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.



 

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! 

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!

 

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.                           

 

 

Cole's question of the day #16

Today's question is...  What does this photo show?(6pts 1st, 4pts 2nd, 2pts 3rd and 1pt for last)

The answer is a cluster bomb dropped by the Americans on Laos during the Vietnam War.


 

Vientiane - Laos

After a week relaxing on the beach in Thailand we were all set to go to Myanmar (Burma).  We easily got our visas, but when we tried to book flights and hotels EVERYTHING was already booked for the next 2 to 3 months!  The interest in Myanmar has exploded, but the tourist infrastructure is not there yet to support the growing numbers of tourists and business people flocking to the country.  So we decided to change our plans and head to Laos.  A small country located between Vietnam, Thailand, China and Cambodia.  Everyone we have met who has been to Laos has provided glowing reports of the country - quiet, friendly, easy to get around, beautiful scenery and temples. 

I have to agree - it is great.  After an easy flight/bus ride from Bangkok we arrived in Vientiane - the laid back capital of Laos.  The city is known for temples, boutique hotels, fine eateries and a slow pace.  We spent a few days here checking out the sights and enjoying the quiet pace (you barely have to check the traffic before you cross the road!).

This temple is just round the corner from our hotel.  It has been newly built and will house the ancient city pillar (from 1563)  that is considered the guardian spirit of the city. 










Even though it is a new building, it has incorporated many traditional elements of temple design.  The sight is not yet open - it will open after 99 monks from throughout the country come to pray continuously for 3 days to bless the sight.




















One day we did a biking tour around the city to visit a number of temples.

This is a typical stairway in a temple - guarded by the snake that shaded Buddha while he reached enlightenment.



















Several of the temples house hundreds of Buddha statues, each carved with unique facial features.






























































This is a sample of the intricate carving found on the large veranda that supports the roof of a temple.  

























The roof lines of the temples have lovely details.












In the centre of town there is an archway built in the 1960's.  It is built with US purchased cement that was to be used to expand the airport. From far away it looks like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, but up close it is covered with Laos temple-style ornamentation.



































When we climbed to the top of the building we had a wonderful view of the city - trees, small buildings, and red roofs. It really is a small capital city.
















Vientiane is also known for the French bakeries - we all enjoyed the pastries! 
















While we were in Vientiane we visited COPE (Cooperative Orthotic & Prosthetic Enterprise).  This organization provides rehabilitation services and artificial limbs to people in need.  Up to 30% of the patients treated have been injured by small cluster bombs from the American/Vietnam war.   Laos is the most bombed country in South East Asia and still every year 100 - 500 people are killed by these old bombs that are still in the countryside.