Buffalo Skin and other Edible Delights

Phonsavan, Laos

We've been in Laos for a week so far and we've already got some great memories. Crossing the border was uneventful but once again we found that Canadians pay more for a Visa than most other countries.

We found the boats heading downriver quite easily and admired the cushy benches with coffee tables between them, the bar for refreshments at the back, the uniformed waiters and the polished railings. Then we realized that we'd be in the boat beside the nice one. The boat with row upon row of hard skinny benches. We didn't even know we had the choice. The seats were hard but the scenery as we puttered down the Mekong was incredible. Tiny villages and mile upon mile of jungle. We had a late departure so we didn't get into our stop for the night until dusk. It was a bit overwhelming as we put into shore, clambered across the foot-wide gangplank, to a steep sandy slope up which we would need to climb in the dark whilst being hailed by the dozens of touts explaining the merits of their guesthouses. One of the exhilarating things about travelling is walking in an unknown place after dark, hearing the music and smelling strange food cooking.

Luang Prabang was a very different story. We arrived in early afternoon, found a guesthouse easily and had a great dinner that night with some new friends from the boat trip. Over the next 3 days we rented some bicycles and visited the local attractions and tasted the local delicacies.

We visited one place called the UXO (unexploded ordinance) office. Laos is one of the most heavily bombed countries in the world. The US bombed it pretty much continuously from 1964-1975 and its estimated that 30% of the explosives didn't go off the first time. It was eye opening to see the long-term effects that war has. http://www.uxolao.gov.la/photo_gallery.asp

One afternoon we biked about 6 km to a waterfall. It wasn't huge or really impressive but what made it memorable was that there were a half dozen local kids playing in the water. Some were jumping off the rocks into the pool, some were shampooing their hair, and some thought it interesting that falang (us white folk) would come to see their waterfall. It was really fun to interact with them and see them have such a good time.

We really enjoyed a restaurant called Tamarind and enjoyed a couple of sampler platters of local delicacies. The more unusual of these delicacies included buffalo skin in chili paste and fried river weed. I loved the dessert which was purple sticky rice with a tamarind (sour) and coconut (sweet) dipping sauce.