Tastes like game–very, very, very dark meat. In places, much like chicken gizzard.

And now you know. 😉

Oh yeah, and chicken feet don’t taste like much of anything. Rubbery and chewy on the outside, crunchy on the inside (if you insist on eating the bones). I don’t really understand what people see in them.

(There’s almost no meat on a rat, btw. It’s mostly very rubbery skin stretched over a lean frame. The skin is almost tasteless, not worth bothering with.)

There were also food stands selling duck embryo, but I decided to pass on that for now. There’s a venison steak out there, with my name on it.

(I didn’t see any bats…Maybe tomorrow. I bet the wings are crunchy. 😉 )

Tien

So, I spent today exploring Luang Prabang, which it turns out is a classic “quiet, charming, well-preserved heritage site”–which is to say, quite touristy, but not at all obnoxious. (There is very little junk amongst the tourist kitsch, and the handwork overall is very high quality.) Lots of shops selling textiles, lots of Internet cafes, and quite a few good restaurants. There are also some absolutely beautiful wats (temples), and the sunset views are supposed to be terrific, especially along the river. I haven’t seen them yet, though–maybe tomorrow.

Today started out more or less like all other post-traveling days: wake up feeling sore and grumpy, wonder how one gets out of this goddamn city as soon as possible, and slowly (over a cup of excellent coffee, some warm sunlight, and a delightfully tasty breakfast) warm up to the place.

I didn’t really get in gear until early afternoon, when I went wandering down the main street. It’s paved in handicraft shops, mostly selling textiles, opium pipes, silverwork boxes (Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Thai styles), and the local specialty, carved sandstone boxes. Some of the tourist goods are clearly imported–one shop was selling scorpion and cobra wine a la Vietnam, for example–but much of it appears genuinely local.

Textile-wise, there are a *lot* of shops, and the quality and pricing varies a great deal. It seems mostly to be (very nice) supplementary weft weaving, plus some beautiful quilting. (First quilts I’ve seen in Asia.) The quilting looks like a mix of Hawaiian reverse applique techniques and Japanese sashiko quilting. It’s a bit hard to describe in words, but imagine a simple abstract design–say, a cloverleaf with squiggles at the ends. Now, trace around the design a quarter inch outside of it, and again, and again, expanding outwards from the design. (The simplest form would be a bunch of concentric circles a quarter inch apart.)

Now imagine the same effect in two colors of appliqued fabric, 1/4″ wide, precisely spaced. I’ve tried this in quilting. It’s damn near impossible. I’m very impressed by anyone who can do this.

Not content with this, however, the quilters then often add a line of precisely spaced decorative stitches in the center of each fabric “line”, a la Japanese sashiko–which is also extremely challenging, as each stitch must be the same length and spaced very evenly to produce good visual effect. They then often add a little embroidery as well. The overall effect is beautiful, especially in white. (I almost bought one, but had a sudden vision of two very happy black cats sitting on it, so didn’t buy. Black sheddy things–especially Mighty Huntresses who like to shred wildlife in your living room–do limit your home-dec choices.)

At any rate, I’m not going to subject all of you to the detailed analysis of textile work in Luang Prabang, but I saw a lot of very interesting stuff and will probably spend this evening reading through my Lao textiles book. There are a lot of different styles–from predominantly geometric with a large diamond motif (Tai tribe) to mostly animal motifs to mixes of the above. Laos has a lot of different hilltribes and they seem to have very different weaving styles–very neat. I’m studying up tonight because I want to buy some woven pieces, and need to distinguish traditional work from modern touristy stuff. (There is quite a bit of cheap Bangkok ick and imitation Thai stuff floating around; it’s a good thing I’ve already traveled through the rest of SE Asia, so I can spot obvious imitations.)

There are also a few shops in town selling exquisite antique textiles–I took a quick look today but will come back in a day or two.

While browsing through a particularly nice textiles shop, I hit a jackpot–I asked a shop guy which tribe made his stuff, and he said it was actually made for the shop, in a weaving center some distance away. I asked if it was possible to see the weaving, and after a bit of conversation, he offered to take me there tomorrow. So he’s arranging a motorbike rental and we’re going out there tomorrow. It turns out, too, that they raise silkworms, reel silk, and dye it with natural dyes (!) there–so it should be interesting to see how it works. I *think*, that since this is their private weaving center, that this is not the standard tourist-trap weaving village on all the treks–so I think it will be *especially* worth seeing. I’m definitely looking forward to it.

(I’m also hoping I can con him into teaching me how to ride a motorbike. Then I’ll be *really* dangerous. 😉 )

Mind you, the guy’s a young Lao guy in his mid-twenties, so I suspect him of a personal interest, but since I’ve mostly sorted out how to squash that sort of thing politely (four hours of watching Lao television was quite instructive), I don’t think that’ll be an issue. Besides, he *is* kinda cute. 😉

The following day, if I can arrange it, I’m goign on a mountain bike trek. This “trek” is only about 25 miles round-trip, but apparently passes through some gorgeous scenery, and since we’ll be on bikes, I’ll actually be able to take photos. (Which is great, because I really want some.) I’m looking forward to it–if it turns out I’m the only person on the trip, which seems likely, I fully intend to whine, plead, cajole, and bully the guide into taking me on a longer/more interesting trip. Granted that I’m in lousy shape compared to May, I’d still like to do more than 25 miles. Then at least I can keep the delusion that I’m getting in shape for AIDS Lifecycle 2.

That’s pretty much it for today–I’m going to stop by a place called OckPopTok (no, really, that *is* the name 🙂 ) which does custom weaving, then head off for a nice massage and steam sauna, for which Lao is apparently also renowned. Gotta change first, though. 🙂

I suppose I should also eat. Venison steak sounds good. Life is tough, especially in Laos. 🙂

Tien

P.S. I found something really neat today in one of the shops–elephant jawbones, with the teeth embedded. They look really weird–they have curved crenelations that look very much like part of a spiral ammonite (fossilized nautilus-like thing). I took photos, and would certainly have bought one–there are enough “working” elephants in Laos that I doubt it was poached–except that I think CITES regulations prohibit import of elephant bits. It did look really cool, though.

(Laos, btw, is one of the few nations not signatory to CITES (the international Endangered Species Act)–which (alas) makes it a popular place for smuggling endangered wildlife. It goes over the Thai border, where it’s whitewashed and sent out to other countries. *sigh*)

oh yeah–if I make it back to Laos in mid-March, I may also be able to go on a tour down near Pakse to see the Irawaddy freshwater dolphins. These are the same dolphins (I think) mentioned by Douglas Adams in _Last Chance to See_ –highly endangered–but because the Lao consider dolphins sacred, there’s still a population in Laos. Wildside runs a tour there, and they almost always see dolphins. neat, huh?

Well, after eight hours of some of the most gorgeous scenery in the world, I’ve arrived in Luang Prabang. Luang Prabang is the second largest city in Laos–population 30,000. (Which tells you just how rural Laos is!) It’s also home to the second most revered artifact in Southeast Asia, Pra Bang–a Buddha statue made out of gold, in the pose “fending off evil”–both arms out, palms upraised, in the classic “stop” gesture.

There’s some interesting history behind Pra Bang. I don’t remember all of it, and I haven’t got the guidebook with me, but basically it’s been looted, restored, moved around, etc. over the last couple centuries. The Thai, back when they were conquering Southeast Asia, took both the Emerald Buddha and Pra Bang from the Cambodians/Lao. But, after looting the two statues, they discovered that the Emerald Buddha and Pra Bang don’t see eye-to-eye; legend has it that if they ever occupy the same city, disaster will befall that city. So the Thai kept the Emerald Buddha (which is still in Bangkok, in the Grand Palace), and sent Pra Bang back. It eventually made it back to Luang Prabang, which is named after the statue. (I think “Luang” means “town” in Lao.)

I haven’t seen Pra Bang yet, but plan to go up there later today. There’s also a trekking outfit in Luang Prabang named Tiger Trails, and given the name I just can’t resist–I *have* to go out and see what they have to offer. I’m also going to go get a Lao massage–a very nice mix between Thai and Swedish massage. After eight hours on a bus I’m sure I could use a chiropractic readjustment… 🙂

Luang Prabang isn’t a very big town, despite being the second largest “city” in Laos–it has a few paved streets, but the rest seem to be high-quality dirt roads (no washboarding, very flat, probably steamrollered daily 😉 ). Architecture is this odd mix between Cambodian, Lao, and French–there are nagas everywhere and the stonework looks not unlike Cambodia, but most of the guesthouses are renovated French villas. Today I plan to walk through the town, check out the markets, and do my usual hunt for the best restaurants and fastest Internet connections in town.

(I have already found one restaurant that serves a FANTASTIC venison steak…grilled to perfection, $2.20. With a wonderful watercress soup, a pot of ginger tea, and creme caramel, $3.80. The creme caramel is distinctly mediocre, but the steak was fantastic…better than any venison I’ve had Stateside. And grilled to a perfect medium rare. (Yep, that’s right. I ate undercooked meat in an underdeveloped country. I’ll probably die of food poisoning or some sort of horrible intestinal parasite before dawn, but I am utterly unrepentant. It was *very* tasty. 🙂 ))

I forgot to mention earlier that they make great beef jerky in Laos, too. There’s one version that’s particularly good–beef marinated in lime juice, soy sauce (I think), and a little sugar, then cooked/dried over a wood fire. The end result is a little sweet, a little tart, and quite smoky–very good. Those of you who are culinarily inclined might want to try it at home. (I shouldn’t have eaten that either, of course, but after the last time our raft disassembled itself on that rafting trip, the food all got wet, so they had to run out for emergency rations. Just as well–beef jerky and sticky rice was a lot tastier than the boring old chicken sandwiches they *would* have made.)

While on the topic of food, and before I forget it–I got a really funny story from our Wildside tour guide. He doesn’t normally go on tours–he’s their explorer, and his job is to go out and reconnoiter unexplored terrain, so they can open up new tours.

So on one of these trips, he wound up going through a section of river that proved completely impassable–they had to portage their raft up and over a giant gorge no one knew was there. (No one had ever been in that valley before.) Since it was taking much longer than expected, they ran out of food.

However, since they were government-sanctioned, and this particular trip was smack in the middle of unexplored territory in the Golden Triangle (the notorious opium-smuggling area where Burma, Thailand, and Laos meet), the government had insisted on giving them an “escort” of two soldiers armed with AK47s. (Whitewater rafting with AK47s. Why had this simply not occurred to me? 🙂 ) So there they were, in the middle of uncharted territory, out of food, with nothing but two AK47s.

Now, the forests are full of game–deer, giant porcupines, pythons, etc. But, as Mick pointed out, he wasn’t about to go back and say, “Yes, we’re that ecotourism group you just licensed to help preserve Lao wilderness. Based on our work, we can tell you that Lao wildlife is very, very tasty.” 🙂

On the other hand, they *were* out of food. So they sent the AK47-wielding soldiers out into the forest in search of food…where they found, and shot down, a beehive. (“So, what did *you* shoot with your AK47, deep in opium-smuggling depths of the Golden Triangle?” “A beehive.”)

Anyway, there was of course plenty of honey in the beehive (I have no idea what happened to the bees, but with a couple AK47s I’m sure it wasn’t a problem. 😉 ). There were also lots of bee larvae, and since they were quite hungry by this time, they made a fire and ate bee larvae soup, which Mick reports as being quite tasty. (I wonder if it tastes like scorpion?)

Unfortunately, one of the guys turned out to be allergic to bee larvae–his face puffed up alarmingly (and almost instantly), but there wasn’t anything they could do for him. (See previous comments about “dark depths of the Golden Triangle” and “unexplored wilderness”.) Fortunately, the swelling did eventually go down, and they did eventually make it out. But I keep visualizing shooting down a beehive with AK47s. It’s pretty hilarious.

Also in “before I forget”–the January issue of Farang! magazine is out, and guess who’s the cover model??? Whee! A cover model at last. Body paint and everything. (So much for my Presidential ambitions. 😉 ) I don’t yet have a copy of it, but Ben does–and they promised to save me nine or ten copies, so hopefully when I get back to Bangkok I’ll be able to scan it. (You might also watch http://www.farangonline.com –so far they only have the old issue, but I assume they’ll eventually get up a small thumbnail of the cover.)

I saw a copy of last month’s _Farang!_ in Vangvieng, by the way. It’s really weird to think of my photo scattered all over Southeast Asia…I won’t see it, of course, since I’ll be back in Thailand by the time copies drift out here, but, well…it’s really weird. Fortunately, I don’t think anyone’s going to recognize me. 😉 )

Not much to report the last few days–I went rock climbing yesterday, and decided that climbing is both too strenuous and too cerebral for me. Also fairly terrifying–I couldn’t shake the conviction that I was going to fall off and die, despite being on a top-rope climb (where it’s pretty much impossible to do so). Somewhere halfway up the first climb, it occurred to me that rock climbing in a country with no medical facilities to speak of is probably not the best of ideas…but nothing in fact happened, so what the hell.

(In fact whitewater rafting is also moderately dangerous, but I’m much more philosophical about that. I think it’s because, going down the rapids, you’re much too busy to think about what an idiot you are. Climbing gives you much more leisure to contemplate your own stupidity. 😉 )

Anyway, we went up four rock faces, all relatively easy–by the fourth one I was starting to get the hang of it, but I think I need more practice once I get back to the U.S. I don’t think rock climbing is really for me (too methodical), but it’s fun trying to navigate around the face, find handholds, etc. Rather like playing chess.

At any rate, that’s it for now–more later, once I”ve had a chance to explore around town a bit. Laos is way fun–probably the best fun I’ve had in SE Asia, with the possible exception of diving in the Similans.

Tien