Week 22: Laos

Sitting outside with a coffee and listening to heavy rain on the tin roof of our guesthouse… the perfect time for another post!

We started off the week crossing the border from Thailand into Laos. Between a series of buses and tuktuks, we moved from Chiang Rai, Thailand into Huay Xai, Laos early in the afternoon. Many of the other travellers we met throughout this day continued to cross our path during the next few days, including an inspiring family of five from Argentina. Two years ago, Norberto and Florencia made the decision to pack up their three daughters, Nahiara, Abril, Juana, and travel as a family, and they don’t plan on stopping anytime soon!

Once in Huay Xai, we discovered that there was truth behind two things we had read about Laos: there is a heavy French influence (read: delicious baguettes and croissants available all over) and things move at a very leisurely pace. We enjoyed walking the streets of Huay Xai, and it is from here that we arranged to travel down the Mekong River by slow boat for two days. We travelled by boat for 6-7 hours each day, and thoroughly enjoyed the scenery along the way. This country is SO green! Our boat was full, so there was lots of people to talk to, and a lot of great people watching to do. We made a few stops to let locals on and off along the way, but we mostly just stayed on the river. For the night between the two days of sailing, we stopped at the little town of Pakbeng, which is set up with tons of guesthouses and restaurants for the slow boat travellers. Although it is still quite warm during the day, Laos has proven to be a bit colder than we had expected in the mornings and evenings, especially when we were on this boat!

At the end of the second day on the Mekong River, we found ourselves just outside Luang Prabang. Over the next few days, we proceeded to fall in love with Laos over and over. Luang Prabang is filled with amazing cafes and restaurants, many cute shops, a lively night market, and beautiful historical buildings. It isn’t a busy city, and many streets have sidewalk, so we really soaked up being able to walk around side by side! We met and talked with a lot of other travellers as we wandered as well. We watched at Wat Sene as the monks beat drums, listening as the sounds vibrated throughout the town. I also took part in a beautiful meditation class, focused on gratitude, led by another Natasha from Canada (can you just imagine my excitement when I found this out?)!

So many people have said Christmas this year will be one that we won’t ever forget. Ten things that will make this year’s ‘holiday’ so memorable:

• No lead up: this year, the ‘holidays’ were totally void of decorations, lights, music, shopping, crafts, and concert prep. Some of the guesthouses and shops put up a tree or a ‘Merry Christmas’ banner, but that was about it.
• After a delicious breakfast at our guesthouse, we took a trip to a French bakery close by to get ourselves some fresh baguettes for lunch.
• We rented a scooter, and I led us out of town and down a random dirt road. I had my directions set for ‘walking’, so I ended up taking us down a road that was washed out and would eventually disappear completely. I have never been accused of being great with directions, and I’m certainly not working towards changing my reputation during this trip! Getting lost might have been a bit rough on the bike, but it allowed us to get up into these gorgeous green mountains that we might not have seen much of otherwise!

• We visited a Moon Bear Rescue Center. These bears are being trapped and their bile is used in Chinese medicine, so the rescue center is working to rehabilitate them. They were pretty sleepy, but when they moved around, they sure were cute.

• We spent most of our day at the stunning Kuang Si waterfall. I was sure that all the photos I had seen of this place had been edited, but the icy turquoise water was for REAL! Although it was quite cold at first, it warmed up once we were in the water for a little while.

• Our favourite Argentinian family joined us for a yummy picnic lunch beside the waterfall.
• We hiked up a trail to the top of the waterfall, and then took ourselves along a few different trails at the top. One of the trails was marked, and a few were not. We love exploring a new trail and finding out where it goes!

• We returned to town for sindad, a laos barbeque where you cook your own meat, veggies and noodles, and create a delicious soup using a bucket of hot coals and a metal domed tray right at your table. Again, we were joined by the Argentinians and thoroughly enjoyed sharing a meal with them.

• We did not give gift giving a single thought until the end of the day, when we realized how free it felt not to have thought about exchanging any gifts with anyone.
• Between phone calls, messages, and emails, we received SO much love from our family and friends, and appreciated every little bit of it.

The following day, I was up just after 5:00 am to participate in the alms giving ceremony (Will chose to participate in sleeping instead). I found a spot to sit along the main road, and purchased a basket of banana leaf pouches containing sticky rice to offer to the monks. As a procession of monks dressed in orange robes approached, I kneeled down before them, avoiding eye contact, and placed a banana leaf pouch in each of their bowls. The rules around this morning ritual are simple- kneel, avoid eye contact, do not follow the procession or get too close to the monks, and do not use flash photography. I felt honored to be able to take part in this ritual, but was embarrassed to be lumped in with the tourists who ignored most of these simple rules.

We really enjoyed the cooking class we did in Thailand and didn’t waste any time signing up for another one. We went through Tamnak Lao Restaurant, where we first visited a massive market. While I was amazed by the produce available here, my stomach was doing summersaults walking by the many booths of various animal parts and squirming insects! This class differed in a few ways from the last class, one of which being that Will and I had to share a workstation. Now, Will and I are able to share many things, but historically, cooking space has not been one of those things. However, we managed to do pretty well following the recipes and what we could remember from the demo for each dish! In the morning, we created Luang Prabang salad (leafy salad with minced pork, cucumber, tomato and an egg dressing) and feu khua (fried sticky rice noodles with chicken and vegetables). We enjoyed eating and chatting with the other six people in our class. In the afternoon, we created chicken larp (chicken salad with banana flower, lemon grass and arugula), kheua sen lon (glass noodles with pork, choko and woodear mushrooms), and khua maak kheua gap moo (fried eggplant with pork). We were also taught how to make sticky rice and given some to take with us for our delicious evening feast!

Act of Kindness: We loved that the Argentinian family included us in their family’s celebrations for Christmas. They also kindly extended a very open invitation for us to visit their beautiful home in breathtaking Patagonia, which we are so excited about!