Visiting the Laos Unexploded Ordnances Center in Luang Prabang is a sobering experience. Per capita, Laos is still the most heavily bombed nation in the world. Even now, one person almost every day is injured or killed by unexploded ordnances in Laos – sometimes by a bomb that has been there for fifty years.
During the Vietnam War, both sides agreed that Laos would be off limits. That changed when the Viet Cong and Northern Vietnamese decided to run their supply trail, the Ho Chi Minh trail, through Laos to get supplies and men from Hanoi to the south. The trail was bombed in order to keep these supplies from reaching their destination. Laos got caught in the crossfire when the North decided to involve the country regardless of any promises it made otherwise.
At the center, they had an actual collection of bombs and bombies (submunitions from cluster bombs). Of the more than 270 million bombies dropped in Laos from 1964 to 1973, 30% failed to detonate. There were examples of the educational tools they use to teach children and adults regarding protocol and awareness. There was also a walk through of what it takes to either detonate or disarm and remove the munitions.
There were also several sad stories of personal loss. As you can imagine, each story is devastating – and those were only the few that were told in this small space. A farmer reached his hand down in his own rice paddy, where he had been farming for years, and knocked a bombie around that he didn’t know was there. The ensuing explosion blew off his arm. His wife discussed the hardship now placed on her and their children in order to replace the amount of labor and income he provided for the family – some of their children had to leave school to work the fields. He teared up as he talked about the emotional toll it takes on a man when he can’t provide for his family, and how he can’t even do household chores properly.
One story that really stuck with me was that of a young boy, visiting a village from the city. This urban child had not grown up with UXO awareness and training. He was out playing with some of the village boys, when he ran across a shiny ball kind of thing. He picked it up to show his new pals, who recognized the UXO immediately and started screaming “get rid of it, don’t touch it, drop it!” as they all took off running. Confused, he threw the bombie on the ground and was killed in the resulting explosion.
Later that night, I asked my pal Chai if he had ever seen a bomb. He told me that there are still three bombs in the village where he grew up. “Why don’t the detonator guys care of them – isn’t that their job?” I asked. “It’s too rural,” he replied, “it’s a five hour hike through the mountains to get there.”
“What do you do about it, how do you live?” I asked. “Nobody goes near them – that’s all we can do,” he said.
Then he grimly asked, “you know who most of those bombs are from, right?”
“Yeah, I know.” We looked at each other, and then changed the subject.
Four weeks later, my heart is still breaking over these stories and that conversation. What must it be to live in fear for your self, your family and friends every day? And for the cause of this fear to be something not only beyond your control but for many of those affected, it is something from a generation or two before you. A leftover from a different time.
Khàwp jai lãi lãi means thank you very much in Laos (sounds to me like hop jie la lie – but then again, I got some laughs so that might not be right!).
Tamarind is a delicious brown lumpy thing that tastes waayyy better then it looks. Also, the name of my new favorite restaurant in Laos. (Sorry, JOMA!)
Our guest house was only a block down the road from the restaurant so on our first night in town we strolled in to have dinner, and were turned away because they were full. (Must be good!) We made a reservation, and noticed a posting saying the next vacancies for the cooking class was the night class two nights away. So we signed up for the cooking class right then, too. We ate the next night, and then the class was the night after.
We began our quality time with Tamarind at dinner with a set Laos specialty menu. Lao people love them some sticky rice. They eat it with everything. The most common utensil they use is their hands, which was a nice break for my on-again, off-again chopstick skills.
The set menu started off with several kinds of jeow, which are dipping sauces for the sticky rice. There were also some sausages, water buffalo jerky and other relishes, along with these river seaweed-stuff chips that I was really digging.
not pictured: a basket of sticky rice
Next was vegetable and bamboo soup. It was alright. I didn’t really like texture of water-logged bamboo.
We had herbal fish steamed in a banana leaf.
it’s like a present!
Stir fried young pumpkin with kaffir lime and ginger and lemongrass stuffed with chicken. It looked crazy complicated. It came with this great peanut sauce that I couldn’t get enough of!
pumpkin, chicken and a goodie bag of fish!
Purple sticky rice in coconut milk with tamarind sauce and some Lao “cat poop” (terrible nickname) candy – palm sugar and rice flour I think – for dessert!
yes…just yes.
The next afternoon, we showed up at the restaurant for class. We had a glass of super-bomb lemongrass/lime aid (a lime lemongrass twist!), then hopped into a songthaew to be transported to the cooking school. It was about ten minutes’ ride to the school grounds, where the employees also live. It was besides a bubbling stream, next to a pond filled with water lilies. There were cooking stations set up under an awning in the fresh air, with a nice breeze and the sounds of the stream filling the air. There was also a garden where they grow their own fresh herbs, and stations set up with traditional flower-pot grills (hey, I just call em like I see em).
what are these called?
It turned out that we learned to cook the exact menu from the previous night, including the standard sticky rice and my favorite, the sweet purple sticky rice. I could eat that every day, so no complaints here!
learnin’
We also got to chose which jeow we made – I went with an eggplant based one and Ma went with the tomato one. There are different eggplants here than in America, and I like these much better. We grilled the vegetables before mortar-and-pestling them, so it was nice and smokey. We also gift wrapped those fish in banana leaves and steamed ’em.
wrappin’steamin’
The lemongrass stuffed with chicken was much easier than it looked. Mom’s gluten intolerance was the only food allergy, although one lady couldn’t (or wouldn’t) eat pork, and one simply refused to eat any chicken (two of my favorite things!). They simply switched ingredients around for the ladies, and even let me stuff my lemongrass with pork since we had chicken the night before.
fry captain
After all the cooking, we feasted! Besides Mom and me, there was an Australian lady planning on making the lemongrass chicken for her family’s Christmas dinner, a girl traveling solo from Singapore and a couple of older Dutch women who rolled their own cigarettes and smoked with reckless abandon (as you do). The water lillies opened up while we were eating, which I had never seen actually happen before. Magical.
yum!
I’ve really enjoyed both the cooking classes we’ve taken, but they were both two different experiences. It was nice to have other people to chat with this time, and our instructor, Chai, and I are big pals now. At dinner, we all talked about our travels and future plans, and in fact ended up on the same airplane later to Hanoi with the Australian lady and her husband.
i made these! (that’s a sticky rice basket on the right – keeps it from drying out)
We totally went back to Tamarind for lunch the next day to try something different – don’t judge! We had pork wrapped in lemongrass skewers, my favorite jeow – jeow bong, which is a sweet and spicy chili paste. Mom had a pumpkin & coconut milk soup, served with a giant rice cracker. We also got some little candies for dessert, and some cold dessert soup – coconut milk with jellies and tapioca in it.
great last lunch in laos!dessert
Before Laos, I had decided that I didn’t particularly care for the taste of lemongrass, but after the past few days I have come to like it. Maybe it’s the combinations I’ve tried here that I hadn’t had previously. I was also really into that lime lemongrass twist!
Ock Pop Top means east meets west, which is actually a good title for this entire trip I think. It is also the name of a social enterprise that seeks to empower women through their traditional skills, as well as promote Laos textile design.
intricate loom work
We made our way to one of their store fronts in Luang Prabang, and after a bit of nosing around we took advantage of the free tuk tuk ride offered to those who wish to visit the Living Crafts Centre.
Besides the two storefronts in town, there is a restaurant, weaving and dyeing classes, a few villas available for rental all out in a shaded area on the bank of Mekong River. There are artisans and weavers working away on sight, a free guided tour and a gift shop.
silk cocoons
We took a look at the silk worms and their cocoons, the dyeing process and the artisanal weavers doing their thing. The weavers come from villages to learn new weaving techniques and practice. The male role in all this is to help build looms, but an interesting thing is that they also weave bamboo and women don’t. In fact, the tour guide told me if a man can’t weave bamboo, he’s not even worth a second glance!
looks….complicated
There was also a family taking a class on dyeing, which was kind of a funny activity for two boys (the teenage girl and mom looked right at home, though!).
natural dyed colors
It was so interesting to see ladies using the loom – I still don’t get how that works! Especially ikat, where they dye the pattern on the silk before they weave it. That doesn’t even make sense to me.
ikat silk drying after dyeing
It was a nice quiet break from tourists and traffic for a while. It’s definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area you aren’t familiar with the silk weaving process.
ikat thread on a spool – looks a mess!
Since then, we have been to a couple of silk farms and other similar places, but this one was my favorite – maybe because it was really my first time seeing everything in action.
After breakfast this morning, we hopped on bicycles and went for a cruise in Luang Prabang. We ended up at the library, where kids and teens can show up to practice English with tourist volunteers every afternoon. We were just kind of checking it out before lunch where a young guy struck up a conversation with us on the front steps to practice his English. Then the volunteer coordinator walked by and asked if we’d like to go have lunch.
being meta (we’re explaining what a candid photograph is)
We all hopped into the back of a songthaew and were driven to a random noodle shop. We got out an sat down with a guy already eating, a young artist turned librarian, and a young Malaysian woman who had been volunteering at the library the past few days. Without ordering, we were served bowls of noodle soup – many small shops only have one menu option. We ate and chatted, then paid and got back in the songthaew for a return trip to the library (and our bikes!).
random lunch date
We got back and decided to hang out and help out for a while. Our friend from before was practicing French (!), so we were sat in front of this 18 year old boy. We thought it’d be the same easy kind of chatting as before, but it was a little different – the kid had only been learning English for the past three months. We tried to chat, but mostly he asked us to write down words and he looked them up. Still, he was fun and tried hard. Then I was asked to chat with a fourteen year old boy who had just shown up. His dad was a soldier, and he wants to be a policeman. He asked me about words like barracks, military and, randomly, dowry. Methinks he has his eye on someone!
We were about to leave when two more teenage boys sat down. We chatted with the them for a few minutes more, and they were so funny – just being boys. We showed them a video of me eating a scorpion, and they were suitably impressed slash grossed out. There were several other little groups like ours, many with young monks. There was also a group of 4-6 year olds having a quick lesson. Besides the little kids, there weren’t too many girls practicing their English. This place also sponsored a book boat, sort of like a floating library. It’s hard to get rural children and schools books, so donations go to buying books.
We had some time to kill the next day, so we went back. This time, I talked to a soft spoken boy who was staying in school for the summer to study and practice English, even though all his friends had gone home for the break. Mom chatted with a group of girls and a young monk, who was incredibly smart. I was glad to see some young women there! Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a couple of monks facebooking – which made me chuckle.
he couldn’t lean into the girls’ pic (no touching!), so he got his own picture
As we were leaving, the volunteer coordinator asked me if I know the word polyglot. Being the arrogant English-degree-holder I am, I assured him that was not an English word. He didn’t buy it, but he moved on to the word molting, which I pronounced for him but then told him I was pretty sure it was exclusively used for feathers. Then Mom showed up and told us yes, polyglot was a word, but she wasn’t sure what it meant. We googled it, and told the guy we would use multi-lingual to describe somebody instead. Then he asked Mom to say and spell both words several times while he recorded her. Later, we found out that Australians use the word molting quite a bit, and a Dutch woman assured us that polyglot is taught to those for whom English is a second language. I guess there aren’t too many polyglots in America.
It was fun, interesting to chat with these boys, and great to meet some people who were so passionate about teaching and reading. Many of the kids are from rural towns who have come to Luang Prabang for school. The volunteer coordinator told us that most are hoping for jobs with American companies in Laos or the tourism industry.
It rained all night, hard and heavy. We went to bed early, and then got up early to by boat tickets. It was still raining, but we figured they must travel in the rain all the time so no sweat!
We were a couple hours early, so we stowed our bags on the boat and walked around, buying a snack here and there, trying to use up our Thai Baht and outfit ourselves for an eight hour trip. We got some fruit from a lady a little ways from the pier, but never got around to washing it. We got a snickers, some crackers and waters. We still had some time – and baht – to kill, so we stopped at this little restaurant where mom had coffee and I had a delicious banana pancake. So, so good.
We finally boarded the boat, and took off. It set up like a bus, and it was full up but not crowded.
in back, before everybody boardedin front, after everybody boarded
So we cruised down the Mekong for six or seven hours in a slow boat. It was rainy in the morning, but there were tarps to pull down on the side if the rain started blowing in. But it cleared off and got nice – not too hot, beautiful green mountains rising up from the water. The river is a bit muddy, (okay it’s actually chocolate milk muddy) but the clouds rolled by and there was a breeze the whole time.
some clucky passengers
We stopped for the evening in Pakbeng, and it was mayhem! There were hawkers trying to herd everybody to their hotels and restaurants. We got in the back of a pickup with some little old Chinese ladies and Lao teenage boys, but when we got to the hotel we had chosen, it was crappy. “Oh, we have one with air con,” they tried to keep us there and lead us to another room (I smell commission somewhere!). It looked alright, but did the air conditioning work? Well they had to go get the remote. While they were gone, Mom sat on the mattress. Something wasn’t right so she peeled back the sheet – it was a couple mismatched mattresses and pillows stuffed together under a king sized fitted sheet. It was a mess. They were yelling we have a nicer room! as we walked out. We went across the street, and a little old lady showed us around and we signed on the spot. It was way nicer, quiet and clean. We were glad to have made the switch.
always choose the old lady hotels (disregard the smell of tuberose soap.)
We walked around this tiny town (even smaller than the previous night) and finally settle at a Laos/Hallal/Indian food restaurant. A small boy sat us, and a small girl brought us menus – no adults in sight. “Is this a Lord of the Flies type situation?” I wondered just before an adult showed up to take our order. The kids were so cute, though! They brought us our food and drinks, and the little girl even hung out while I tried to pull up the Lao word for “dessert” on the Internet – which was really slow, so she finally had to go wait on somebody else. I never did get any dessert.
supper on the mekongview of the mekongcan’t she tell i’m desperate?
The next morning we got up and dropped our bags on a different boat than yesterday, and then went for breakfast & supplies.
(How did we know which boat to get on? Why, some Australians just standing around told us. We later saw them get on a different boat.)
in front on the new boat (back is same bus seats)
We went back to the restaurant from the night before so Mom could get a pineapple shake, and the owner chatted with us while it was being made. All these children working for him are either orphans or from very poor, very large families so he helps them out by giving them a job. He is from India – we forgot to ask him what brought him to Laos.
We bought some more snacks, and got ready to hit the road (river?). First we had to wait for extra seats to be lowered in through with the roof to placate some people who would have had to sit on the floor otherwise.
our captain
At about noon, we stopped and two guys with strings of fish hopped on from another boat. It was random and amusing.
lunch?
It was sunnier today, and hotter. Some people seemed a little … testy, but mostly ever one is still upbeat (or at least acting like it!).
cruisin
We got to the “pier,” and more madness ensued! The pier was actually two 2x4s precariously perched on the boat and a rut in the mud. We had to get off the boat and then stand on a the side of a hill, waiting for our bags. Then we had to haul them up a steep concrete stair way to the top of the mountain.
precariously perched madness!
We paid a fare, hopped on a songthaew with a group of French hipster bros and got dropped off in the center of Luang Prabang. We asked around for free wifi, and were directed to Joma Bakery Cafe, which quickly charmed us with their air-conditioning, free water and great drinks. The pastries didn’t look to bad, either. We settled in at our lodgings, and then bopped around the night market on the way to our riverside hotel.
at joma – we found ourselves back here a few more times during the rest of our stay in Luang Prabang!
The last thing we did in Chiang Rai was visit the White Temple. We asked guest house lady to call us a taxi, but she asked one of her employees to do it instead! Which was fine with us.
The White Temple was … interesting. It is not that old, in fact it is still being built, and has some interesting details. Michael Jackson, Keanu Reeves, Spider-Man, Batman and the Predator all appear next to Buddha on the murals inside the temple. The bathroom is a golden palace. There is a moat of disembodied hands reaching up that you have to cross over going up to the temple.
nope, not creepy at all
Next we hopped a bus to Chiang Khan, which was a little more rustic than the last bus we were on. It dropped us off in an alley and roared off. We asked twice before we finally hailed a bicycle tuk-tuk to take us to Thai immigration office, where we got exit stamps on our passports.
just like a local!
Then we boarded a ferry, crossed the river in about five minutes, and arrived in Houayxay, Laos. After immigration, we walked up a hill, hung a right and found a place to stay. We walked around the town (which appeared to be one street), and ate supper next to our hotel. It started raining pretty hard, and it sounded kind of scary in our room in the middle of the night. It turns out that we were just surrounded by some tin roofs, making the rain extra noisome. Besides, I bet they are pretty experienced at boating in the rain around here!
Going to visit a hill tribe was something we discussed quite a lot before we made our decision. The popular places are these “tribal villages” where members of six different tribes all live together – a one stop shop for the tourists, if you will. Reviewers said that they were driven or walked through the middle of town, and just stared at the tribe members. The uncomfortable term “human zoo” was tossed around quite a bit. That sounded miserable, for both us as tourists and the tribal members themselves.
Instead we began at the hill tribe museum, run by a non-profit that wants to change the way tourism affects hill tribes.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the harm and disservice that can sometimes come from tourism, and this museum only confirmed some of my negative feelings. In addition to the practice of grouping all the tribes together for convenience, I was dismayed to hear that the Karen tribe, or the long-necks, actually stopped the practice of placing the rings around their daughters’ necks – that is, until tourism sloped off. They realized they had to keep this ancient form of mutilation going if they wanted to keep attracting tourists. The long-neck Karens aren’t even from Thailand – they’re basically a tourist import.
The museum also explained the history of the opium trade, hade replicas of traditional garb and tools, and went in to detail about some the various tribes’ traditions. We watched a short video about each of the tribes, and decided to book a tour through the museum for that afternoon. “We don’t support human zoos” is one of their slogans, I was glad to see.
It began to rain pretty hard while we were waiting to be picked up by a driver and a guide after a hearty lunch of potato chips and bananas. We drove to one tribal village that was a little more modernized – and really, why wouldn’t you modernize if you got the chance? We got on an elephant to take a tour of that village, a little 20 minute ride that felt much bouncier than the last one. I guess we got one with worn out shocks! :) Luckily, it cleared off for that part.
view from an elephant
We drove to another village, where it started to rain again. This place was a little more traditional style. There were little kids playing, chickens, dogs and hogs roaming the streets, and old ladies gossiping (according to our guide).
stilted houses in case of flooding
Then we drove to a waterfall, but it was raining so we didn’t really want to hike up very far. We actually told the guys we could skip the whole thing, but they insisted we at least stop for a photo.
At almost every stop, the driver Mr. Come (which is like calling him ‘Mr. Go’ in Thai, we were told) had a pineapple juice box waiting for us. We liked Mr. Come.
I can’t even remember the guide’s name, he told us so many things! He talked. And talked. And talked. He gave us philosophy lectures, capitalist musings and soliloquies on life and love, among many other subjects. At one point, we were reading an informational sign and he was standing behind us, just talking away at our backs. Mom and I looked at each other and just started laughing – I had no idea what he was saying, and my mom confirmed that she was in the same boat: “He just sounds like the teacher from Charlie Brown right now.”
The third village we visited was an Akha tribal village. To get there, we had to drive up a steep, rutted out dirt road. While we were up there, it began to rain really hard – so hard, that we had to wait it out. This village was equipped with a ‘home stay’ set-up, where tourists can spend the night with a family, have dinner cooked (or help!) for them, and theoretically see first hand how villagers live. The home stay building itself was on stilts, and we sat at a long picnic table underneath the house with another touring family that were waiting out the rain and their tour guide. We were served strong hot tea, freshly sliced baby pineapples and rambutan (all yum!). Over the rain, I could hear an old masculine voice belting out the Beatles from somewhere. There was a small room that I believe was the kitchen underneath with us, but the stove was outside next to our table. There was a hammock or two strung up on the house stilts. Although we did not go upstairs, the part where we were did not feel like somebody’s home – more like a place for backpackers to spend the night. Still, it was a nice place to hang out for an hour.
There was a small covered platform where an elderly Akha woman spread her blanket and had her goods displayed for sale. While we were snacking, there was a group of girls sitting in there, I guessed shopping – due to the weather, it was kind dark in there. After about ten or fifteen minutes, we were invited up on to the platform to do a little shopping ourselves. It turns out two of the girls sitting there were a translator and a guide, but the other group of girls were a group of French twenty something year olds and weren’t shopping – just sitting and staring. It was a small platform, and they just would not get out of the way, yall! It got to the point where even the elderly woman was trying to shoo them out of the way! Mom finally stepped over one, but to see goods closer she bent down and stuck her butt in one of the chick’s face – still not a move! It was downright ridiculous. They just stared at us the whole time, never said a word. It was so crazy, Mom took a picture:
You can’t see the three other chicks on my right!
Mom, the elderly lady (who could read the room, a skill those French girl have yet to master) and I were still giggling about it all when we finally made some purchases. We bought some small embroidered bags and each got a bracelet, which the woman tied on us and bowed over our wrists, I’m pretty sure in thanks (or saying: take these other chicks with you!). It was a cool moment of wordless human connection, driven by a moment of wordless communication breakdown.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she switched from french to freedom fries, too.
The weather cleared off and we took our leave of the Akha village. The way back to town, we had Mr. Come drop us at the weekend night market, which to our pleasant surprise was more like a street fair. There were various vendors everywhere, spread out over a couple of blocks that were closed down to traffic. We got some skewered mystery meats, some coconut candy thing wrapped in banana leaves, and a lollipop of buttered and browned sticky rice.
There was a whole row of massage tents set up, and we had a long day so we chose to get one hour rubs from the Massage School for the Blind. Mom had a pretty good massage, but I got a lady who was also head-hawker and money taker, so when she wasn’t being interrupted taking payments from everybody, she was hollering at people on the streets to come get a massage. And she wasn’t even blind. She pretty much only did one half of my body, like she was distracted because she was chatting constantly. The last fifteen minutes were good though, because she had some other random guy come take over. He kneaded the crud out of my shoulders and back. It was worth the $5 just for that last bit.
As soon as we left, it started to POUR. The massage places just pulled down some plastic and kept rubbing, and we were waiting under a tree right next to where we had just been, so my crazy lady masseuse invited us back under the tarp and had us sit down to wait it out. Then she randomly gave one of my arms a good massaging while she chattered away to us in Thai. It was…odd. But it felt good!
mailmen and masseuses live by the same motto: neither rain, nor snow, something, something….
We decided to see the special clock tower, as it was light up at night. So we trekked through the rain to look at… a clock tower. That was lit up. which is NOT a light show. Not really worth the wet walk, in my opinion!
what a light show….SIKE.
We slogged back to our hotel, the water reaching our shins in some places. What a day full of crazy.
We found ourselves this morning at Angel’s Secrets again. This time, fresh orange juice and a beyond delicious chocolate croissant for me and a smoothie and oatmeal for Mom. Still my new favorite place! We planned to bop around town a little, but we saw a severe weather alert for northern Thailand and decided to move on. No time to weather a flood on this vacation!
As we were walking back to our hotel, we stopped to check out a temple. There were these ladies selling birds right outside, so you could release them inside for Buddhist points. I wonder if and where those old ladies caught all those birds?
the birds are in the wooden baskets
We caught a ride to the bus station with the tuk-tuk driver that hung out at the 7-11 near our hotel every morning. Every morning he tried to rip us off, and every morning we laughed.
we finally take him up on his offer
We bought some snacks and hopped on the green bus to Chiang Rai, a swanky ride with plenty of leg room, reclining seats, and a stewardess with free cookies and water. It was classy!
bus snacks! hot chili squid and american cheesy paprika potato chips (not clear why they are american?)
We got to Chiang Rai, used the free wifi in the bus station, and found a guesthouse. We got a tuk-tuk to take us there – turns out it was two blocks away! Oh well, it lessened our chance of getting lost while carrying our packs. :)
We checked in and walked to the night market for dinner. They were selling the same ol’ stuff, but they had a ton of food stalls. They have two different stages, one in front of the food stalls and one in front of a restaurant. We chose the restaurant, and had a delightful dinner while a trio played acoustic instruments on stage.
One thing I don’t understand about Thai street food is that they fry stuff at the beginning of the night, and then set it out for you to buy and eat cold. My mom thinks they might drop it back in the fryer real quick or something when you purchase it, but I don’t know. One thing I just can’t roll with is cold French fries, which were everywhere!
This morning we had breakfast at my new favorite little restaurant. It was called Angel’s Secrets, and I had some fab French toast and tea. Mom had some coffee with a jasmine tea chaser (which apparently is customary in this part of the world) and a delicious fruit parfait. Yum! It was a cute little place, and I recommend it to anybody traveling through Chiang Mai. (They have free WiFi, too.)
you’ll see this pose a lot this post!
After breakfast, we walked to a massage place that we saw advertised on a bulletin board at the restaurant. We opted for one hour coconut oil massages this time – a little more relaxing than traditional Thai massages!
Feeling good, we walked back to our hotel to be picked up by the cooking school we booked a class with. Turns out, we had Tak and Cooking at Home to ourselves! We drove first to a market out of the center/tourist area of town. In a rice shop, she explained to us about how the rice is harvested and how to best use the variations for for cooking.
We also went to a coconut shop, where we watched a guy make coconut cream.
i think i’ll stick to buying it at the store!
She pointed out various other fruits and vegs to us, then gathered some ingredients for our class and headed to the school, which was in the backyard of the house where she lived with her sisters family.
the set up
We hung out on the back patio while everything was set up.
my mom seems to have adapted very well to thai cooking!the view
Tak would demonstrate a dish while we watched, and then we would replicate it at our own station. The exception was dessert – we made sticky rice and coconut topping together as a group, since you only need a little and there were three of us.
the action
The menu:
Pad Thai with prawns
Green chicken curry
Tom Yum soup with prawns
Sticky rice with mango (my fav!)
so, so good
After we cooked each course, we would eat!
I handled myself quite well, thank you (only had problems with a tomato rose garnish). One of my favorite things we’ve done so far, but sooo much food! Tak brought us back to our hotel, overly full and satisfied.
After our tiger experience, we put some research into finding a suitable elephant experience. We discovered the Thai Elephant Conservation Center outside of town. Many reviewers who went there had it arranged by a tour guide service, but not us!
We hopped on a, um, vibrant bus and told the ticket seller, the driver, and about three other levels of translators where we wanted to get off. As the movie Jack the Giant Killer blared in Thai, we embarked on one of the craziest rides I’ve ever been on. The driver didn’t slow down for high grade hills, up or down, especially on some almost-hairpin turns. We felt every sway of the bus, as it was a double decker – seats on top, luggage on bottom. Then suddenly, we just stopped on the side of the highway and the attendant motioned to us – and only us – to get out.
this is how I imagine Charo’s tour bus
There was nobody around as we headed up a dirt road, and very few people when we got to the parking/ticket/vendor area of the center. We paid and got on the shuttle with a couple of other people, and were dropped off at the elephant rides.
I was so excited! See, when I was younger I was a huge chicken about stuff and chose to watch from a safe distance as my little brother and mom rode an elephant at the fair one year. Finally, a chance to redeem myself.
We hopped on an elephant and he immediately went in for a dip in a pond. it was actually kind of deep and slightly alarming, as we were rocking around on an off-balance chair and the water came right up to the elephant’s eyeballs. Then we walked across the pool and up, up into the jungle! There was family on an elephant in front of us, but the jungle was so dense that we couldn’t even tell they were there most of the time. Other than that, almost nobody else around.
hope she can swim!
Our elephant, Pa Chi Da, was 20 years old and very particular – she would rather step off the trail and walk on a slope than step anywhere near another elephant’s poop. Our mahout (elephant handler) was very nice and seemed to really care about Pa Chi Da. He would keep the flies off of her and scratch itches a tree trunk rub wouldn’t satisfy. We lumbered past the nursery, where a month old elephant was hanging out with it’s mother. It was so rad.
Then we hopped on the shuttle for a bit, rode around the grounds in a loop and then stopped for the elephant bathing and show. Before the show, all the elephants take a moment to cool down and are washed by their mahouts in the pond where we started our ride. It was fun to watch them playing in the water and you could also buy sugar cane to feed them. The show is a chance for elephants to display their logging skills (their primary purpose) and other tricks. We saw elephants curtsy, throw balls in baskets and even watched three paint pictures. These elephants paint better than I ever could!
artistesfinished product
Next we tried to see the royal white elephants, because the royal elephant stables were in the center somewhere. Unfortunately we were told that those were not open to the public. Then we wandered down to the nursery to see the baby elephant up close – and it was even cuter! Just like Dumbo, but with this wiry hair standing on end all over. Then we walked to the hospital, where one elephant with a lame foot was chilling. Unfortunately elephants stepping on un-detonated mines is a big problem in this area.
too cute!
To get back to Chiang Mai, we had to cross a large highway and then flag a bus down. It took almost forty minutes until a bus stopped, and when we got on it was standing room only. We stopped a couple times and eventually procured Mom a seat after somebody got off, but I stood for the entire hour it took us to get back.
bus stop across the highway
From the bus station, we had a tuk-tuk driver take us to the night bazaar. It started raining, and we had a long day, so after searching for a well-reviewed restaurant for about an hour we gave up and chose a random (but covered!) sea food place. It was pretty good! We both really like the pineapple fried rice. Mom had fish and I had lanna sausage – a little too hot for me! We bopped around the night bazaar some, but it had been raining all day and people were still setting everything up when we decided to call it a night.
yum!a great day was had by all
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I like to think that some Buddhist thought this was their great auntie reincarnated & decided to doll her up a bit.
Meredith R. Allen 