Tuesday 27 November 2012

Luang Prabang

We spent a week in Luang Prabang, a lovely city in the north of Laos.  There are many temples in the city and hundreds of monks can be seen walking through the streets.  Many of the buddhist monks are novices, young boys who spend several months to a year living with the monks and learning about Buddhism.  Unique to Laos the monks carry umbrellas to shade them from the hot sun.  I snapped this photo as 3 novices (ages about 13 and 10) walked down the street.  They are not allowed to get within 3 meters of a woman so it is hard to get a photo!  They live a simple life but we did see two of them playing a game on their i-phone. 



The streets of the town are lined with boutique hotels, restaurants, cafes and handicraft shops.  The night market is gigantic, we did lots of shopping - buying wood carvings, silver earrings and necklaces, fabric bags, aprons, t-shirts and toys that shoot up into the sky.  We also spent a few afternoons relaxing in the cafes enjoying cafe lattes, frappes and pastries. 

Kenna is trying on a traditional hill tribe necklace (no we did not buy it!).


This is the view of the city from the top of Phusi Hill where a small temple is located.  In Luang Prabang the Mekong and Namkhan rivers joined together, creating lots of areas for riverfront cafes and restaurants.  I even got to enjoy a yoga class on the riverfront during sunset.



There are many temples in the city.  This one is located on the grounds of the royal palace and the inside is full of intricate carvings that are completely covered with gold leaf. 


Every morning at dawn the monks wander quietly through the town to collect alms (food) and bless the people.  Locals and tourist alike line up to provide alms to the monks.  In this photo there are even monks from Thailand (on the left) providing alms to the Luang Prabang monks. 



Weaving Class

While we were in Luang Prabang Kenna and I took a dyeing class at the handicraft store - Ock Pok Tok.  It was a really fun morning as we picked leaves, dug roots, chopped bark and boiled it all together to make the dyes.  

Here I am smashing Tamarind root with a mortar and pestle to make the base for a yellow dye.  After the dye was created we soaked the silk skeins in the liquid for 10 to 20 minutes.




These are the silk skeins colored with all natural dyes.  I was amazed at the richness of the colors. 


In the afternooon we learnt how to weave.  Before we could begin our weaving we had to spin the silk onto the bobbins that would be used for the weaving. Here I am...slowly...spinning the silk. 



Ock Pok Tok employs 20 master weavers to create wall hangings, table cloths and scarves.  The quality of the work is impressive. Master weavers take about 20 years to learn their craft - starting with lessons from their mothers when they are about 8 years old.

We each made a 30 x 40 cm silk placemat.  It took about 2 hours to make one.
Here is Cole getting help from an expert weaver and the translator. 
 
 Kenna quickly got the rhythm of the weaving - slide the shuttle, press the foot pedal, bang the comb, repeat.  Over and over and over!  When we began the pattern the weavers helped us as each row had to lift the threads in a particular pattern. 
 

Vang Vieng

 After Luang Prabang we took a 5 hour bus ride through the mountains to Vang Vieng.  Unfortunately our bus broke down, and the ride took almost 12 hours.  Vang Vieng is known for it's natural beauty - karst mountains towering over the Nam Song River. 

For the past 5 years Vang Vieng has been known as a backpacker's party town, so we originally planned to give it a miss, but 6 weeks ago the government came in and closed down all the bars along the river.  The town is now quiet and the landscape, kayaking, rock climbing and tubing down the river are the attractions again.  We had a great 3 days.

This is the view from our hotel room window.  While we were there we had some clouds and rain - the mountains looked amazing shrouded in the mist. 





We spent a day walking around the town and the next day Cole, Kenna, and Chuck spent a few hours climbing the local cliffs.

 


It was a bit rainy but they still had lots of fun.


The next day the sun shone so we spent 2 hours floating down the river on the inner tubes.  The landscape was amazing and the river run was easy and fun. 


After the tubing we visited the "Blue Lagoon" - about 15 minute tuk-tuk ride outside of town.  The water was cold, clear and green.  We all took a turn on the rope swing.  Here is a picture of Chuck having a turn.



Along the river we saw lots of local kids making "mud balls" and racing them down the river bank.  These two boys proudly showed Chuck their handiwork.


Monday 26 November 2012

Cole's Question of the day #19

Today's question is... What is it and what is it used for (6pts for 1st, 4pts for 2nd, 2pts for 3rd and 1pt for 4th 5th etc.)


The correct answer is a  heddle/comb. It is used in a loom.



 

Saturday 24 November 2012

Cooking in Luang Prabang

While we were in Luang Prabang Cole, Kenna and I decided to take a cooking course with the Tamarind Cooking School.  It was a great experience.  We went to the market first to learn about all the ingredients we would be using.  Laos uses lots of fresh herbs and vegetables, many which are not available in Canada - but there are some familiar ones - green onions, cilantro, basil, mint, lemon grass, coriander.  The red vegetable is banana flower - used in salads.  It is quite delicious and crunchy.





Chili is a main ingredient in Laos food - in the market there are 5 different kinds of chili powder from not too hot to "Laos" hot.  The chilli powder is in the middle of the photo.  The back of the photo is homemade fish sauce - bought one small plastic bag at a time.  It looks like brown sludge with chunks of fish floating in it - this fish sauce is 2 years old! The front of the photo is garlic - used in many dishes here.



The meat section of the market can be a bit overwhelming to us Westerners who are used to getting our meat in small plastic wrapped packages!  At the market you can get pigs' feet, pig head, liver, kidneys, intestines, ribs, backs, bags of blood (for blood pudding and blood sausage), as well as the regular cuts of meat we find at home.  Our kids have been through a number of markets now and Kenna is no longer eating pork or beef!


After the trip to the market we headed out to the cooking school.  It was a lot of fun.  We used all the ingredients on the table to make 5 dishes.   After the first dish we made with 2 chilis (mild according to our teacher) we decided to 1/4 all the chili ingredients - Laos food can be really hot!


In Laos they use charcoal braziers to cook the food - it works for barbequeing/roasting as well as steaming rice.  All rice in Laos is "sticky rice" that is steamed over a pot of boiling water.



Lots of fresh herbs in the food - so for each recipe we had to pound the leaves and roots with a large mortar and pestle - this makes for incredibly fresh food.   Here is Cole working away.



Here I am with one of our dishes...buffalo meat salad.




For dessert we made coconut sticky rice. Kenna is making coconut milk from dried coconut soaked in water.   She is squeezing out the milk here.
 

Here is our feast - on the left is chicken stuffed in lemon grass, at the bottom is fish steamed in banana leaf with herbs, the small bowl at the top is peanut sauce, the small bowl at the bottom is tomato dipping sauce (really, really hot), the dish in the middle is buffalo meat salad and the sticky rice is in the baskets.  The dessert was still soaking - but it was delicious!



 

Rice Farming in Luang Prabang

 After spending so much time seeing rice fields all over Asia we decided to spend a day at the Living Land Rice Farm to learn about the 13 steps to grow and harvest rice.  The amount of labour to grow rice is incredible - I'll never look at rice the same way again.  We all got a chance to try each step of the rice production - here are a few photos of some of the steps.

We all took our shoes off and climbed into the field to do some basic ploughing with Susan, the water buffalo.  The field was incredibly sticky and it was slow going to plough the field.  Most farmers use tractors now to speed up the process.

Kenna is trying her hand at ploughing...


Cole did a great job...
 

Chuck and I also tried it...here is Chuck doing the farmer thing.  I love his hat!
 

We then spent some time learning about how to select good quality rice to plant.  The heavier the seed the better so the farmer immerses the seeds in a pot of water, and all the seeds that sink to the bottom of the pot are used for planting.  After planting each seed in a small paddy they are watered twice a day for about 3 weeks when they are then big enough to re-plant in the rest of the fields.  Each seed creates 35 rice stalks (each stalk has about 200 - 300 grains of rice).  We each got a chance to plant the seeds in the muddy field and then do some weeding.  The rice takes about 3 months to grow and each rice field needs weeding about 1x month.
  
 
When the rice turns a golden color it is ready to be harvested by hand. Cole is holding the small scythe that is used to cut each rice stalk. 


Farmers make their own tools - here is Chuck working on making a piece of r-bar into a scythe. Simple homemade bellows (on the right of the photo) are used to stoke the fire and the metal stump is used for an anvil and a shaper to create the scythe. Very simple design but it works well.


After the rice has dried for a week it is beaten to remove the rice from the stalks.  The stalks are used to feed the farm animals. 
 


Rice is carried from the fields in these baskets.  The strap rests on your forehead and the basket rests on your back.  Fully loaded these baskets are 30 - 40 kg!



Rice is stored in the small huts with the husks still attached.  This rice can be stored for up to 2 years.  When the family is ready to eat the rice the women separate the rice from the husks by tossing the rice into the air and letting the wind carry away the lighter husks. This is difficult to do - you need the right touch - I'm concentrating hard!!!!
 
At the end of the day we had a rice feast! Rice crepes, rice cakes, rice waffles, crispy rice bites covered with caramel (called cat pooh for their odd shape), and spicy tamarind sauce to dip them in.  You can also drink rice wine (very strong) and Beer Lao, which has rice as one of its ingredients.  Beer Lao is the tastiest  beer in Asia and only costs $1.10 for a large bottle. 

We had a great day - it was interesting and fun! 

Monday 19 November 2012

Luang Namtha


After a few days in Vientiane we flew north in Laos to the small town of Luang Namtha.  The town is in a small valley, surrounded by mountains and jungle. 



We spent a day trekking through the jungle with our two guides.  There were tons of spiders and ants and the jungle was extremely thick.  For lunch we stopped at a small hut and ate a traditional Laos meal - sticky rice, pumpkin, spicy eggplant and a few things I didn't recognize.  Lunch was eaten with the fingers!



 The trek included a number of river crossings on logs for bridges - we all managed to make it across the river without incident.


After the jungle trek we went to visit a school in the local village.  We arrived just as school was finishing.  The school is for primary students only - 5 to 10 years old.  The classrooms have mud floors, simple desks and chalkboards.  Many of the children are missing school right now as the rice is being harvested and everyone has to help get the work done. We tried to talk to the children but none of them spoke English and when we tried to take their photo they all ran and hid but when we put the camera away they surrounded us and stared at us inquisitively.


In the dirt play ground there were a number of pigs and chickens playing in the yard.  


The next day we did a bike ride around the town.  The weather was cool for South East Asia - about 25 degrees Celsius so the monks were prepared for the weather with their woollen hats!  Everyone in Luang Prabang carries an umbrella on their bicycle or scooter to provide shade from the sun.  This is easy to do as the average speed of the motorbikes is only about 30 km/hour.  Makes for a sleepy town! 


November is time harvest time - the fields are golden with the ripe rice.
 

As we rode through the village we saw strings of this all over the town.  It is buffalo skin - drying in the sun. It is dried and then cut into small squares and eaten as a snack throughout Laos.  I haven't tried it yet - but it smells like beef jerky and seems to be popular as it is for sale in all the markets.


Part of our bike ride included climbing to the peak of a small hill to enjoy the view. 


We ended our tour with a traditional Laos meal eaten on a small hut in a rice field.  Our guide, Tom, showed us how to roll the sticky rice into balls with our fingers and eat the pumpkin and omelet with our hands.  The food in Laos is simple and fresh.  
Tom also taught us about Buddhism as he spent a year as a Novice Monk learning about Buddhism, prayer and meditation. Most boys in Laos spend a few months to a year at the Monastery as Novice Monks.


While we were in Luang Namtha we ate many yummy meals at the Bamboo Lounge - Coles' favourite was the wood fired pizza!
 

Sunday 18 November 2012

Cole's question of the day # 17 and 18

   Today we have a rare double question. The first question is tagged with an arrow and they both have something in common with each other.                                                                    

 
Question no 1. What is the purpose of the object the red arrow is showing? (4pts for 1st, 3pts for 2nd, 2pts for 3rd and 1pt for 4th 5th ect.) The disk like pieces of wood are put there to keep rodents from reaching food, somewhat like squirrel proofing disks on bird feeders.
Question no 2. What is this hut used for? (4pts for 1st, 3pts for 2nd, 2pts for 3rd and 1pt for 4th 5th ect.)  This is a hut used for rice storage. We took this picture in a village we visited after a trek in Luang Namptha.