Vientiane

We've been on the move. When we left Vang Vieng we travelled to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. It isn't a really exciting city, since it isn't "old" but it does have a few attractive French colonial buildings including the lovely hotel we stayed at. Our room there was large with beautiful dark wood floors, two-poster beds and a bathroom with separate shower. That's a rarity in our usual class of hotel. 

What Vientiane does have though is food. Lots of European influence - we ate Italian, French and Spanish for our three evening meals. I didn't get pictures of the first but did have my camera for the other two. 

Geordie's blurry souffle. 

And my "Pâté of Duck and his Liver. Hearts of baby corn, the day before Valentines. 

My main course was pork with kiwi sauce which was not an inspired choice. Geordie's was pork chop with sauce soubise. It was very undercooked so he didn't eat it. This is my meal. It was meant to have lentils which did not appear. We ate at the same restaurant ten years ago when it was wonderful. Not so this time. 

Our Spanish meal was much better. Since it was on St. Valentine's Day we had red rose petals strewn on our table and received a glass of Spanish Cava (bubbly), complimentary. We ate tapas which were very authentic. The owner is a Spanish woman from Madrid, although she did have a chef named Nigel. 

We had a custard of Manchego cheese with crispy jamon serrano. Yum. 

Gambas ajillo (garlicky, not quite sizzling enough shrimp. 

And these very delicious Montaditos of soft fried pork belly. Montadito means "mounted", in this case on a slab of bread. That's a rose petal on the left. 

But we also ate Asian - for lunch.  Garnish for both spring rolls and for soup.

The spring rolls. Mmmm. Cold noodles and sauces added to the hot spring rolls wrapped in the lettuce leaves. 

This is the soup and the restaurant. The bright glare in the upper left is the name of the restaurant. 

Honest, it's pronounced"jeeung".

There were Wats and museums to see.  With Buddhas. 

And monks being shaved. 

I went to Pha That Lusng  by myself.  Geordie didn't feel it necessary to see again because although it's the national symbol of Laos it's really only a large monument, and actually a little shabby loking close uo  it needs a thorough cleaning. You can't go inside - I'm not sure there is an inside. It's big though. 

People do walk arond it with flowers or candles as an offering. 

And they stop to light incense. 

I did walk to another temple in the area with this large reclining Buddha. 

And other celebrants. 

Love the prostrate elephant honoring the Buddhas. 

And then we headed south. 

Vang Vieng

Yesterday we finally moved ourselves from Luang Prabang and took a six hour bus from there to the town of Vang Vieng. Of course the six hour bus took eight hours. Our VIP bus left at 8:30 and the 9:30 bus caught up to us at the eating stop two hours out of V V. Hey we got free noodle soup included in our fare so even though it was tiring we didn't go hungry. The oatmeal cookies from JoMA bakery I'd bought the day before helped too.  

Like Nong Khiaw, Vang Vieng is famous for its limestone karst formations. The view from our hotel:

Yesterday's beautiful sunset taken from the deck of the hotel. 

Today we went for a walk across the river in the rice paddies, right up to the cliffside. We crossed the river on a toll bridge and then walked along the riverside before heading inland. 

This woman was collecting something from the river, perhaps river weeds. 

The rice paddies were lying fallow and we could walk easily along the dikes between fields. 

We weren't alone out there of course. 

Geordie thought this would make a good fixer-upper. 

I even tried out the panorama function on my camera. This gives a better feel for the landscape. 

After crossing the fields we walked along a forest trail. 

And across this small bamboo bridge. 

To a cave where I paid 10000 kip to go inside. The climb up to the cave was a challenge. 

But inside was fascinating - at least until the guide told me I'd have to wait an hour and a half for him to come back while he took three young women on to the lagoon 1 km further into the cave. I wasn't doing that but he wasn't coming back with me first so with two French tourists I made the way back to the entrance. A little scary since the footing was slippery and my shoes didn't appear designed to walk on it. 

Here is only one sample of the cave interior. These mushroom-like formations are only about 30 cm high.

It was good to get back to our hotel where the boat men offer rides up river. We didn't take that journey but the boats they use are so well cared for. 

Luang Prabang again

After our journey back from Nong Khiaw we spent another five nights in Luang Prabang. We didn't  do much - ate breakfast at Le Banneton, walked but not in  mid afternoon when it was so very hot. Let's check out the eating first. 

We went to a Lao restaurant called Tamarind which offered a tasting menu.

These dips were a sweet tomato based one on the left, and a smoky eggplant dip on the right. In the spoon was a very hot chili paste. It was served with dried river weed Which are crisp green sheets sprinkled with sesame seeds and garlic. Tasty. Under the spoons handle was dried buffalo which was hard but when chewed softened considerably and had a sweet taste which was very good.

For the main course we had fish which is baked inside the banana leaf package on the left beautifully tied with bamboo slivers, thinly sliced pumpkin in the small dish and a chicken dish which was pureed then stuffed into lemongrass sticks. Dessert (no photo) was purple sticky rice which is quite sweet and which I enjoyed. During dinner we met a couple who told us they were from Colorado near Aspen but later in the conversation without any hinting, told us they also spent six months a year in Newfoundland in Little Harbour near Twillingate. Small world.  

Chicken stuffed lemongrass. 

And there was more food. Who would have expected picture and taste perfect Nanaimo Bars in Luang Prabang. 

There were monks of course. As we ate those Nanaimo Bars we watched the monks walking by on the street and across the bridge below. 

And at their windows. 

From our hotel window we watched this woman winnowing rice. 

On the last day we were there we took the local ferry across the river.

This is the captain. The engine appeared to be operated by foot pedals and chains.

We walked through a village and then along the hillside where there were several temples. 

Buddhas of course. 

Naive painted frescos. I think these are giant carp attacking the locals. The one on the left is enjoying a tasty snack. 

And always elephants. 

The bell was made from a UXO - an UneXploded Ordinance. 

A monk studies in another window. 

And two more walk along a forest path. They weren't startled by us - there was a truck hauling gravel coming up behind them. 

These two young monks were sitting at one of the viewpoints. The boy on the right spoke enough English for us to have a conversation. I think they have been living in the temple for 7 months already. 

The view along the river was so idyllic. 

I leave you with these two old ruined chedis which grace the grounds of the first temple I visited.