Travelfood

We arrived to Vientiane after a Thai flight to Udon Than and by car crossing the border. After a few border checkpoints with a small fee for each, we reached the capital of Laos. Vientiane is not a very noteworthy town but we stayed with a friend and enjoyed the relaxed Laotian way of living.

Everything in Laos seems to act around the Mekong River and it is indeed impressive. Especially beautiful is it in the former capital of Luang Prabang when you sit by the river eating good food in the smell of freshly baked French baguettes and in the silence without car noise so that the only sound comes from small clocks in a nearby temple. Luang Prabang is a truly inspiring town with an interesting evening crafts market. We also made a short trip to the beautiful Kuang Si waterfalls and the tucktuck trip there through green rural scenery was also great.

In Laos you drink mostly Lao Beer and it seems to fit with all kinds of food. In this ancient French colony you do not drink wine with your food. I tasted lao laap, which is chopped meat with herbs, and also grilled Mekong fish. Thai-influenced food such as chicken green curry is also tasty. As side order you are usually served a special kind of rice, sticky rice, which certainly is a bit sticky. As a speciality I tasted deepfried crickets and a bit surprisingly they tasted nutty and good.

Of the Southeast-Asian countries Laos is perhaps the one that feels most fresh. People seem authentic and they are not overly friendly like in its neighbor country. Tourism is not as settled as in Thailand and perhaps the surrounding mountains cool down the Laotians a bit. The evening air cannot be classified as fresh, though, because in Laos everyone burns his own waste in front of their house when the dusk arrives. I certainly hope that when the waste burning will be banned, that the solution will not be to direct the waste straight to Mekong River.

Asia, exotism, food, Laos, travel, travel experiences