Laos on the fly

i have been totally delinquent in keeping you up to date.  blame it on poor bandwidth and amazing scenery in Laos.  for those who have not gone, i recommend it but be aware that travel here is still a little undeveloped with some dirt or really bumpy roads between major cities. 

i don't have a lot of time as i am now on my way to indonesia for diving.  it is very likely this will be the last post for this trip, therefore.  the pictures are sort of divided into mekong, monks, and monstrously good food, with cute kids thrown in.   the pictures below are just a sampling of what we saw every day.

Mekong.  these pictures are from a two day trip we took down the mekong on a slow boat (there are pictures of similar boats so you get the idea).  for the slightly adventuresome, this is a  really nice trip as you really get to see a magnificent river that unifies china, thailand, laos, cambodia, and vietnam. 

Most of the people you see on the shore were passengers on the boat and got off at their villages.  the boat just pulls up on shore or to a boat that is already at the shore and the people and all their belongings hop off.  sometimes more get on.  

then monks, who are everywhere, which is not a surprise as Laos is 96% buddhist.  some are every day scenes and a couple are shot early in the morning while the monks walk through town collecting offerings, which is their daily ration of food.  in luang prabang, the monk walk has become such a tourist attraction that photographers are asked to stay on the opposite side of the street so as not to disturb the monks; few seems to listen. 

Food.  as with thailand, street food was a major part of our trip.  here is the night market both at night and the next day.   the last two pictures are rice cakes being made.  i think i figured it out 

crepes -- vestiges of french colonialism along with great coffee

 

then there is the congee for breakfast

and the lao food i learned to make in a cooking class

luang prabang salad

fried noodles

chicken curry

fried eggplant

chicken laab

random shots

trash cans made from tires (courtesy of sherry)

this is a socialist country after all. 

temple and compressor

symbols of buddhism (nagas) and modernity (bridestone tire)

sherry and the red prince

most of the brooms used the same kind of can. 

this is it.  sorry for the lack of text/context but i wanted to finish this and give you some idea of the richness of this place.  and we were in one city only.  i hear the south is very different as is the north among the hill tribes. 

all of the pictures in the blog are on a picassa gallery at

 https://picasaweb.google.com/grumpyscuba/SherryAndTonySRamblings?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIHM24Xr6v-dAQ&feat=directlink



thanks for reading and hope you enjoy.