March Activities

The reservoir that Thais love to visit
Joey and I biked to this reservoir one day. It is a good ways out of town. I think we biked about 20 miles this day from traveling to and around the lake, getting lost and other side trips. We greatly enjoyed showers and dinner that evening.






Thai National Sport – Kataw (kick volleyball)
This sport is extremely entertaining and shows the flexibility and athleticism of Thais. The Thais would like to see this sport played in the Olympics and I think it qualifies as a sufficiently exhausting sport for the competition. I have never seen women play, but I hope they have the chance if they want to play.

At this tournament, I had another clumsy moment. Joey thinks I wasn’t a klutz before Thailand. I don’t remember. Anyways, my moment occurred as Joey and I were leaving the Kataw game. We were sitting on the top seat of the belchers and walking down them to get to the ground. The seats were wooden planks that were spaced a little far apart. They were far enough apart for me to get my toe stuck in them. So on the third tier of the belchers, I got my foot stuck in between the planks and proceeded to tumble down the rest of the tiers. Joey said my fall seemed to be in slow motion and reminded him of a slinky. I thought I might stop falling at the second tier, but I didn’t. I continued on to the ground.

The game stopped in order to see this foreigner, aka me, falling down the belchers. The officials came over and pulled me up off the ground. They also brought me some ice for my scrapped up knee and leg. I bet I was the only injury requiring ice that evening. They were very concerned and apologetic. Joey thanked them, was unsurprised and wondering what else I might do to disrupt the game. J I also thanked them, reassured them that I was ok, and limped away. I knew the next day my shin wasn’t going to look pretty. And in fact, it still doesn’t feel great and this is 4 weeks later. It is much better though.


The court

A spike and block.
A spike and block (all with the feet - no hands allowed).

A spike (using the feet only)
The serve.
The serve.





Hot Springs near Chiang Mai
Gail, Joey and I went here. One interesting thing was the fact that they boiled eggs in the water. The Thais thought it was interesting to see foreigners at the hot springs. It isn’t on the normal tourist route.

















Umbrella village with Gail and Joey
Here you can see how the Thai people make and decorate their umbrellas. It is a long, labor intensive process.









Open House at Language Corner
Our school hosted an open house one weekend with lots of food and coffee. It was a nice day and good way to celebrate the new school. Lots of my students were there and their parents enjoyed meeting me and seeing the classrooms.

Song Kran, Our Chiang Mai Adventure and Good Byes

Liz and the pet monkey in Laos. Obviously Liz didn't think it was too pet-like or friendly.





Song Kran
The cultural festivities for Song Kran (the Thai New Year) started early on April 3. Liz and I saw this stunning procession of traditionally dressed Thai women and men at one of the main Wats in town. The men were pulling a large boat-shaped, gold leaf covered wagon and the women were throwing flower petals on everyone. Lining the street of this procession were women with buckets of fragrant water. They threw the water on the boat-shaped wagon as it passed.

Before the procession, there was a traditional dance of masked Thais, a man and a woman. It was expressive and had "smoke" (not sure what is really was, but it didn't smell) to go with it.

Song Kran began in earnest on April 12. All the water guns, pails, buckets, bathing suits, and water balloons were in use and the Thai’s main target was foreigners, like Joey and me. We stayed wet pretty much the whole day.

The city is surrounded by a moat filled with water. The streets around the moat are lined with DJs, dancers, food stalls, water pail sellers, and ice block sellers. This is where most people congregate. They get pails and haul the water up to throw on people. Others get a truck and put 55 gallon drums in the back. Then people in the back of the truck scoop out the water and throw it on people. Some people get sneaky and put ice in the water. The cold water isn’t as pleasant as the warm water, but it is horribly hot during the day so it doesn’t matter all that much.

This city-wide water fight does get a little tiring when you want to step out and quickly get some food or do an errand. The water throwing doesn’t stop until dark, so you try to figure out the path that will get you the least wet. I wanted to go 2 blocks to get some broccoli and took the best and shortest path I thought possible. However, by the time I got back I was thoroughly soaked. Efforts to evade the water throwing are useless.

This water party goes on for 4 or 5 days, so it isn’t like it only happens for one day. It is a long, watery party which requires all people to be in a good mood and tolerant of constant wetness.

Chiang Mai Adventure
As far as our Chiang Mai adventure, this happened when Liz was here. On Sunday, April 5, Joey and my day off, we three went off to do some mountain biking, elephant riding and whitewater rafting. Liz wanted to do the elephant riding; I wanted to do the biking and Joey had never been whitewater rafting. So, deciding on this tour was pretty easy.

The first activity was elephant riding, which was the easiest task of the three. We sat on top of the elephants on a box/seat type thing. Joey and I were together on one elephant and Liz and another person on the tour, Nathan, were on the other elephant. Nathan bought some bananas from some people to give the elephants, so Liz and Nathan fed the elephants those. The elephants have gotten down the trick of taking bananas from people on their backs. They tilt their head back making their mouth open wide and reach with their trunk. It shows their great dexterity.

The elephants have also been trained to go in the river and be given a bath. The elephants seem to enjoy the water and like to roll around in it. I am glad that our elephant decide not to take a bath with us on top. I would not be excited about a few ton elephant rolling around with me on its back.

The actual ride on the elephant was bumpy and some what uncomfortable, but the novelty of it was worth the ride. The muhots, or people in charge of the elephants, ride on the elephants head and forehead. I think that would be a better place to sit, less bumpy.










Liz also didn't like the elephants too much. :)

After the elephant ride, we traveled to the starting place of our 10 km to mountain bike. Safety was a bit of a concern, since no helmets were provided and the bikes looked a little worse for wear. But we made it safe and sound. The day was hot and we were doing this at about 11 am, so during the hottest part of the day. The dirt road was pretty challenging in Liz and my minds, with lots of pot holes and ups and downs. Joey did very well. Liz and I brought up the rear. Liz wasn’t too happy for this part of the trip, and I have to say that I got tired of it quickly. Thankfully, the biking only lasted about 1.5 hours. We did finish the whole biking part though. The guide told us that last trip there were 20 people biking and none of them finished it. So we were proud of ourselves.

The end of the biking tour took us to lunch. There we grabbed some water and food - fried chicken, pineapple, garden salad, and spring rolls. It was a decent meal and the food and drink were more than welcome after the biking.

Two of the three activities were complete. The last was by far the best – whitewater rafting, but in kayaks because of the low water level. We are in the dry season now. Each person had their own kayak with a rafting guide in it. The guides were looking to have fun, so you had a better time if you were willing to play around. They loved to splash water with paddles, flip over boats, race other boats, etc.

Liz had a very fun guide and I had a few entertaining boats around. But unfortunately I got hurt. My boat turned over in a rapid and I hit my knee against a few rocks. Before going down the rapid, the guide said I should stand up if I fell out. I did, and that is what caused my knee to get banged up. His advice went against all of the other advice I had been told in the States. I should have just stuck with my American-given advice and stayed floating with my head back.

Anyways, I got back in the boat and was a little less enthusiastic about the trip than before. My enthusiasm lessened even more when I got knocked around more and had my burned leg slammed against a rock. A few days ago my calf touched the exhaust pipe of a motorbike and got a large, very painful burn. This bump during rafting caused extreme pain and I was ready for the trip to end. It ended eventually, but it took a while longer.

Overall though, it was a great, memorable trip. Liz had a wonderful time with her rafting guide. This was the first time Joey had done something like this and also had a magnificent time. The elephants were a good thing to do once and the mountain biking was just ok. J

Saying Good Bye
We quit work before the start of the Thai New Year, so the week before we had a few good bye dinners. The school took us out to a Thai dinner theater which preformed traditional Thai dances from various parts of the country. The costumes were elaborate and the dances were entertaining. I appreciated their thinking of us. A few nights before this, one of Joey’s students took us out to dinner at her uncle’s seafood restaurant. We were given a vast variety of dishes and tried some interesting food – snails, roasted baby pig, squid, crab curry, tempura, shrimp (large and small), and other Thai seafood delicacies.

I threw a party for my creative writing students to congratulate them on making their books. The kids loved it and the parents were very helpful by providing food and support.

Thai hospitality is wonderful and everyone wants to say good bye to you. Our landlady is even going to take us out to eat tonight. It is a very nice country with very nice people.

Heading Home
We leave Chiang Mai tomorrow to head to Bangkok. Once there we will say good bye to a friend, Amin, and hop on our plane back to the States that evening. Joey has a direct flight to JFK and will then take a train to Wilmington, DE, while I fly to South Korea, ATL and then Wilmington, NC. It will be a long few travel days coming up.

Thanks
Thanks for following my travels over the past few months. The trip has had some unexpected changes and adventures, but they were all welcome. I have learned a lot about adapting and the benefits of changing midstream if things aren’t going as well as you would like. Joey has been an excellent companion over the past few months and I am thankful that he has stuck with me through all of it.

That is it for now. See you in the States!

Laos Trip

Laos
Joey, Liz and I have just gotten back from Laos. We stayed in the country for about seven days and went to two cities, Vientiane and Laung Prabang. Vientiane is the capital of the country but is quite possibly the slowest moving capital I have been to. I do not mean slow as in inefficient, although I bet it is that as well, but as in relaxed and easy going. It is a city of temples, bakeries and other services that cater to tourists. It is located on the Mekong River and has large sandy banks in the river because the water flow in the river is low.

Luang Prabang is a World Heritage site and a nicely preserved town at the confluence of the Mekong and Pak Nam Rivers. This town also caters to tourists and has some interesting side trips to caves and waterfalls. The architecture style of both towns is French thanks to their colonization efforts in SE Asia.

Crossing the Border
To get into the country we crossed the Thai-Laos border at the Friendship Bridge. To do this, we got a flight from Bangkok to Udon Thani, a town in Thailand near the border. From there, we hired a van to take us to the Laos border, about an hour away. This border crossing process is done by many people because it is cheaper than flying directly into Laos. Only a few airlines fly into Laos and the biggest is government owned by Laos. Laos is a communist country.

Once at the Laos border, we went through immigration and got on another bus to cross the river. From there we were taken to Laos Immigration and paid for and obtained entry visas. These visas were about $35 and were good for 30 days. What I found entertaining was that the entry fee to enter the country was 10 Baht, or about 30 cents. Why they don’t just add that to your visa, I do not know. It also seems like a nominal fee after the $35 visa.

After paying the fees, we got another ride into town, about 20 km away. Finding the best price for the tuk tuk was easy. The Laotians bid against themselves to try and get us to use their car/tuk tuk. That was by far the easiest negotiation experience I have had here. Even though this process might seem complicated, it was extremely easy and relatively efficient. I would recommend it to travelers who want to save money.

Vientiane
Once in Vientiane, we bought some lunch and changed into cooler clothes. It was hot there! We then searched for a room to stay. We looked at more than a few options, but none of the first 5 rooms were very promising. Finally, we agreed upon the Riverside Hotel which offered clean, air conditioned, and reasonably priced (about $25/night) rooms.

With that decision made, Joey and Liz took a bit of a nap while I wandered around the city. We planned to take a bus the next day to Luang Prabang, so I researched prices and options and looked for contact solution for me and a tooth brush for Joey. I successfully completed all of those tasks and headed back to the hotel to wake up Joey and make decisions. I could have made the bus decision on my own, but if I screwed that up, I wouldn’t hear the end of it.

For the rest of the afternoon, we rented bikes and rode around the city. We saw the main temples, riverside area, Mekong River, sand banks, and anything else the capital had to offer. One of the most interesting monuments seen was inspired by the French Arch de Triumph. However, the French didn’t fund this one. Instead, the Laos people constructed it using cement donated by the U.S. which was originally designated to be a runway at the city’s airport during the Vietnam War era. Needless to say, the monument isn’t exactly what the US government thought they were supporting. I have a feeling this type of misplaced funding happens a lot during war.












For dinner, we had Laos food although Liz and Joey’s dishes were more Laos than mine. Liz got Chicken Laap (minced chicken with basil), and Joey got their beef specialty (essentially beef jerkey with sesame seeds). I just had cashew chicken.

Laos Rap Music
From there we headed to the stage on the river where some live music was being sung. It was the Laos version of Rap, with the Laos Original Gangster being one of the main acts. All three of us wondered what they rapped about because we didn’t really see any gangs or ghettoes in the city/country. Perhaps they talked about the Mekong River, who knows?

While listening to the music, we were invited to sit down and have a beer with a Laotian group, so we did that. But after one beer we were ready to head out. Afterwards, we headed for ice cream and rotti, both desserts. It was time for bed after dessert, so we returned to our hotel room. Laos also is supposed to have a national curfew of about 11 p.m., so we didn’t really feel like pushing it. Remember, this country is communist, so the government can make rules like this. On that note, people from China, Cuba and North Korea get discounts on their visas if they visit the country.

Vientiane – Day 2
The following morning we headed to the independence (from France) monument that Laos is most known for, a gold leaf covered, multi-peaked and multi-level monument. We rode our bikes there and walked around the grounds. Originally, there were 4 temples that surrounded the monument, but communism and war destroyed most of them. Two now stand, but I am unsure how many of them have been reconstructed.







That afternoon we rode and walked around the city a bit more to waste time until our bus left at 7:30 p.m. for Luang Prabang. We bought a few souvenirs, laid around in their parks, walked the riverfront, and watched the group aerobics session. It was pretty entertaining.



The bus ride from Vientiane to Luang Prabang
Around 7 p.m. we headed to our hotel to get picked up by the tuk tuk that would take us to the bus for Luang Prabang. At the Vientiane bus station, we handed our bags over to the bus staff. Finding room for our bags was a bit of a challenge. The bus was packed with goods. On top of the bus there were several motorbikes and a huge tarp covered pile of who knows what. The pile was at least 4 feet high. The bottom of the bus was also stuffed with various goods, including multiple 25 kilo bags of rice and luggage. Somehow the bus staff crammed our bags under the bus. The bus aisle was also covered with 25 kilo bags of rice, which required us to step on the rice bags in order to get to our seats.

As far as seat arrangements, Liz and I sat together and Joey had his own seat with most of our small bags. I had the window and Liz sat on the aisle. Joey had the best set up, then me and finally Liz. Liz definitely had it the worst. Like I said before, rice bags laid on the aisle floor, so she couldn’t stretch out her legs as much as she would have liked. The bus staff, about 5 people, reserved the back seat for rotational sleeping throughout the overnight 10 hour bus ride. However, the staff members’ feet stuck out into the aisle, so Liz had their feet by her shoulder or face the whole trip. In addition, the guy across the aisle from her was throwing up half the trip and had his feet in the aisle the whole time, aka Liz’s face area. So she wasn’t too happy, although, she wouldn’t switch seats. Her ride seemed much longer than Joey’s and mine.

As for me, I had a pretty uneventful, quick ride. I was glad it was night time, because we were told the road the bus travels on is nerve-racking – lots of sharp curve, steep cliffs, etc. I was glad I missed that part of the scenery.

My one worry was getting a flat tire and the bus going out of control. I was praying that wouldn’t happen. However, we think we did get a flat. The bus didn’t go too much out of control though. We still aren’t sure. At about 5 a.m. we hear a loud clunk and the bus starts to ride like it has a flat. The bus staff members get off to check out the problem. They looked under the bus and around the wheels. We three couldn’t decide if we had a flat or if we had just run over a large object, like a cow.

The bus staff evidently didn’t think too much of it because they boarded the bus and the bus started downhill, albeit slowly. The clunking sound didn’t stop and the bus continued to ride like it had a flat tire. This was not reassuring for us three. Now, I was more concerned than ever about wildly going off the road because of a flat tire. Luckily, we were almost to Luang Prabang. After about five minutes of this slow moving bus ride we reached the bus station. However, we didn’t know if we were there until I asked another tourist who said our current GPS location was about what Luang Prabang’s was. How he knew that, I don’t know, but I was more than willing to believe, aka praying, that we were at our final destination. I did not want to have to transfer all of our luggage and get on another bus.

Liz would never do this bus ride again. Joey and I had a more pleasant experience and might be convinced to do it again if necessary.

Arrival in Luang Prabang
After negotiating a tuk tuk from the bus station for 8 people (we picked up a few more foreigners), we headed into the main part of the city. It was about 5:30 a.m. when we arrived, so the sun had not risen yet and no one was on the streets. We three dropped our bags and took a seat on the steps of a restaurant to watch the start of the day.

The first thing that happened was the alms giving to the monks. This happens right after sunrise, so we saw the whole thing. People buy sticky rice, fruits and other items to give to the monks and line up along the streets where the monks walk. As the monks pass the waiting people, the people give alms to each monk. Each monk carries a silver bowl to collect these goods. This creates a colorful picture because the monks wear bright orange robes and sometimes yellow sashes.







Liz and I also walked around the city a little while the sun was coming up. We would have asked about rooms, but it was too early. A while later, Liz and Joey walked around and found us a room for our stay. We stayed at a nice guesthouse called Soya Guesthouse in the downtown area. For $30, we had a double and single bed, AC, hot water, a fan, and a fridge. We were happy.

For the rest of the day, we settled into our room, walked around the city, and crossed the Pak Nam River to look at the villages on that side of the river. It was interesting to see how they farm the edges of the river. Terraces are very important and the people try and cram as much agriculture as possible on those fertile slopes. We enjoyed the walk after our bus ride and bought several different fruits to try.









Buddha Caves at Luang Prabang
The following day we headed to two caves filled with over 3,000 Buddha statues. When the country was a monarchy, the Laos king would come to these caves every year to honor the Buddha statues here. He paid the village across the river to maintain the caves. Inside there is even a Buddha washing station. The entire lower cave can be seen in daylight, but the upper cave requires a flashlight. Liz had a headlight, although it was very weak and almost useless, which we used to stumble around the upper cave. It was a small cave, so we didn’t stumble around too long. Just like the lower cave, numerous Buddha statues were packed into the cave’s nooks and corners.

We still had some time to kill, so I convinced Joey and Liz to go on a quick hike on a trail leading from the caves. We didn’t know where it went, but they were good sports and indulged my interest. We walked along this path through the jungle for about 25 minutes and saw fields that were slashed and burned in preparation for crops, dense patches of bamboo, a few nice views of the Mekong and surrounding mountains, and no people. I was hoping we could see some people or even a village. That would have been pretty interesting. But that didn’t happen. We just walked up and down the jungle-covered hills.

After our walk, we headed back to our boat. We hired a long-tail boat to take us to and from the caves, as well as wait for us while we explored the area. A long-tail boat lies low to the ground, has a motor with a very long shaft, and is sometimes covered to protect passengers from the sun. Our boat also had small seats for us to sit on. The bottoms of the boats tend to fill up with water, so you have to be careful about what you put on the ground.

The ride up the river to the caves was 2.5 hours, but the ride back was only 1.5 hours thanks to the current going with us on our return trip. While on our boat ride, we saw a few water buffalo (some even swimming), people fishing and farming, kids playing and villages tucked behind the sand bank. Villages are set back behind the naturally created flood walls to avoid too much flooding and destruction during the rainy season. The rainy season starts in about 2 months. The people living along the Mississippi River might learn something from these people.











Liz and Joey after our little hike.

Market and Silk Weaving Site
Upon our return, we headed off to get some lunch at a riverside, open-air café. We then walked to the main market of the town, Phosuy Market, which sells food, seeds, household items, gold, silver, etc. Liz enjoyed this part, although both Joey and I were used to this busy scene.

We also visited a silk weaving site. The staff members briefly explained the silk harvesting, dyeing and production processes. It was amazing to see the cocoon the silk comes from and the amount of time and effort it takes to create a high-quality, handmade piece of silk. Seeing the roots, berries, leaves, and flowers used for dyeing was especially interesting. Evidently, if you put indigo in cold water you get green dye, but if you put it in hot water you get blue. I want to try this when I get home. I just need to remember what indigo looks like.

That evening we browsed through the walking street of the town, which is very similar to the Sunday night walking street in Chiang Mai. Locals set up tents and sell handmade goods to foreigners. Items include bags, paintings, silk scarves, bed covers, and Buddha statues. We also bought a few beers and played cards in our room later on. It was a nice night overall.

Huany Si Waterfall
The following day we headed to Huany Si Falls. I think that is the correct transliteration, but I am unsure. This was the highlight of the trip. The falls were gorgeous and multi-tiered and the water was the most unusual blue. To get to the falls, there is a forest path we followed. This path took us by the Asiatic bear cage and the tiger cage. These cages are for mistreated animals due to illegal trading. The tiger was gorgeous and the bears were playfully entertaining.

After the animals, the path led us to the lower pools created by the fall’s water. These pools vary in depth, with some being deep and others shallow. The edges of the pools are white because the water is so clear and the soil below is white or grey. The water in the deeper parts is a pale aquamarine. It is a gorgeous place.

A few of the pools are designated for swimming and at one of them has a rope you can swing off from a tree and into the pool. Liz and I did this a few times, but Joey never made it up there. Getting the rope was a bit nerve racking because you had to lean away from the tree out over the water. No one got hurt. Joey did jump off the falls a few times. This was very fun and easier to accomplish. You just had to worry about the slippery rocks when walking to the edge of the falls.

But before we swam, we hiked up to the many levels of the waterfall. The base of the fall gave an amazing view, but a path led up to a second level. Of course we had to climb up that way for a look. This gave us another breathtaking view from a different perspective. The trail continued up to the top of the falls, so we did that as well. It was a long way down to the base of the falls from the top. We hiked around up here on some of the paths, but the paths didn’t go anywhere, so we headed back down the mountain.

This was a very enjoyable day and I was glad that we packed a lunch. We were able to enjoy the falls even more because we weren’t hungry. After a few last swims and looks at the main waterfall, we returned to our tuk tuk that was waiting to take us home.

Once back in Luang Prabang, we relaxed, napped and wandered around the city. The city is very tourist friendly. Dinner was at a Laotian place where Joey got a stew with mushrooms, river vegetables, chicken and mint. Liz got the Laos version of Pad Thai and I had cashew chicken.

Liz's jump. Unfortunately, Liz didn't get such a good picture of me. She just got my splash. Oh well.

Mountain Biking and the Smaller Waterfall
The following day we rented bikes to see another, much smaller waterfall. In the wet season and right after the wet season, there is another large waterfall to see. But we were there at the end of the dry season, so the fall was dry. Consequently, we tried to find this other smaller waterfall that had water. I saw a sign for it the day before and it wasn’t too far from the city, so we rented bikes to get there. It was only 1 km off a paved road, so we thought we could handle the ride.

It took a while for us to find bikes to rent, but after walking around a bit we found reasonably priced city bikes. Once on the bikes, we headed out of the city to the waterfall. It took about 20 minutes to get to the dirt road which we needed to bike on for the 1 km. We thought that was pretty good. However, the 1 km dirt road ride didn’t turn out to be only 1 km. We couldn’t find the waterfall entrance. We did pass a sign saying waterfall tour, but we didn’t see the waterfall. So we kept on going on the dirt road.

The dirt road was bumpy, pot holed and ascending with brief descending areas. It ran through small villages and farming areas. The scenery was nice, but the biking was hard. Having no bike gears on mountains is not fun, and we eventually had to get off our bikes and push our bikes up more than a few hills. I am sure we looked hilarious pushing those bikes up the road. Our chest and shoulders were parallel to the road and sweat was dripping from our faces. It was hot! We even realized at the time we were doing this how unusual we must look to the locals. But this didn’t quelch our desire to see the waterfall after coming so far. We kept on going.

We stopped and asked locals along the way to make sure we were going the right direction for the waterfalls. But they didn’t really speak English and our hand motion for a waterfall wasn’t terribly clear. So we kept going hoping we would be there soon. We did this mountain biking with city bikes for about 6 km and then gave up. However, this was only after going up a tremendously steep hill that had pig farms on it. We turned around at the top and headed down the mountain to go back to the tour booth we saw before.

The trip down was much quicker than the trip up, although downhill on that potholed, rocky road was scarier to me than the ascents. After getting to the tour booth, we saw a puny waterfall in the distance and refused to pay to go any farther. We were hot, tired and more than a little frustrated. We called it quits and went home. That was enough adventure for one morning.

Mekong River Walk
That afternoon Joey and I took another walk on the opposite banks of the Pak Nam River. I liked this walk tremendously because we saw another silk weaving village and a papermaking village. We returned home by walking along the sandy banks of the Mekong. While on this beach walk, a dog attached itself to us and followed us until we crossed the river. The dog provided a good bit of entertainment along the way by playing in the water, running from one place to another and playing with other dogs on the beach. The dog tried to cross the river and follow us to the other side; however, he got caught in the rapids. We thought he might kill himself. We were happy to see him give up eventually and return back to the other side.

Food
The food in Laos was interesting, but not necessarily delicious. The traditional meals we had were the casserole/soup described above and the laap also described previously. Another one we had was a dish of dips that included roasted eggplant, a mix of something like mint and coriander, and a tomato based sweet salsa. The first two were a bit hot, so I preferred the tomato-based salsa. Sticky rice was rolled into small balls in the palm of your hand and then dipped into those mixes. The dish also came with the Laotian river vegetable, which is a green sheet of a pounded plant that grows in the Mekong, which is flavored with sesame seeds, tomatoes, and garlic. It isn’t bad, but not exactly going to be hit in the US.

The other dish we had was a shredded chicken mixed with other spices and vegetables that was cooked in lemongrass stems. The lemongrass held the chicken mix together, like a cage. This was quite tasty, but I don’t know how they got it in that form. This was also eaten with sticky rice using your hands. Other dishes from Laos that we tried include several different stir fries, but I am afraid I can’t remember exactly what was interesting about them.

Joey tried a unique drink – a watermelon shake with chili powder. The Laos people like their food spicy, and I guess they like their drinks spicy too. And this drink was spicy! It was an interesting combination of flavors, but hard to drink it all. Liz had a very good shake – a cinnamon, banana shake with coconut milk. I wasn’t a huge fan of their shakes because they used coconut milk in all of them. Because of a past illness in Thailand, I have sworn off coconut milk, and thus those shakes.

Anyways, that is a brief overview of our trip. Congrats if you made it all the way through!