Fullboy - Laid back in Laos

Our first experience of a real sleeper bus complete with bed was a fun one as we headed towards southern Laos. We actually got quite a good nights sleep and we arrived in Pakse feeling positively refreshed. Everywhere was very quiet as it was only around 6am so we jumped on the nearest tuk-tuk and got a lift to the centre of town. We found a large, Chinese owned hotel that had a simple restaurant on the ground floor serving some yummy looking noodle soup. After dropping our bags off in the room, we decided to go and get a coffee and some breakfast. We both ordered the beef noodle soup, a delicate, light, fragrant broth with rice noodles and thin slivers of lean, tender beef. An old lady sitting next to us took it upon herself to show us how to season our soups and we had to politely stop her adding the sweet chilli sauce, not that we don't like a bit of spice but the soup was too nice to be overpowered by bottled sauce. We've watched the locals season their soups and in our opinion, they just put too much of everything in. We're not of course saying the locals are wrong, although I'm sure they'd think we were!! It's all a matter of personal taste and what the broth tastes like to begin with.
















We had a leisurely day strolling around the small town and happened to stumble across a temple that was home to lots and lots of kittens. Melissa of course was in cat heaven and spent lots of time making friends with all of the cats. One of the kittens was a bit skinny and had weepy eyes and a German tourist told us that he thought it should be put out of its misery, much to the disgust of Melissa who gave him a stern scowl. We finally said goodbye to the cats and went to find some dinner.


The choices were limited in Pakse, the menus were very similar in the few restaurants on the main road so we went for a little wonder up and down the side roads to see if we could find something a little bit more exciting. We found the food market which would usually excite us but in this case, it was not busy at all and the food looked like it had been sitting out for a while. Running out of options, we decided to eat at a decent looking restaurant we had passed earlier and ordered some fresh spring rolls, some fried chicken breasts and a mango salad. The four large spring rolls looked very appetising and came with the obligatory fish dipping sauce. The three chicken breasts on a bed of salad looked golden and delicious. The crispy, shredded mango salad, spicy, sweet and sour was a perfect accompaniment to the plain tasting chicken and spring rolls. Our giant plates of food had unfortunately attracted the attention of the local tramp. He looked a bit worse for wear and under the influence of alcohol but we did have way too much food so I decided to be the good samaritan and I gave him one of the fresh spring rolls. At first he refused and pointed to the chicken instead... cheeky git!! Melissa was losing her patience and obviously wanted rid of the drunk, dirty tramp that was hovering over our food. He finally took the spring roll but instead of going away, he brazenly dipped it in our dipping sauce and made a mess all over the table. He did this not once but twice, sauce dripping off his unshaven chin!! Even the tramps follow the strict local laws of how to eat your food!! I had to firmly tell him to go away before he ate all of our food and got a telling off from Melissa for attracting crazy people, something I seem to be good at. After our eventful evening, we went back to our hotel to get a good nights sleep because all the lights in this uneventful town seemed to switch off at 9pm.


















We woke early the next morning to catch transport to the Bolaven Plateau, a wonderful hilly area where all of the amazing coffee grows. We caught a bus to Tad-Lo, a beautiful, rustic, waterfront village with lots of bamboo huts. Cows and pigs were roaming around freely and children were playing in the river. An old lady found us and beckoned us to her basic huts right by the river. We paid the equivalent of £2 for the hut and found it to be one of the most romantic spots we had stayed in, sipping a beer Lao on the balcony of our bamboo hut overlooking the Mekong river on a gloriously sunny day without a care in the world. The food was good and the steamed fish in banana leaf that we had to order at lunch time to be ready for the evening was definitely an unusual dish. It arrived wrapped in the banana leaf but instead of being a whole fish it was minced and mashed with egg and noodles in a sort of block. Not what I expected but very tasty nevertheless. We also had a really good curried vegetable soup, loads of roughly chopped veggies in a light curry broth, it reminded me of old fashioned curry powder taste. We ended our wonderful day with another Beer Lao and called it a night.





























Our next stop was Paksong, a small town in the Bolaven Plateau and a good base to explore the coffee plantations and waterfalls in the area. It was a real mission to get there as the roads were still in the process of being built and we ended up flagging down anything going up the road in the hope of getting to where we wanted to go. After a number of rickshaws, tuk-tuks and a nice bus, we finally ended up in Paksong, a rather quiet looking one street town with not an awful lot going on. A short distance away however was the most amazing waterfall we have ever seen and we were lucky enough to have a really sunny day and be able to swim in the pool below. After our nice swim we explored the coffee plantations and bought some freshly ground Laos coffee to send back to our family in England, we also had a sample ourselves, strong stuff!! Unfortunately, my tranquillity was about to be rudely interrupted by an extremely violent stomach upset. Who knows the culprit (probably that strange block of fish!!) but I was off my food for a number of days after this so unfortunately nothing exciting to write about food-wise :-(

































We arrived back in Pakse after our lovely excursion into the hills and caught another bus further south to a small town called Champasak. We were waiting an age for the bus to leave as the driver wanted more passengers and we had to amuse ourselves in the 40 degree heat by drinking lots of 7-Up and watching rogue cows eat scraps from wicker basket bins. The buses were more like pick up trucks with benches in the back and were extremely hot when not moving. Eventually we got another few passengers and we set off. We had to board a makeshift car ferry as we reached the Mekong river and noticed a woman on a floating platform selling some really nice looking fresh spring rolls. My tummy felt right enough to try a little bit and they were fantastic, the rice paper was very fresh and soft and the filling crunchy and tasty. We watched a team of ladies surrounded by baskets of fresh ingredients making them from scratch and passing the finished rolls to a young girl who would hand them to the hungry customers. We munched them up, handed back the plate to the young girl and waved goodbye as our car ferry crossed the river.



































After a night in Champasak exploring a temple at night time and a close encounter with a snake, we caught a bus and long boat to our next destination, the 4000 islands. This was to be without the doubt the most relaxed, laid back place we had visited and we spent a week relaxing in a bamboo hut by the river, swaying in our hammocks and being very lazy!! We tried an interesting lentil dish, similar in texture to an Indian dal but flavoured with lemongrass and lime leaves, a great variation in flavour. Along with this we ordered a pumpkin sandwich that arrived as toasted pieces of bread with mashed up pumpkin patties, cucumber and tomato on top, again very tasty. We weren't sure if the pumpkin was a local delicacy or just something to appease the palate of the large number of backpackers in the area but it was a tasty change from noodle soup nevertheless. We found another tasty snack whilst wondering the small dusty paths of the main path running through the island (there are no roads!!) in the form of samosas. Again, not quite sure if they are Laos delicacies but the little girl selling them was so cute and they were so cheap and delicious that we made many return visits.

































Alas, it was time to say goodbye to Laos. We had purposefully stayed over the allotted 30 days on our tourist visa thinking that it was only a $2 a day fine but then realised it was $10 a day so thought we better get a move on to Cambodia. The immigration officer in typical laid back Laos fashion never noticed that we had overstayed our visa by two days, or maybe he just didn't care.

Fullboy - Laos - Vientiane - From Korea with love x

We only had a short stopover in the capital city of Laos before we moved further south down the country. To be fair, a night is all we needed as the city didn't really excite us too much. We struggled to find cheap accommodation and ended up in a slightly more expensive place for the night complete with air conditioning, wireless internet and Cable TV, all rarities in Laos. We seemed to be located in the Chinatown district judging from the number of Chinese restaurants around us. Neither of us were in the mood to go traipsing around the city again so we would have been happy to settle for anything, but then something caught our eye, yes, definitely Korean writing.... a Korean restaurant!! The pair of us were so excited, neither of us realised how much we actually missed Korean food. We sat down and much to our delight they served Soju, the Korean national spirit. The place was run by Koreans, so attention to detail came as standard. We ordered a bibimbap which is rice mixed with vegetables and chilli sauce with a fried egg on top, and a kimchi chigae which is a spicy cabbage stew flavoured with belly pork and spring onions. Before we knew it we were inundated with lots of yummy side dishes including lotus root, tofu, spinach, radish and of course, kimchi. The bibimbap and kimchi stew were delicious and we almost felt homesick as we downed the last of our soju and left the restaurant.

The next evening we caught a night bus to Pakse in Southern Laos, an interesting journey in a bed on a bus made for two people!! Goodnight for now, next stop Pakse, the Bolaven Plateau and 4000 Islands!!

Fullboy - Laos - Vang Vieng - Magic along the Mekong

Ok... let's get one thing straight. If it's culture and a quiet night in you're after, Vang Vieng is not the place. But if it's loud music, dangerously cheap alcohol, and partying then it's definitely the place! We arrived in Vang Vieng and again, it couldn't have been more of a change to the last place we were at. If Luang Prabang was all about sophistication, class and quaintness, Vang Vieng was the opposite of all of these multiplied by ten! We arrived in the daytime and everything seemed eerily quiet. Travellers were sitting like zombies in restaurants and bars, eating pizzas, banana pancakes and watching Friends or Family Guy. We found a very cheap place to stay with a bed as hard as concrete and noticed that the downstairs restaurant of the hotel served its very own homemade goats cheese and mulberry tea. We realised that this was probably going to be our culinary highlight during our days in Vang Vieng so the following morning after our first night of decadence, we tried the goats cheese with baguette and salad. As we dreamily munched away, it dawned on us that the cheese was really good although our bellies were probably just grateful of any food to eliminate the toxins. Silly me forgot to take pictures because my head wasn't working properly so my photograph is of the second time we had the cheese which didn't look as good as the first time as it wasn't warmed up, melting and oozy.


There weren't really many other food highlights in Vang Vieng other than some really tasty chicken, bacon and melted cheese baguettes (real cheddar!). We stood as the lady cooked all of the ingredients from fresh, it really was a good baguette. I could go on and on with the list of comfort foods that we were eating in an attempt to make us feel better from our excesses but I'm sure you get the picture. Melissa had lost her circle shape lens sunglasses that she bought in Thailand for a quid. She was very attached to them and nothing I said would make her feel better, so she found consolation with another cat friend. We sat in the restaurant where the cat lived and watched a DVD and suddenly realised that we were the same as them travellers we saw on the first day.... zombies!! It was time for us to leave.

We left the crazy Vang Vieng with all limbs intact, probably because we didn't try the tubing or the rope swings into the very shallow river. I did have slightly bruised hips but that was from our bed... it really was that hard! On a side note, we also met Mr Cha from Korea!! A totally random incident but it was very nice to see him and his friend (we look forward to seeing you again in Korea!!)


Vang Vieng's a strange place, comparable to an Ibiza (without the good music) in the middle of Laos!! For backpackers, mainly young, fresh out of school, college or university, it's just another place to get drunk, meet lots of fellow revellers and have a good time. On the other hand, there are many backpackers and travellers who completely turn their nose up at Vang Vieng and wouldn't dream of indulging in such reckless activity in such a beautiful country. Now, we might not agree with everything that goes on in Vang Vieng but we love our partying too much and couldn't resist the cheap thrills. Even though the music was god awful, we were happy to just let our hair down and party for a few days before we got back on the road. And party we did!!

Fullboy - Laos - Luang Nam Tha - Country Food

We arrived in Luang Nam Tha, relatively unscathed, and found a nice, cheap, hotel on the main road. There was a surprisingly large number of travellers milling around the hotel restaurant given the remote location of the town, and after having a quick look at the dull menu we decided to try our luck elsewhere. We found the ‘Minority Restaurant’, a place purporting to serve local tribes food. The choices consisted of fairly basic vegetable and meat dishes. We chose a simple boiled vegetables and green beans with a hogsplum chilli sauce and a young rattan shoots and banana flower soup with chicken. The vegetables consisted of what looked like broccoli leaves and giant green beans and were simply presented, simply cooked and tasted delicious. The accompanying sauce was also a highlight, containing the seed of a hogsplum, chopped up chillies, coriander, garlic and salt. It had a fruity, almost sour taste with a hefty kick of chilli to give the vegetables a boost. The soup was fantastic, a very clean, clear broth with succulent pieces of chicken, and what tasted like bamboo shoots. The side order of sticky rice was wonderfully presented in its own bamboo wicker basket. To eat the rice you picked up a piece in your hand, rolled it into a ball like shape and ate it. Using your hands to eat is perfectly acceptable in Laos, unlike Korea!! We felt very healthy after our first taste of the local food and we were looking forward to trying some more.
































Our lunch was delicious but the hunger hit us again a few hours later so we attended the town's night market directly across the road from our hotel. The market consisted of a square surrounded by food stalls with a few tables and chairs in the central area. The back of the market had more stalls selling local minority clothing and more food. I was naturally drawn to the rotisserie stands, the meaty aromas having the same effect on me as the towns local canine population, enticing me closer and closer to the barbecued goods on offer. There were juicy ducks and crispy pork bellies, turning slowly, their fat dripping onto the coals below. By this point, I was totally intoxicated and decided that a whole duck and a fat piece of pork belly would be enough for me and Melissa. We sat down at a table next to our food stand and I went to get some vegetables to accompany our meat feast. I nipped to the back of the market and found some similar vegetables to the ones we ate earlier in the day and also some cabbage that appeared to be slightly pickled. The food was so cheap that even giving the smallest amount of money to the market vendors left me with enough vegetables to feed about eight people!! I arrived back at the table and we started to eat, the meat was fantastic!! The duck was the best we had eaten on our travels so far and after being slightly disappointed with the portion sizes and general quality of the duck we tried in Singapore and Malaysia, we now had before us more wonderfully cooked duck than we could possibly eat. The skin was crispy and fatty at the same time, the meat tender and tasty. The pork belly was definitely on the fatty side but the fat was crispy and melted inside the mouth. I had to eat most of the pork as the fat was a little too much for Melissa to handle. About half an hour into our meal, our bags of vegetables barely appeared to have a dent in them and we still had several pieces of meat left. We'd had enough but we didn't want to waste any of the delicious food. Fortunately for us our answers were sitting all around us. There must have been around ten or so dogs waiting patiently around our table for the leftover scraps of meat. They were very pleasant dogs, occasionally having a little fight between themselves over who got what, but never being aggressive towards the patrons of the market. They definitely didn't seem rabid or rabies infested, more like scruffy mongrels who had found the doggy version of Shangri-La. With our bellies full to bursting we made our way back to bed for a good nights sleep.





























The next morning the air was so cold outside that we could see our breath. We arranged a guide to take us on a two day hike starting the following day and after that, decided to rent a bicycle and explore the local villages. The untouched beauty of this part of the world was wonderful to see and a mere five minute cycle from the main road of the town, we were surrounded by rice paddy fields being tended by buffalo, old ladies knitting, plump chickens and black piglets running around and intricate hand woven fabrics hanging from washing lines. We passed raw cotton and sheets of bamboo paper on the side of the road, drying in the scorching sun (it didn't stay cold for long!!) In this modern age of convenience and haste, to see this delightfully laid back way of living was a great experience. After hours of cycling around in the midday heat, we were a little hungry and thirsty and stopped for a break at a ladies house. She had set up a few tables and chairs outside and signalled for us to sit down. We ordered a noodle soup (I think that's all she made) and sat down on a table that had lots of bottles, tubs and bags of condiments. I'm definitely a condiments man and love to have a sniff and taste of the different sauces, pastes and other complimentary edibles on the table. There was lemon juice, soy sauce, vinegar, chilli sauce, chilli paste, chopped chillies in soy sauce, and a mysterious, very dark and thick fishy smelling paste that tasted sweet and salty at the same time! I think it was possibly some sort of local crab or shrimp paste but I can't be certain. We were provided with a bowl of salad leaves and a bag of chillies to add to our soup as we desired. It was one of the best selection of condiments we'd encountered so far for a simple bowl of noodle soup. The soup itself had a tasty stock that in my opinion didn't need any more flavour other than of course the obligatory chilli to fire things up a little. By this point in our travels I was definitely in the depths of a full blown chilli addiction and sometimes didn't know when to stop. I'd know a few hours later if I'd eaten too many as my stomach would start to cramp and feel generally uncomfortable but this didn't stop me going back for more the next time! I managed to limit myself to just four chillies from the bag of hundreds and a spoonful of the chilli paste and soy sauce with chopped chillies. After sampling all of the other condiments on the table I decided that they didn't need to go in the soup. We finished our meal and sat for a while, reflecting on our wonderful day, listening to a chicken clucking away happily and watching him walk casually, without a care in the world on to the dry, dusty road with not a vehicle in sight.





































We woke early the next day, refreshed and a little chilly, ready to embark on our two day hike. The first days hike was uphill, through forest to the top of a mountain where we would camp overnight. The next day was downhill. There was a group of seven of us and our first stop was at a local food market where our guide and two porters bought the food to cook on our hike. We arrived at a local village and began the hike from there, the curious eyes of the local villagers following us as we entered the forest. Our porters were carrying all the heavy stuff, pots, pans, rice and bags. Our guide was carrying bags of green liquid, bags we later discovered to be the infamous 'Lao Lao', a locally produced rice wine made in many homes across Laos, anywhere between 30% and 70% proof. Every drink is of course different as the whole process of making the drink is so rudimentary. This particular Lao Lao was green because it had been fermented with mystery herbs and leaves. We stopped for food shortly after we'd began our hike and before we knew it we were all sitting around a giant banana leaf being served. Our first meal had been pre-prepared at the market and consisted of the ever popular long green bean, pork mixed with mushrooms and bamboo shoots, a dill omelette and heaps of sticky rice. The standout was the delicious dill omelette, a chunky block of egg with fresh dill and onion running through it, not dissimilar in texture and appearance to a takeaway Chinese Foo Yung, one of my classic takeaway picks!! I think what surprised us most was the taste of dill in this part of the world, another unexpected taste of Asia.




































Upon reaching the summit, our legs were weary and the first thing on my mind was an ice cold beer, a thing of greatness after a long hike. Unfortunately, the wooden hut we were sleeping in didn't have a fridge (it didn't even have windows) and I had to settle for Lao Lao. I can't say I liked the drink, but hey, it definitely does the job. The porters were kind enough to fashion us little bamboo shot glasses from the raw bamboo stalk and then prepared a meal for us with the ingredients from the market. There was an abundance of fresh herbs and vegetables and a huge chunk of buffalo meat which looked pretty similar to stewing beef. A few hours later our feast was ready and we again ate from banana leaves but this time at a candlelit table as there was no electricity. The porters and guide had cooked a wonderful meal of buffalo stew, a Laos ratatouille and of course, sticky rice. It was possibly my first taste of buffalo and I'd definitely eat it again, really tasty, soft and lean. After we finished our meal, the group sat around the fire, chatting and drinking Lao Lao that was practically being forced on us by the porters. We were drunk and our guide decided it would be a good idea to go on a trek in complete darkness with nothing but our flashlights to guide us. This proved to be hilarious as we traversed a path no more than a metre wide in single file, hoping for a glance of elusive, nocturnal wildlife. Rob, a fellow Englishman, decided to get people on their toes by throwing stones into the undergrowth to mimic the sounds of moving animals which made everyone jumpy and added to the fun. After a while though, we thought it was probably wise that we returned to the camp fire so back we went and sat down again. The most amazing thing about the night for me was looking up to the sky and seeing what looked like thousands of stars, shiny pin pricks in the black of night.


































We woke up in our mosquito net cocoon and heard activity in the kitchen. Another feast was being prepared, it was only 9.00am!! Before we knew it, we were all sitting at the table yet again and huge bowls of sticky rice were being placed in front of us. Still full from our feast of food the night before, we attempted to eat the stew, rice and vegetables but none of the group had any appetite and we had to politely, almost guiltily decline the food that had been prepared from scratch. We set off on our easier downhill trek and hours later we reached our destination, a small village inhabited by local minority people, many of whom were in the process of building a relatively large two storey house. We were ushered up to the second floor of the partially built building and we all sat down and rested our legs as curious children hid behind their grandparents. Our lunch was being laid out before us, again on a banana leaf, and we all sat down and got stuck in. The highlight for me was a smoky aubergine puree, very similar to the famous Middle Eastern dish, Baba Ganoush. Another stand out was a salty, spicy sauce, quite similar to the Hogsplum chilli sauce we tried a few days earlier and delicious when mixed with the sticky rice. To round things off nicely, a petrol canister of Lao Lao was brought into the equation and the locals seemed on a mission to get us drunk. We downed shot after shot of the fierce local spirit, some more than others (name no names Daniel Bowles!), and it was a great way to end a fantastic time in Luang Nam Tha.

Fullboy - Huay Xai - Welcome to Laos

The border crossing between Thailand and Laos consisted of two shack like buildings on either side of the mighty Mekong river. The sun was scorching on a blisteringly hot afternoon as we boarded a long tail boat to take us on the two minute journey from Thailand to Laos. Arriving in Laos, we completed the necessary paperwork to obtain our visas, walked past a security guard who took a passing glance at our passports and found a cheap hotel within a couple of minutes where we dumped our bags and had our first taste of the backpackers favourite, Beer Lao, a beer not yet available in England, but I‘m sure it‘s only a matter of time. Everyone enjoys a cold beer on a hot day, but a cold beer on a REALLY hot day is nothing short of heavenly! We had a walk down the one street town and came across a restaurant with a wonderful veranda overlooking the banks of the river. We ordered a Lao BBQ, not really knowing what to expect and after a few minutes, the waitress returned with a bucket of red hot coal and placed it in the hole in the middle of our table. DIY BBQ is something we are huge fans of after our time in Korea and our wonderful experiences of Korean BBQ. Next to arrive were some long green beans, fried aubergine, a tangy, fruity sauce and assorted salad leaves which we assumed were to wrap our meat in. What came next was more unexpected, a metal steamboat pot with an area for grilling meat on the top. How it all worked was you cooked the meat on the elevated middle section of the pot, the meat juices slid down into the bowl like edges of the pot where you placed your leaves and vegetables. We were also given a bucket of light stock and a couple of eggs which we could crack into the bowl. So effectively you have a meaty soup and a BBQ in one. It’s a novel way of cooking and we had a great time trying to figure it all out! All in all, a brilliant first meal in Laos.
























We were up really early the next morning for an eight hour bus journey to Luang Nam Tha, a small town in Northern Laos, not too far from the Chinese border. We were some of the first people on the old, dilapidated bus and we put our bags on the back seat and took our seats nearer the front. The bus left the station half empty but started picking up random people along with their cargo. Before we knew it, the bus was full of people and lots of sacks of rice, food, drums of oil, bags of cement, and other various objects. People had to clamber over the items to get on and off the bus and the driver would wait for no man which meant people were falling all over the place. The roads were in the process of being built and we had to stop several times as bulldozers cleared sections of debris for us to pass. Needless to say the journey was bumpy and a tad uncomfortable. Still, it was our first insight into the wonderful world of Laos, a simple land where many people still live in bamboo huts without electricity. Tourism is in its infancy but the road building would lead one to suggest that the infrastructure is starting to take place and it will only be a matter of time before Laos catches up with the rest of Southeast Asia. Still, we felt very lucky to be able to see a country with such a timeless air about it and the eight uncomfortable hours on the bus passed relatively quickly as we were amazed by the simple, very picturesque villages we were passing through. The toilet break on the bus was another eye opener, it was a case of get off the bus and pee where you want, even the girls!! Needless to say Melissa found it difficult to do as the locals did and had to find a spot far away from the bus to do her business. It was quite a sight seeing old ladies hitch up their skirts to go for a pee on the side of the road! Another thing we learnt was that Lao people suffer with motion sickness. The roads were very windy and bumpy and we quite often heard excruciating rawking, gurgling, heaving, wretching and spitting noises coming from the other passengers. We just had to try and look away because the sounds alone were making us feel queasy. Now I understand what the small plastic bags were for that they gave us at the start of the journey!