Sep 2008

We spent a whole leisurely day yesterday at a Lao cooking class at the Three Elephants. It started with a tour of the big local food market - at last, I know what some of those strange items were. Not too keen on the dried buffalo skin rolls. Mounds of vegetables, buckets of live fish, slabs of meat, barbecued chicken, eggs in piles and the piece de resistance - the Lao version of fish sauce. Think I'll stick with Thai fish sauce in bottles.
Then we drove back in a tuktuk to start cooking. As we finished a couple of dishes, it was time to eat, then begin some new recipes.
The day ended with preparation of sticky rice and local chilli sauce, before we shared our final plates. Get ready for our demo on return!
Very enjoyable time, and we ate lightly today.

IN an effort to recover from all that food, we walked up to Phousi Hill in the centre of town, admired the fabulous view through the trees across 2 rivers, chatted with a novice in orange robes and an umbrella and then took the steps down the other side. Then on to a local museum of "ethnic items."
It has started raining heavily again this afternoon, but poncho-clad, we walked to the book exchange and enjoyed a lengthy talk with the Australian Lao owner. The temperature has dropped to very pleasant mid 20s.
Tomorrow, we have hired a tuktuk driver to take us into the countryside to some local villages.
One day left and out to Vientiane on Thursday.

Arriving here was low key with only 20 on the small plane from Hanoi. We found our B&B and then went walking. Everyone was under ponchos or umbrellas as the rain settled in. We wondered if this was the pattern for the rest of the week.
Since then we have had dry although very humid weather and been able to saunter down from our lodging to the Mekong - huge, brown and carrying a lot of debris- and get to know our way around town. Visited lots of wats, sat on verandahs with a beer, and caught a tuk tuk.
The Saturday Night Market was three times the usual size so a little shopping happened.
Today we visited a silk weaving workshop where we prepared dyes from plants harvested from their garden and dyed some hanks of silk. I have blue hands from indigo - how traditional is that!
Tomorrow we have a whoile day cooking Lao food after a visit to the market.
Holiday mode is kicking in.

A typhoon was aimed at North Vietnam with heavy rain arriving in the afternoon. THis meant our tour group was urged to use the cable car to reach the Pagoda - reluctantly I agreed to pass on climbing up! What it meant for the villagers was different.
Rice harvesting was underway in a frenzy of activity. The small bus wove through villlages wheere every flat surface inclduing the road had rice spread to dry. Small threshing amchines sprayed mounds of green rice straw in one direction while women colllected grain in shallow woven trays. They cheerfully shifgted the machine so vehciles coudl edge past.
Harvesting was by hand so the small fields were dotted with figures in conical hats. Co;lours changed from green to gold as rthe dayw armed. By lated afternoon, as the rian began, most grain was stored in bags adn tall mounds of straw showed where the day's waork ended.
On the river, the dominant shades were all green. The karst hills rose very sharply from river flats and the calm green water merged indistinctly with the slope. Sometimes it was only possible to detect water by the gliding motion of a distant person.
Women rowed us upriver in flat boats with lots of chat. A few men fished for crabs or with scoops in the silt, flicking tiny paddles to slide over the surface.
The hillside with LOTS fo steps was many shades of green. Once at the top, we cautiously climbed down to a large cave to admire this famed place of worship. Then a quieter glide downriver with the first spatters of rain.

They are big, really big. What do they taste like? How many disease are carried by snails. According to D, Lots. Spoilsport.
We meandered through a market this afternoon which stocked more variety than Coles. Lots of live fish and eels, prawns, shellfish, pupae of something, and what looked like mealworms. Fabulous mountains of spices and greens, stalls selling cooked meat and fresh slabs, and a lady very keen to sell us a tshirt. The fruit is too good to ignore so I think we will have to try a mixed bag. Biggest dragon fruit I've seen and tiny pineapples.

We braved a couple of taxi rides today crosssing town to visit the Ethnography Museum. Feel a little more knowledgeable about the multiplicity of languages and ethnic groups. One of the best parts was the examples rebuilt there of house types. The brilliant weaving is truly staggering in the baskets, hats and house gear. I yearn after a fishing basket, but Customs would not be happy.

It is 35 degrees today wiht 50% humidity. But the good news is that the traffic accidents look like they are down on last year.

Food: citron tarte, fresh orange juice, lots of beers, green mango and bean sprout salad with peanuts
Coffee is weird with cardamon? overtones.

The morning after.. we were a bit zonked by last night. Very little sleep on the plane to KL particularly when they offered a meal at around 4am, the somewhat surreal KL airport (well, after Perth anything woud seem flashy). Swapped planes and arrived into 32 degrees. It was a big relief to see my name on a pickup slip.
Traffic is ... interesting ...here. People don't seem to be aggro but the horns talk to each other and the mix of foot, bike, motorbike, small car, 4WD, buses weave around and across with some attention to lanes.
We are in the Old Quarter in a mini hotel down a street too small for cars. Sitting having pho for breakfast - tangs of lemon grass and herbs- I saw a woman in a classic cone hat trotting past with a pole on her shoulder balancing two loads. This part of the city is packed to the road edge and past with small stalls, families seated outside businesses, and it takes care to dodge the open concrete drains. There is a slight "drain"smell everywhere - not surprising in this climate.
We walked and walked yesterday afternoon, getting our bearings (hah!), and head out today with new determination. It was overwheming - new language and new currency. With a LOT of zeros. Since most references are to US$ I am converting between 3 currencies to have an idea of prices.

OK, today's goals are to find a bookshop for a good map - there doesn't seem to be a central Tourist Bureau, just lots of eager travel agents- and the Baguette and Chocolat patisserie. Oh and the Museum of Women and the Museum of Ethnography.
Food report: Fried fish with cashews, lemongrass and chili chicken and rice, and noodles for breakfast. The coffee was maybe cardamon laced. mmmm

Oh and the cables looping above the streets would make Mieville happy!! Colourfully painted narrow buildings 4 or 5 levels high and lots of urban decay for David.

Reads rather disjointed which is probably a true relflection. I will aim for a more "composed" entry next.