🇺🇸🌸 https://youtu.be/a0dDFtQ1Ovo

Excited to experience San Francisco's Japantown Cherry Blossom Festival on Sunday, April 10, 2022. Great to see the community coming out to learn about diffe...

07/04/2022

Hello Golden Bear ✈️

03/02/2022

Point Reyes, California, “A Natural Sanctuary, A Human Haven - From its thunderous ocean breakers crashing against rocky headlands and expansive sand beaches to its open grasslands, brushy hillsides, and forested ridges, Point Reyes offers visitors over 1500 species of plants and animals to discover. Home to several cultures over thousands of years, the Seashore preserves a tapestry of stories and interactions of people. Point Reyes awaits your exploration.” - nps.gov

https://youtu.be/LmhKrp00vuM

31/12/2021

Wishing you all Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! https://youtu.be/bA7AsVYtpN8

Our family spent the holidays in San Francisco. We did a lot of walking and supported local small businesses in the area. This is more of a home video for our family, but figured it’d good to share some ideas on what you can do when you’re in San Francisco (SF). This city has a lot of hidden gems. We encourage you to explore the great outdoors in SF.

2020-2021 has been rough years for everyone, including our family. We’ve overcame a lot, we’re sure you all have too. We can only do our best to live and move forward. Please continue to be kind to one another. Be kind to yourself as well. Cheers to life and more years to come. Stay safe and healthy everyone 🙏🏼

This is more of a home video for the family. Our holiday was simple. We were lucky to have the family together. Kent flew in for San Antonio, Texas, a holida...

22/11/2021

What happened to the Heidelberg, Germany episode? Well, it has been a rough ~2 year for many around the world and including ourselves. Hoping the video can be ready soon, so that you can have some ideas on what to visit there when the world is more safer to travel. During hard times, it gives us time to reminisce the good parts of the past, appreciate the small things in present, focus on physical and mental health, more life planning and be hopeful for the future.

16/11/2021

Beautiful weekend in San Francisco. The drive on the iconic Golden Gate Bridge.

11/11/2021

Happy Veterans Day 🇺🇸 A day to honor the individuals for their service and also their family. To serve, requires a lot of sacrifices. Sometimes other people don’t understand. It really is a life of “service before self.” Thank you all who have served and who are serving.

09/11/2021

One of our favorite old German cities, Trier 🇩🇪 Has the most well-preserved Roman structures, the Porta Nigra gate is one of the many and has Germany’s oldest Gothic church. Also, Trier is famous for their white wines 🥂 plenty to taste. https://youtu.be/TSpRaTYp-pI

Trier is Germany's oldest city. It's one of ancient Rome's capitals and used to be called Rome of the North. Trier has one of the best preserved Roman ruins...

09/11/2021

Waiting patiently to travel to Switzerland 🇨🇭 Check out this Lucerne episode to get some ideas on what to do there, https://youtu.be/l50i88G4PsQ

Lucerne, the heart of Switzerland🇨🇭 A medieval Swiss city framed by its beautiful Lake Lucerne and surrounded by its captivating Alps. It’s located in the ...

07/10/2021

“Better together.” - CMSgt JoAnne S. Bass

15/08/2021

Outdoor therapy: Ran 5 miles. Thoughts while eating and resting. Sending positive energy around the world 🙏🏼🌏

17/07/2021

Outdoor therapy. Watering the garden in the weeee morning. Photo 2 are momma’s baby lettuce 🥬 Photo 3 are my baby bok choy.

29/06/2021

Our super-momma ❤️ Helping out the Southeast Asian communities during the pandemic.

Your babies promise to take you traveling soon. You deserve it after all the work you’ve done.

In honor of Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Sierra Vista would like to highlight our employee Bouaphanh Boudsady. Sierra Vista celebrates Bouaphanh’s recent community outreach at Lao Temple. She met with South East Asian communities from Stanislaus, Fresno, Merced, Stockton, Richmond, San Jose, and Sacramento. She encouraged them to protect one another and vaccinate. Thank you, Bouaphanh, for serving the South East Asian communities. We are grateful to you.

23/06/2021

When the baby is home. Thank you ເອື້ອຍ Phaivanh Chittalath for yummy Lao dessert 🇱🇦 ນ້ໍາຫວານ ເຂົ້າລອດຊອງ ❤️

21/06/2021

When the beebees are home 🏡 fry-licious and herb-licious noms-noms. Yummy Lao food time 🇱🇦

18/06/2021

Return to work. Trapped in office by Did it jump or not jump at me?

07/06/2021

5:40am drive on the CA-99, is that the California High-Speed Rail 🚆? Saw it around Madera up to Bakersfield.

05/06/2021

⏪ rewind to Mount Pilatus, Switzerland 🇨🇭Hoping to be back soon. https://youtu.be/nyE4isXgFLo

Lucerne, the heart of Switzerland 🇨🇭A medieval Swiss city framed by its beautiful Lake Lucerne and surrounded by its captivating Alps. It’s located in the ...

05/06/2021

First time ever seeing peanut plant 🥜🌱 (first pic). Outdoor therapy with momma. Basil variations, chili peppers, eggplants and lemongrass. Gonna miss plant babies and gardening with momma and papa. See you soon. The back and forth life.

01/02/2021

ຢາຊຽງໝ້ຽງ ໄດ້ເລື່ອງ! Walked 3.5 miles + Vitamin D☀️ Early bird = no one else walking around outside. Mom took her mask off for the photo during the climb. Mom being naughty, rock climbed even with rheumatoid arthritis. Dad being helpful as usual. Hand sanitizer after finishing. Good job mom and dad! ⭐️

ຢາຊຽງໝ້ຽງ ໄດ້ເລື່ອງ because they walked a lot, got super hungry afterwards and ate a lot for lunch 🍔🍟

Hope that you’re making time to do something active outside. Vitamin D from the sun is essential. Stay safe and healthy 🙏🏼

11/01/2021

Why is homemade Mexican 🇲🇽🫔 tamales soooo good? 🤤 Thank you Marybel 💕 Your mommy’s homemade tamales 🫔 are the best! 🙏🏼🥰 She should cater and sell them!!!

COVID-19 🦠 cases are skyrocketing 🚀 around the world. Please practice social distancing and remember to wear masks when you go out.

10/01/2021

🇲🇽🌮 Tacos de tripas y tacos de asada con todo. After 4 miles morning walk/run in the fog. Food sponsored by brother Kent and wonderful Marybel 🥰



COVID-19 🦠 cases are skyrocketing 🚀 around the world. Please practice social distancing and remember to wear masks when you go out.

31/12/2020

“Good Economics for Hard Times,” by two Noble prize-winning🥇economists Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo 📖 shows how economics, when done right, the questions of economics is central to solving our world’s pressing social and political crisis of our time 🌏

This book allows readers to see through the authors lens 👓 as economists (they’ve done great length of work in developing countries). It’s fascinating how they opened up the truth - the problems that the rich countries in the world are facing today, are “eerily” to those that they were studying in the developing world - people left behind by development leading to greater inequality and growing lack of faith in government. Paraphrasing: “Across countries around the world, we can see the rapid fraying of social contracts with the “haves” facing off with the increasingly alienated “have-nots” with no resolutions in sight. There’s exploding inequality everywhere, countries around the world.“

They do a brilliant job with deconstructing fake facts that some politicians and media outlets tend to pander to fuel fear mongering to divide us. Immigration and inequality, globalization and technological disruption, slowing economic growth and accelerating climate change—these are sources of great anxiety across the world, from India to Europe and the US, pretty much all countries. They bring up examples and cases that pockets of the world are trying to provide innovative solution. Even goes over examples of forms of Universal Basic Income (UBI) being done in other countries, including India’s version. Seems like the resources to address these challenges are available, but what we lack are ideas that will help us transcend beyond the wall of disagreement and distrust, especially in the US, we are way too divided.

What I liked most about this book is how they analyze and deconstruct social issues and connect how people in different parts of the world is not so different. The authors make a persuasive case for an intelligent interventionism, but it depends on a society built on compassion and respect. Respect requires an understanding. But that’s another challenge, it’s almost impossible to have a discourse or even conversation. But then again, why should the other side listen if they’re constantly being reminded that they’re in a lesser category and the problem is their own because they choose to be that way. Even our politicians looks down on these folks, so that makes conditions even worst. People don’t want handouts, but if they are given help, they do want to contribute back to society as well. All everyone is asking for is dignity and to have a humane life where they’re able to meet their basic needs to live.

It feels like we need a miracle to make a small dent to solve this soon to come economical crisis after this pandemic. Definitely felt frustrated after reading this book. Countries and leaders really need to be more open minded and learn from one another.

From the authors, this book’s noble, urgent task is “to emphasize that there are no iron laws of economics keeping us from building a more humane world”.

Another highly recommended book 📚 to read during these trying times.



COVID-19 🦠 cases are skyrocketing 🚀 around the world. Please practice social distancing and remember to wear masks when you go out.

30/12/2020

Green machine kind of day + protein goodies. We’re stuck with this covid situation, might as well get extra healthy and fit 💪🏼 2 mile runs here we come 🏃🏻‍♀️🏃🏻



COVID-19 🦠 cases are skyrocketing 🚀 around the world. Please practice social distancing and remember to wear masks when you go out.

21/12/2020

Trier, Germany 🇩🇪 Ep. 7 is finally here!!!
https://youtu.be/TSpRaTYp-pI

Trier is Germany's oldest city. It's one of ancient Rome's capitals and used to be called Rome of the North. Episode 7: TRIER, GERMANY ...

19/12/2020

Who is ready for Trier, Germany 🇩🇪
Road trip jam 🎶 with The Four Seasons