Title: Nraug Yaj Caiv Plawv aka Kev Hlub 1,000 Xyoo (It’s hard for me to translate the first name but I’ll give you the meaning of each word and you can figure it out the way you want it:
Nraug=Male
Yaj: Yang Clan (Has other meanings but in this phrase, it means the clan name. If I give you too many meanings, it will confuse you instead.)
Caiv: refrain, forbid
Plawv: heart
I know it’s kind of weird, right? How does these words make a sentence? Basically, Male from Yang Clan refrains ( or is forbidden) to eat hearts (of animals). Strange, strange indeed to those who are not familiar and also confusing, I agree. But it’s just the Hmong way. I will explain more in-depth later on.)
Okay, for the second title, it is “Kev Hlub 1,000 Xyoo”.
Word for word translation:
Kev: Path, way (Or pathway, lol) (But doesn’t really mean that in this title)
Hlub: love ❤
1,000=1,000 (LOL 😉 )
Xyoo= year or years
So all this sum up to: Love for 1,000 Years, no it actually is not Pathway of Love for 1,000 years. Despite in Hmong, they don’t have the extras like for, or, to, etc, it will still need to be added when translating it into English. “Kev” here actually just to help the express the word “Hlub” more, here it is basically use the same as the word “the” is used in English writing. Isn’t this interesting? It is to me, lol.

This is Tiam 2, which means Second lifetime. If you want to read the first lifetime, here you go: https://faladascreations.com/2017/07/20/hmong-nraug-yaj-caiv-plawv-tiam-1/

Link to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwP7snlQ_jM
(If you don’t want to read my review, go ahead and watch it! 🙂 )

I will be telling the whole series so if you don’t want to be spoiled then refrain from reading it. I will have some Hmong words written, mostly names, but then I will try to translate it into English. Warning: My Hmong and English are certainly not perfect so don’t expect everything to be correct.

There are gifs. (The videos/images does not belong to me, only the edits. Please do not re-post or take gifs without my permission, thanks. This is just a review for others to get to know the Hmong more and is not a way for me or others to make money off of it).

Second lifetime now…. the actress for the female protagonist for the second lifetime changed. Now, it is this actress. Her name in this lifetime is Paj Dib / Pa Di (Dee) ( Paj=flower(s) and Dib= cucumber, watermelon, melon (a lot of meanings but it means this type of fruit lol, I know it’s weird) Despite meaning “Flower Cucumber”, it indeed is a beautiful name in Hmong). Isn’t she pretty? Well, she was born in toj siab (countryside/mountains). You can see that she’s not that civilized and is still wearing the Hmong clothing. But she wears a tiab ka poom, instead of the traditional one, the one I mentioned in Tiam 1.

So here is our male protagonist. He is born to a more wealthier family and lives in the city. And for this lifetime, you can hear his lovely voice. And there are his parents with him in the first gif. They are pretty young, especially the mother. My sister comment that she was as young as the male lead. By the way, his name is Yujin. ( This name does not sound Hmong. In fact, I’m sure it isn’t even Hmong. Sounds more like Chinese or Korean. He might be a Hmong Chinese but I do not know that for sure.) For his family, even though they are wealthy, they still have problems. The biggest problem they are facing is religion. His mother wants to go the new way and believe in God. While his father wants to stay the old way and practice shamanism. This has cause a lot of arguments and misunderstanding between his parents. Honestly, I feel that they do favor shamanism more than Christianity in this series.
For Yujin’s career life, he is a film director with his friends. They wanted to find a Hmong girl with clear diction of the Hmong language because many Hmong girls these days don’t speak good and clear Hmong. (*clears throat* That’s me… sadly it is true). They decided to go to toj siab (countryside/mountains) to find a girl because Toj Siab girls tend to keep the old traditions more. Whereas the city girls are changing and adapting to be more like the Thai’s. Oh yes, something big I forgot to mention, this series was filmed in Chiang Rai, Thailand. There are different types of Hmong, all are not from same place.

On the other side, Paj Dib have a drug dealer boyfriend who is very jealous of her. His name is Pheej (Popular Hmong name for boys but does not have an exact meaning.) He later on cause problems for Yujin because he got involved with Paj Dib.

Back to Yujun. He have this female friend, Nkauj Xwb Xis Xaj (Long name and also not a lot of meaning to it. I will late translate this name more in depth since it’s so long). They are friends but she secretly likes him. She however does not admit it.

Yujin and his friends finally goes to Toj Siab. They went to the marketplace, which was the first time Yujin’s friend saw Paj Dib and commented on her beauty. Paj Dib accidentally left her phone at a vegetable stall and so Yujin took her phone. She later on used her friend’s phone to call her phone. They then got to talk to each other and decided to meet up. Paj Dib was to go to the resort he was staying at.

When Paj Dib come to the resort, that was the first time they met. She sense him as someone she had been familiar with before even though he felt nothing. He was only amazed by her beauty and her clear diction of the Hmong language. He wanted to cast her in his movie. But Pheej interrupted and threaten Yujin. After Paj Dib and her friend left, Yujin started to feel a connection with Paj Dib also. He wanted to see her again but little did he know that that will get him into a lot of trouble.

So I do not have gifs for the problems. But the story was that Pheej was envious of Yujin. Remember, he is a gangster and drug smuggler. He hid drugs in Yujin and his friend’s room and accused them of trying to smuggle drugs. Paj Dib, was experienced and knew of this, quickly took Yujin and his friend in hiding. However, the police were after them and also Pheej and his men. Later on, Yujin and Paj Dib got separated from Yujin’s friend. Yujin and Paj Din were taken in by Paj Dib’s aunt. They stayed at Paj Dib’s aunt’s farm house. That’s when they start to develop feelings and started to connect together again.

Nkauj Xwb Xis Xaj found out where they were in hiding and decided to stay with them. However, a problem arise between her and Yujin. She then chose to leave both Paj Dib and Yujin alone and went back home, brokenhearted.

And with Yujin and Paj Dib being alone, their love developed deeper. News soon came back that Pheej and his people were arrested. It now was safe for Yujin and Paj Dib to come out of hiding. They then return to their homes. However, Yujin promised that he will come back for Paj Dib and they will get marry.

*WARNING: A LOT OF READING AHEAD*
As promised, when Yujin returned home, he asked his parents to go ask for Paj Dib. The elders soon asked him about Paj Dib’s origins. Yujin only had known Paj Dib’s Thai last name. (I think it has become very common now for Hmong people in Thailand to change their first and last name into Thai to make it less complicated. But this creates a problem because children may get into relationship with each other even though they are from the same clan, which violates the Hmong tradition) Yujin is from the Yang Clan once again. The elder traced Paj Dib back to her parents and discovered that she was also from the Yang Clan. Now, we have a big problem here. Yujin and Paj Dib have violated the Hmong tradition. (COMMANDMENT: Thou shalt never married anyone from your clan (same last name as you), even if thou have never seen or cannot trace back to where thou relate with that person.) It is one of the greatest, I guess you can say transgression of the Hmong tradition. (Hmong parents make sure their children knows that they cannot marry or flirt with those that are in their clan. Most if not all Hmong children knows this, even the younger ones.) Yujin blamed the elders for changing their last names to Thai. Because in Thai, they don’t have the same last name even if they do have the same Hmong last name. (Am I making sense?) Yujin also indicate to the elders and his parents that he and Paj Dib have shared the same bed and therefore, had became husband and wife already. This makes it even more complex. (Seriously, I also don’t know how to solve this. Paj Dib lost her innocence already and again this is a serious thing in Hmong. If a woman lose their innocence before marriage, they will be shamed. And the elders can’t go against the Hmong tradition. They can’t just be, “It’ll be just this once, we’ll let you two be together.” Because if they give in this one time, traditions will be easier to violate. And they will become a laughing stock.) The only advice the elders give him is to break up with Paj Dib because it will never be. No matter what, they will have to go their own separate way. Their relationship will not exist. (To me, this matter is complex and cannot be easily solve. Best advice? Ask for their HMONG last name before anything else! And remain sexually pure before marriage!)

Yujin, devastated, went to see Paj Dib, who has been waiting forever for him to comeback. She doesn’t know anything yet, therefore, she rejoiced in seeing Yujin. However, Yujin was not happy and instead was sad. I think he told her that they shared the same clan name and therefore cannot be together anymore. Upon hearing this, Paj Dij broke out of his embrace and looked at him with disappointment (?). Hard to tell the emotions for me. Their dreams of getting married and living together in the future now turned into shambles. She ran away from him  but then fainted. He took her home, but then left.

When Yujin left, it was night time. He was distracted, thinking about all the things that had happened. I do agree. A lot has happened. Because of his distracted driving, he got into a car accident.

That car accident did not treat him too well. It kind of took his feet and he now has to use a wheelchair. It has been 2 years now. And we know nothing of Paj Dib.

However, as Yujin look off into the distance, he sees a kid with (you know who?)….

With Paj Dib of course! It turns out that she got pregnant and they now have a daughter. (More complex now! How are they going to solve this mess now???) But seeing her again makes him sad.

He gets up and walks to her even though it was hard. Finally, he touch her once more on the cheek. And he finally got to hold his daughter. (So family reunion? Not so fast, if this happened in real life, there will be more to it. However, this is only a movie series… In real life, both actors do not share the same last name.)

And just like this, it ends. This movie ended without telling us what will actually happen between them. I mean seriously what they did was serious. I don’t ever recall anything like this happening in real life. And as I have mention countless times, this is a serious violation of the traditions. Even though the Hmong language and culture is fading, it should still be respected, all the traditions.
But yes, as I have also mention, the Hmong Thai have been changing their first and last names to Thai. For the Hmong Chinese, I don’t know. But their Hmong is not clear. When speaking Hmong, they sound Chinese and it’s easy to recognize that they are Hmong Chinese. As for Hmong Lao and Hmong Thailand, their Hmong are still good, but I really don’t know. Hmong American (ME!) speaks Hmong a bit with an (North America) English accent. There are Hmong French and Hmong Australia, but I don’t have much knowledge about them.
I can’t say this lifetime was more romantic or better, because it really isn’t even though they do get more scenes. Overall, the movie series was okay, not good but not bad. I enjoy some parts of it. I really like how they show the Hmong traditions and superstitions in there.
All in all, I hope that you have enjoyed my reviews on this movies series and learned a thing or two about Hmong. Or if you are Hmong, hopefully, I have refreshed your memory. I’ve enjoyed writing this and sharing it all with you. There will be many mistakes but please forgive me.
Any questions or comments? Say it out. 🙂

<3 Falada