Early morning with Monks, cooking school and Waterfalls

17^th April 2013

It is our last day in Laos, before flying to Myanmar tomorrow. We have an early start, as our guide is picking us up at 6 am to take us into town to see the monks do their morning collection of alms. Locals are lined up along the path the monks take every morning making a small contribution of rice, biscuits, fruit, money  etc, into each monk’s bowl as he passes, and there are lots of them.

After the monks completed their path, we went on to have a look at the early morning food market, when locals are out early to buy their fresh food requirements for the day. Our guide is helpful in identifying some of the stuff we could not.

                              There doesn't seem to be any size limit on fish caught for sale

Back to the hotel by just after 7am, we had time for a shower and breakfast before being picked up again at 8.45am, to go to a cooking school for the morning to learn how to cook some Lao dishes, which we will then eat for lunch.

The cooking school is run by a local restaurant, called Tamarind, but is not held at the restaurant, as the school location is in a country setting, a little out of town. Meeting first at Tamarind restaurant, it turned out there are 12 of us attending this session, 10 Aussies and 2 French girls. Before going to the lesson our first visit was to the market with the chef, who gave us a great tour explaining the various ingredients, and letting us taste some of the typical Lao snacks.

Local transport is provided

Our chef explains the different herbs used in Laotian cooking

And a few odd vegetables

Different types of rice

And of course, the meat section with many indescribable cuts of not easily recognisable beasts

With this background, we were now ready to be taken to the cooking school to get started. The setting is very impressive.

Our charcoal stoves

Ingredients for the first few dishes are laid out ready

After a quick briefing we had to don our aprons and the first lesson began. Our first task was to make a chilli sauce to go with our dishes later. We were given a choice of 2 recipes, one based on an eggplant base and the other based on a tomato base. Most couples chose to do one of each.

Instructions are given

And we are into it

We cooked three main dishes, fish marinated in herbs and wrapped in a banana  leaf, then steamed. Lemon grass stuffed with a chicken / herb mixture and then deep fried, and larb made from buffalo mince mixed in a fresh salad.

                                Frying the lemon grass stuffed with chicken on the charcoal stove

                            Lunch is served, we sit down to try out our creations

The food was generally very nice, but I think I went a bit overboard on the chilli. Nevertheless , the flavours we very interesting and we learned a lot of good tips along the way.

After the main course we had to make desert, this consisted of purple rice pudding with fresh fruit and a tamarind sauce. It had a coconut base, and turned out to be much better than anyone expected. Overall it was a good morning that went quite quickly. Our driver arrived at 2 pm to take us to our next destination, and we had only just finished lunch.

The drive to the Kuangsi Falls takes about 40 minutes, and on arrival the place is packed. New Year celebrations are still under way, and it seems most families from Luang Prabang have come to the falls for a swim and picnic today. It is hot, about 37 C, and aircon in cars (and mini buses) is a bit of a luxury.

BBQ food was a special at the entrance to the park

The walk up to the falls takes us past a sanctuary for Moon Bears, almost extinct because of Chinese killing them for bile for Chinese medicine. They hope to breed enough to release them back into the wild, now that killing them is illegal.

The park around the falls is packed with people from all Nationalities, seeking some respite from the heat, and a peaceful place to relax.

Any good place for a picnic is taken

Lots of people are in the water cooling off

The lower part of the falls are a series of terraces

After a series of terraces, which provide a series of swimming ponds all of the way up the river, finally the main falls emerge.

Heading back down the hill we took a different path , away from the riverside crowds, and were soon in our "air conditioned" mini  van heading back to our hotel. Back home at a bit after 4pm, we had a rest till 6pm, a drink in the hotel bar and heade off to the best restaurant in town (we are told) , L'Elephant. What a disappointment, the food was average and they tried (unsuccessfully) to rip us off on the wine. We should have stuck to the local restaurants.

On the positive side, our Tuk Tuk man was outside the restaurant to take us home at the agreed time, and he managed to pick uo a couple of stray Americans along the way for an extra fare, which we agreed to.