Sabaday (To Udom Xay)

Today was the first day of riding in Laos.  We started at the same restaurant we ate at last night – and at first we missed the “breakfast page” and thought we would need to have fried noodles – but it turned out the restaurant, on the riverbank overlooking the small ferry that our truck took last night.  The breakfast menu was great – they had ‘banana pancakes.’ – cakey sweet dough with a bit of salt, topped with slices of the fresh “fat” bananas that grow in huge numbers in this area. Delicious!

 

The riding was great in the morning – we did 75 relatively quick kilometers before stopping for lunch.   There were birds chirping throughout (but not many in flight – I think being seen is a survival disadvantage here). There are also wildflowers everywhere – a bit of a surprise given how dry it is. We saw men doing percussive fishing (one bashed the water with a shovel, while the accomplish used a net to catch startled fish).  Kids all over yelled out “Sabaday” to us – the Lao equivalent of ‘hello.’

 

Laos is hugely different than Vietnam.  There are fewer pigs and water buffalo – but plenty of chickens and ducks.  More of the huts have thatched roofs (whereas in Vietnam most huts had tin roofs).   There are schools at every village, and for secondary school the villagers send their kids a few villages away – and build dormitories (small huts) for them to live in.

 

We passed one village known for its rice whiskey – and a still was in full operation.  The villagers cook the rice partway, mix in yeast, and ferment it for 3 weeks in garbage cans.   Then, the mixture is put in a kettle with cold water running over the top – which causes the steam to condense, where it flows into a barrel.  Other villagers bring empty water bottles to be filled  at the still – it costs 10,000 kip (about $1.20US), and is about 50% alcohol.  Our guide says that this is all legal – but of course the problem Laos has always had is insufficient funds to run a reasonable government – and it’s hard to see how taxes could be collected on this operation.

 

We had lunch at a roadside restaurant (picnic tables with a roof overlooking the Nuam Pac River).  The restaurateurs had 2 civet cats in a cage – and Joi assured us that they were pets and had been their for years (as opposed to a future entrée).    I remember that there is a hypothesis that the SARS epidemic started with civet cats – so I’m careful not to let them cough at me.

 

The bikers had stale bread, tuna, mayo, and Laughing Cow cheese with some lettuce (washed conspicuously in bottled water), tomato and carrot.  The guides had cold sticky rice with fish soup and two relishes – one made of galangal and chilies and the other of green chilies.  (They also had squirrel and squab).  The consensus of the bikers is that tomorrow we want sticky rice too.  From my perspective, hold the squirrel and bird.

 

It was 35 degrees C this afternoon  - an even 95 degrees – and it was humid.  There were only a few hills as we followed a tributary to Udom Xay.   We were happy we only had 28 km to go.

 

The Dansavanh Hotel is absolutely stunning  -it’s got a huge lobby and large rooms—today, there is even a shower stall (yesterday, we had to shower on the bathroom floor – not my favorite approach, but apparently common here).  The staircase to the third floor is grand – and there are large elaborately carved wooden chairs and tables scattered throughout the public spaces.

 

I’m off to the internet café now to see what happened with the House health care vote in the US last night – and to post these entries.  I’ve been sending the entries by email – which gives me less control over the way they look – but allows me to do other things while the messages are being sent.