Loving Lao!

We spent two days floating down the Mekong river from the Lao/Thai boarder town of Huay Xai To Luang Prabang. Northern Laos has proven to be absolutely beautiful, as has the town of Luang Prabang. Although a long few days, the boat ride was great. As we had read, if you prepare for 2 long slow days of sitting, watching, and reading you’ll be fine. The weather was nice but much cooler in the north. Pants and sweaters were needed in order to stay warm.



During the boat ride, we met a family from Montreal who have been on the road for 7 months. A mother and father with there 3 children aged 5 -10. There plan is to spend a year traveling around the world. So far they have spend time in Africa, India, and the Middle East. At one point during the trip workers from the boat were boiling water on an open stove a few feet of the children (not to mention the rest of us)… but me and the mother got talking about safety standards and how much of a cultural thing it is. The mother was saying that while they were in India with a particularly aggressive driver, she was trying to get the kids to put there seat belts on. The kids all responded “but mommy, were in India, no one wears seatbelts here!” We were both laughing about how interesting her parenting job will when they back to Canada in few months.



The biggest challenge in Laos so far has been figuring out the currency (kip) as they will generally accept kip, baht, and dollars. Converting between 3 very different money systems is hard on the head to say the least ( $1 ~ 30 BT ~ 8000 kip). Although, it is pretty sweet taking a million dollars out at the ATM.



The top three reasons why Luang Prabang wins are as follows: all the cats we have seen so far still have full tails, they drive on the “right” side of the road, and there is no road side hassling from the street venders! The town is also filled with tons of cool little restaurants, bars, and cafes. We rented bikes and toured around the city. Now that we’re down from the mountains, the days have been scorchers and we found a flyer for a pool/bar in the basket of one of our bikes so that’s where we headed.



The pool was great, with ice cold water and plenty of decks for lounging. Plus they had hammocks and you may or may not know that I have a great affection for hammocks. Not mention the sweet murals and home water slide! The water slide was formed with concrete then lined with tiles to be slippery… it wasn’t that slippery but they get points for ingenuity. All in all a great afternoon of pool side lounging!



The next afternoons bike adventure led us to sketchy market where the piles upon piles of raw meat, flies, and the stench of death left us wanting more… so we hopped back on the bikes and pedaled until we found a bamboo bridge and a swimming hole. Being another hot afternoon we ventured over and took a dip. While across the river we noticed a sign for a bar and decided to grab a drink. And what an interesting drink that turned out to be.



First we followed the path through the neatest garden tunnel, which led to the bar. The place itself was built into a hill and started at the top and stretched out into the tree canopy. It was nice and peaceful and we enjoyed some beers, jenga, battle ships, and Lao fondue. You may assume Lao fondue would be similar to fondue at home as we did and be completely wrong as we were.



The waiter first brought a plate of thinly shaved chicken, basket full of fresh veggies, and a kettle. That’s when we knew we were in for something different. After a few puzzled glances exchanged between Marilyn and I he reappeared with a bucket of coals, a strange looking grill, and some helpful pointers on what we should do. The grill was raised in the center and had a trough all around the bottom (see picture below). First we poured broth around the trough, as it turned out we were making soup! Then we put some pork far at the top of the grill melt so the chicken wouldn’t stick as we cooked it on the grill. Once all the chicken was cooked we started to add the vegetables, garlic, chilies, and eggs. Let that fester for few minutes and then enjoyed a most flavorful and delicious soup!



Our evenings in this idyllic little town have been spent bar hoping along the river side restaurants and browsing around the night market. This market unlike the one mentioned above is filled with beautiful woven clothing, teas, and all sorts of crafty odds and ends. Our bags are once again becoming heavier…



Lastly, we ventured to one of the local attractions today, the Kuang Si water fall which lies about 30 km away from the town. We split a tuk tuk with some other friendly tourist and spent the afternoon enjoying the views and playing in the pools.