Laos, 2017: Bamboo Tree Cooking Class

I did a cooking class today [Dec. 31, 2016] at Bamboo Tree which began at 9:00, with 14 students. The first two hours involved signing in, waiting then traveling across town to the large wet market. I saw a couple of new things, notably a wood called "pepper tree root" which tastes of black pepper, and a hairy stick called ratan used in soups. It is a fair sized market.

The specific things mentioned are my first two pics:


The assembled group is watching Lao sticky rice in process. Well-washed glutinous rice is soaked for ten hours to overnight, then steamed for twenty minutes. The shape of the steaming basket comes into play as you must flip the rice over before steaming for another five minutes or so.


Rice is served in a little basket (or a big one if it's for a group) with a cover. I bought a couple of them, and you can see them on the little shelf by the microwave in the recent post about my new apartment. Anyway, I have posted probably hundreds of shots of wet markets around Asia, so I'll only add a few more.

We returned to individual chopping blocks to prep the ingredients for our dishes. We selected as a group: green papaya salad, LP beef soup, chicken in coconut milk soup, spicy chicken salad (laap), steamed chicken or fish wrapped in banana leaf, stuffed bamboo sprouts, sweet sticky rice with mango. We chopped and peeled, minced and cubed, pounded the spice mixtures with mortar and pestle, etc. One new thing I learned was to slice near the bottom of a stalk, as of bamboo or lemongrass, spread it to make a cage into which to put a ball of minced meat mixture. This was then floured, egg washed and breaded before we moved on to the frying station.

Here we are, assembled and ready to prep. But first, Linda will give some background on Lao cooking and some of the key ingredients.


The result of all our peeling and chopping and shredding:


Here I am frying the stuffed bamboo sprouts (only we used lemongrass instead of bamboo). I recently had the same dish in Hoi An, Vietnam, with pork and actual bamboo--both were terrific.


I think I look pretty good in a toque!

The final product, with the sweet sticky rice and fruit they love for dessert--the same name as in Thai: khao neow.


Yummy!

Laos, 2017: Temples

Temples, Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu, whatever, are usually beautiful examples of human craftmanship. They are also a window into humans' ability to deceive themselves. Case in point, "That Dam Stupa" (not a joke) located in a quiet roundabout in Vientiane. Legend has it that this stupa is/was inhabited by a seven-headed naga, mythical water-snake, whose job was to protect the Lao people and all the gold that covered the stupa.


I know what you're thinking: where's the gold? Thai invaders took it in 1820.

Anyway. I woke my first morning in Laos, had a decent breakfast in the charming garden of the Hotel Lao, and ventured forth. I almost immediately stumbled across a temple, Vat Inpeng. It is quite nice.


Near the bank of the river, I found Vat Chanthaboury, largely elephant-themed.


I'm not sure who the guys are on the small stupa detail, but they seem quite modern.

But the temple I wanted most to see was Hor Phakeo. It was built in the mid-1500s by a certain King Setthathirath when he moved the capital from Luang Prabang to Vientiane to house the storied Emerald Buddha. The Lao, the Thai and the Khmer (Cambodians) have had war after war, invasion after invasion, over this two foot tall carving, that's not even made of emerald (refer to sentence #2 of this post).

Still, it spent about two hundred years in Hor Phakeo (or Haw Phra Kaew or similar) before the Thais won it back. Today it resides in a similarly-named temple on the grounds of the Royal Palace in Bangkok. Although the Cambodias claim to have it too.


Luang Prabang has its own non-gold coated stupa, across the main drag from the Royal Palace.


But the town has some other temples, including the famously "active" Wat Mai, from whence the monks decend before daybreak to the riverbanks for alms-giving every morning. I never managed to wake up in time to see this spectacle, I did get some interesting shots of the temple itself.


Actually, I may have mixed some of those up with the other Buddhist temple just down the road, but I'm sure the ones below are from Wat Mai.


There is also Wat That Luang, apparently the best of the lot, but it was quite a long ways up a hill and I was pretty much templed-out by the time I heard about it. Next time, Luang Prabang, next time.

Laos, 2017: Luang Prabang

My Laos trip coincided with the Christmas and New Year holiday. In my last post, I mentioned the grueling trip north from Vientiane, but my arrival in Luang Prabang, the ancient capital of Laos, effected a very different feeling. It is quite unlike any other Asian city I've visited--relaxed neighborhoods rather than tuk-tuk choked thoroughfares. Again, my journal, kept on my iPad:

This little place is so quiet and peaceful, and so different from other places I've been to in Asia, I'll be happy to just sit around, toddle off to the market occasionally, and find an expat joint to drink beer in. Right now, it's not even 11 PM and the only noise aside from the artificial sound of my typing is a few far off rumbles of tuk-tuks, discords of music somewhere and a wind chime on the next patio over.
Oh, and the temperature. So mild, it's almost chilly right now.

I stayed at terrific place called Manichan Guesthouse, with a great location and awesome owners, such a place I even forgave the upstairs room with downstairs bathroom (inconvenient and borderline hazardous for that middle-of-the-night pee trip)! I could sit on the patio with a coffee and watch the passersby at the morning market.


Do you recognize the banana blossoms in the shot above?

Here is a young vendor-in-training:


Royal Palace
It's arguable that there's not a lot more to do here than in Vientiane, but I had a rather better time not doing it. Aside from Wat Mai (temple post to come), the main draw in the old town area is the Royal Palace. I was told it is underwhelming, but I can't speak to that as it was closed to visitors every time I went by. Here's a shot from the outside, and a statue of King Sisavangvong made by the Russians in the 1970s:


But ... a fellow inmate of Manichan (Hi, Jeff!) informed me there is a display of the royal cars, Lincoln Continentals, a Citroen and an Edsel. I managed to get the shot below before a docent interrupted my photographic carnage. Also, I found a great photo op outside by the gate. The pumps, I suspect, don't work anymore.


The street accessing the Palace and Wat Mai is more or less the main tourist boulevard in Luang Prabang and is also the location of the Night Market. There is not much unique about the wares there, although it is where I got the sucho alluded to earlier. I bargained the guy down from 40,000 kip to 25,000 for what I bought, but gave him the difference as a donation.

Along that route is the Lao Blossom Restaurant,

the place I stopped in for a beer previous nights so I could use their bathroom. The staff, Seevun, Geon and the other dude (Hmong like Seevun), really spend their time talking with me, so much so that a guest comes over to complain that I am monopolizing their time so he can't get a beer. What can I say? Mostly we're teaching each other language, comparing notes on education, and talking about ... stuff.

Speaking of tourists, would you exchange your money here?


Guangsi Waterfall
Thirty km out of town is a very nice waterfall around which a considerable tourist trade has arisen. Still, as of now, it's quite nice.


Though it's not a natural wonder, visitors also enjoy the bamboo bridge across the Nam Khan river, which joins the mighty Mekong, right here on the east side of Luang Prabang. I did not do the crossing, for two reasons: 1) it cost money, but only for tourists; 2) I don't like heights. Sue me.


My remaining posts will focus on temples, market/cooking class from Bamboo Tree, and food.

Laos, 2017: Vientiane

Taxi from the airport was 57,000 Kip, about 7 USD. Immediately prior to that, though, I made the stupidest mistake I've ever made in my travels. I made sure to count my money at the currency exchange, and it was correct. I double checked because a girl ahead of me claimed to be short-changed by 100 bucks. I was so relieved I walked out--and left my suitcase just sitting there.

I realized it while about to line up at the taxi desk, and rushed back in. It was still there, so it was a very cheap mistake. Could have been a bad scene, though.

Inauspicious beginning, but on the whole, a lovely trip. I really only visited two places in Laos, and if I come again, I'll pretty much skip Vientiane. Loud, dirty, kind of smelly, frankly, a typical big southeast Asian city. Aside from temples (a separate post later), there's really not a lot to see here.

National Museum

The museum cost an extra 10,000 (doubling the fee--to $2.50) to take pictures, and it is set in a fabulous old French colonial style building. Sadly, there is a stretch of rooms on the second floor where weak flooring borders on dangerous. The exhibits are pretty tired stuff, mostly, and the "modern Lao" displays seem untouched since the seventies. In fact, the whole place seems untouched since the seventies. And, rather like the National Museum of Vietnam, little is made of the setting.

One of the most interesting locales of Laos is the "plain of jars", the site of hundreds of large granite jars or bowls, carved in the neolithic era, whose purpose is still a matter of debate. Though archaeologists are settling on some kind of funerary purpose. The first two shots below are a small, reconstructed jar, for a baby, and a large one, presumably for an adult:


Below is a group of tribal artifacts, which remind me of what I saw at Mari Mari village in Malaysia, and below that, some musical instruments tucked in a hallway by the stairs almost as an afterthought.


Here is the "Peacock houda", an elephant chair for processions, still--according to the card--used on occasion today. And a typical Buddha, partly veneered in gold foil as offering:


COPE
From 1964 to to 1973, the US military dropped more than two million tons of ordnance on Laos in 580,000 bombing missions, making the country probably the most heavily bombed place on the planet. Largely, the purpose of this "secret war" was to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail used by the Viet Cong. Of course, the bombing was incredibly disruptive to the lives of the Lao people as well, and sadly, there are vast quantities of unexploded ordnance still today. Some 20,000 people have been killed or maimed by these UXO since the end of the war.

COPE is involved in a multipronged effort to provide prosthetics and retraining for those injured by UXO, to assist in the effort to locate and clear dangerous areas, and to educate the public. Admission is free, though it's a bit of a ride out of downtown--25,000 kip there, 40,000 back.


Above are sculptures made from expended shells, and below is a display showing how many cluster "bomblets" are released from one shell. The displays are generally good, but the numerous videos scattered around are really excellent. You can learn more at www.copelaos.org.


Enterprising Lao have learned to melt down the high quality metals of the ordnance and make various useful items--I bought some spoons and chopsticks (the traditional Korean "sucho" eating utensils, as gifts).

Hangouts
I was told by more than one person that the place to hang out is the Lamphu fountain. I was, quite frankly, less than impressed by everything from the music to the food to the lack of other people. Tourist trap. In the second picture, you see a place more to my liking, the "No Name Bar", where I am waiting for other folks to show up--and inevitably they did, from the saffer English teacher in Thailand on a visa run to the Brit who runs a skydiving school that shuts down in winter to the cute twentysomething girls seeing the world.


It was located a five minute walk from my hotel, Hotel Lao, which was a nice enough place to recommend. The breakfast is included, and while not great, is good enough, and you can eat it situated in this lovely garden with a pond.


From journal, Dec. 29:

My last day in Vientiane I didn't do much except eat and drink. I went back to Khop Chai Deu [good restaurant near Lamphu fountain] to get my Japanese handkerchief and have some Lao beef. In the evening I ate at Tango, and had more beef, French style, with pepper sauce. Both were awesome. I went to bed early, after a last visit to No Name Bar.
My day yesterday was mainly consumed by the trip north in a minivan, which would seem like an easy day, but the tension mounted as we rode into the mountains. There was one stretch on the highest and steepest passage where the road was completely washed away. Completely. That was scary, though not as bad as that trip across Palawan after the typhoon.

We had a rest stop before the arduous part of the journey began, and I snapped this shot of picturesque mountains, little knowing what was in store.


One last pic, the standard tuk-tuk of Laos. The motorcycle is more or less built onto the frame of the passenger compartment, passengers always sit facing the side, they seem to be required to have a spare tire and a decal announcing the maximum number of passengers.


One day, maybe I'll do a post comparing all the different styles of tuk-tuk type conveyances of SE Asia.