Cooking the Lao way and the "temples" of Luang Prabang

This morning I sat on our patio, which over looked the Mekong River, while Kim and Riley slept in. Laos was simply beautiful and I could not sit long before feeling the need to grab my camera and go take a few shots before breakfast.


The pathway from our room to the river.


Things were very quiet and surreal, it’s one of those places you could just sit outside and actually feel your surroundings and know you belonged there.




Fishermen heading out for their daily catch.




This time of the year it’s largely overcast, so while I did not get that “postcard” shot, all of our outdoor activities throughout Laos would be near perfect. Each morning the monks receive alms, meaning they get free rice from the local people. They only have two meals a day, breakfast and lunch. After collecting today’s rations they headed back to their monastery.






On the way back I stopped to check out the reflecting pool now that it was light out. Much to Riley’s dismay this is not a swimming pool. If fact the entire city of Luang Prabang has been declared as a UNESCO site, so there cannot be anything that would not be traditional Laos, including swimming pools.


With Kim and Riley now up we all went to breakfast. And this breakfast would not disappoint, no mini-hotdogs, no orange colored juice, it would be the real deal and it would be amazing. Kim and I had fresh mango juice while Riley played it safe with water. I then discovered the best bacon I would ever have in my life. It was so flavorful that I think it was alive last night, smoked overnight, and then cooked up this morning. The pork flavors came through so clean that it was like I never had real bacon before, and this became one of two items that got me out of bed each morning craving for breakfast. The second was the Luang Prabang sausage that they also made fresh daily. It had some combination of spices that I cannot even begin to describe, but if you find yourself in Laos you need to experience the Luang Prabang sausage. One last item that is worth trying once, but that I did not go back for seconds was the Mekong Weed. This is exactly what you think it is, weed from the bottom of the river, and it tastes like weed from the bottom of the river. After an amazing breakfast we were all excited to go to the Tamarind restaurant for a cooking class on traditional Lao cuisine. They would first take us to the local market to give us some background and purchase our ingredients. We had a brief downpour but that did not stop things.








We then headed inside the market to taste various snacks and many of us made additional purchases. One lady bought some Mekong Weed and began chomping on it believing it to be a snack. A local person came up to her and communicated that it needs to be fully cooked before eating. Hope she did not regret her enthusiasm later on that night.






This is the local fishmonger.


This lady was using a candle to see if any of her eggs had a little baby chicken inside. Although I don't know what you win if you get the egg with the little baby chicken inside.


Some meat and some blood, you actually get a deal if you purchase one of each.


I guess the blood can be used as some kind of glaze or marinade.


Pig feet.




Pig heads, well faces at least.


More very fresh meat.




Of course we needed a little rice, both white and purple.


Riley thought he needed a new pair of shoes and negotiated a fair price, but both Kim and I thought they were ulgy and would begin to fall apart after only a few wears, so we would only be leaving with food items today.


Riley then found the local barber and wanted us to get matching haircuts. We would not have time now but I told him I would be up for it once we got to Thailand. That was until I found out the hair he wanted cut was on our eyebrows.


We walked across the parking lot back to our ride that would take us back to the restaurant so we could begin cooking.


We were trying to get the monks in the background in the picture.


We headed to the beautiful open air cooking classroom.






The mortar and pestle would prove to be the most used utensil today as we first prepared Mok Pa (fish steamed in banana leaves) using a traditional Lao oven.




Next would be Oua Si Khai (stuffed lemongrass). It was at this point Riley found out how important it was to take his malaria pills with food as they were making him dizzy and he needed a break, or maybe he was just disappointed we were not making chicken nuggets and French fries. I also found out that stuffing lemongrass takes more patience then I have.


Our last dish would be Ping Sihn (barbecue water buffalo). This would prove incredibly gamy and they introduced us to an ingredient that is commonly used here but largely shunned in the U.S., MSG. I figured when in Lao… and sprinkled a little MSG over the top of the water buffalo hoping to kill some of the gamy taste. We then moved to the dining room to taste our creations.


My attempt at stuffed lemongrass and barbecued water buffalo, surprisingly they both tasted ok and could be eaten, but nothing to write home about.


Next was the streamed fish, and this made up for mediocre buffalo and lemongrass. The fish was awesome and I wish I had more.


For dessert we made Khao Gam (purple sticky rice with coconut sauce) which was also quite tasty. While I enjoyed the class we all agreed that it was too long and moved too fast. That afternoon we had a city tour to check out the various temples and learn about their background. While the cooking class was too fast, our city tour would prove to be too slow, very, very slow in fact. Our first stop was Wat Mai. Here we would discover that while our guide was nice and spoke very good English, he could not tell a story to save his life. He spent over 30 minutes telling some story that went no place, every once in a while I would pick it up and follow along for a while but then lost interest again. I think Kim got a nap in. There was not even a mention of a balloon festival in his home town. Plus there was not a Beer Lao to be found.


If you have been to a temple just about anyplace else in Southeast Asia then you are probably going to be disappointed in the temples of Luang Prabang. They have been heavily restored using modern methods, moved, and lost most of their character. They are a shadow of past days.


Apparently the jade Buddha was originally here, now replaced by a replica. He currently resides at the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand. If you are interested see my other blog for a picture of the real deal along with the three different outfits he wears depending on how cold it is.


Mount Phousi off in the distance, however today was not looking promising to watch the sunset.


Out next temple was Wat Visounalat, also known as the watermelon stupa. Good news was that there was no story telling here and we could go directly inside.


The dinner bell.


They say that every stupa has some part of Buddha inside of it, hair, fingernail, sweat, etc. This is true all over Southeast Asia and I have to say if that is the case then this Buddha fella must have been simply huge, because they would need a lot of body parts in order to fill all these stupas.


Our final temple was Wat Xieng Thong. They were all different but also all the same.








The boat used to display the Buddha statue during festivals.


This temple also had a few active monks, but they were secretive and hard to capture on camera. The best I could do was catch this one that was not even fully dressed.


We then headed back to the hotel for a well-earned and much needed Beer Lao and some KitKat(s).


We were still full from eating at the cooking class and walked down the street to get an appetizer or two for dinner at a restaurant overlooking the Mekong River.






Passing a local badminton game.


They had chicken on the menu.


This was the one day, and the only day of the entire trip I would change for next time. We had a good time and I’m glad we did everything that we did, however I would look for a shorter cooking class and would walk around the temples on our own time, making it shorter and quicker. However, the beauty of Laos steals your breath and you stop second guessing yourself, no longer worring about what you may or may not have planned. We were all just happy to be here.






When we got back to the hotel to find our beds turned down, fresh slippers, and 10 to 20 new flowers spread throughout our room, which we would have to clean up on a nightly basis. Riley finished off the KitKat(s) while I did the same with the Beer Lao(s), Kim had to purchase a white wine. The day ended much like it started, sitting on our patio relaxing and admiring the beauty of Laos, while feeding the local mosquito population. Now was as good of a time as any to test our malaria drugs.


VIDEO: Laos Day 1