Luang Prabang cuisine

Some famous dishes from the Isan region of North East Thailand originated in Laos. The staple dishes of larb, grilled chicken, papaya salad and sticky rice are found all over the country. Luang Prabang is a fantastic place to experience Laos cuisine.

A massive variety of larb (spicy, minced meat salad) can be found all over town. The most common meats include pork, duck and chicken, and their respective livers are also generally included. There is a constant aroma of barbequed meats in every street. The highlights are the half butterflied chickens, any part of the buffalo, and a dazzling array of semi dried sausages, which can be seen drying in the street over the footpaths.

An original Luang Prabang dish is Aw Lam. It is best described as a hearty broth, full of meat, a variety of mushrooms, eggplant and a large amount of herbs. Everything is eaten with sticky rice, rolling little balls in the palm of your hand and then dipping into your meal.

Some great beer snacks include dried and fried buffalo, some quite sticky sweet and others like jerky, and dried river weed that is fried with sesame seeds and served with a great chilli nam prik.

Tham Phu Kham, Laos

Hiring a mountain bike for a day or two is extremely rewarding. You ride through small villages, rice fields, over or through streams on your way to gigantic caves and amazing swimming lagoons. The colour of water at the lagoon which is at the base of Phu Kham cave is mind blowing. The minerally blue mountain water is cool and crisp, very relaxing after an hour or two in the saddle.

If all this exercise is just too much, you can flop in a floating bamboo hut on the Nam Xong river all day long. For a few bucks you can have a fresh chicken baguette or fried noodles washed down with an icy Beer Lao. Not much else to do besides gawk at the mountains and take a dip in the clear water.

The dining scene in Vang Vieng is rather dissapointing, however, the highlight is the Suanmone Phoudindeang Organic Farm, which is a 3km ride north of town. They also have a cafe in the town itself, but the original on the farm alongside the river is the better choice. The food here is fab and a real surprise find was the seasonal, pan fried goats cheese served with baguette and salad (aus$2 ), from the farm's own goats.

For a hard earned thirst, Beer Lao

The imaginately named "Beer Lao" is a super drop. At around aus$1 for a tallie, it's not surprising to see it being drunk at anytime of the day. The malt is from France, the hops and yeast from Germany and the rice from Laos. To pass a day in Laos without at least one beer is frowned upon, quite rude actually. Everybody drinks it, I have even seen kids in school uniform knocking back a few by the Mekong after a hard day in the classroom. Probably just as well Alanna didn't go to school here! With most of the towns in Laos perched on riverbanks, sunset is a special time of day, with makeshift bars selling a plethora of beer to celebrate another stress free day. Some of the beer snacks include dried or cured, then fried strips of buffalo. Doesn't get much better. Aaahhh!

Lams Astray

Unfortunately, you can only travel on the Aussie dollar for so long. After 5 months of indulgence, it's time to cash up, for 2 Lams anyway!

The beauty of travel is that you never really know where you can end up. One day, your sipping beer by the Mekong, the next, your working in a kitchen in a remote part of the south island of New Zealand! This is where Alanna has found herself. She has taken a 5 month job as the Sous Chef at the Wilderness Lodge in Lake Moeraki. Her main reason for doing this is so she can get her arse back to the Mekong to drink more beer. A pristine environment, great local produce and some fabulous wines should amount to some excellent LAM stories. We look forward to hearing all about it.

Megan has been on the hunt for a job teaching english; it's no surprise she has found one in Vientiane. The capital of Laos is filled with awesome restaurants, coffee shops, pubs and super friendly locals. To call Vientiane a capital city is a bit of a contradiction in terms. The sidewalks are ever so slowly being paved and no one is in a hurry to do too much. The "city", which nestles alongside the Mekong river, moves at a slower pace than the current of the river itself. Megan's students are mainly teenagers and adults, and her time here will give her a great insight into the locals and the culture of Vientiane. She is living in a gorgeous apartment behind the "Just For Fun" cafe, an institution here, where Megan will no doubt find herself sipping coffee for many hours.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. So Jack, aka Luke, has decided to not get involved with the dirty "W" word. Instead , I'm up for 6 weeks of travel throughout Laos. How do you like them apples. See ya!

Groovy Markets

The beautiful French colonial town of Luang Prabang is full of charm. It's many markets are full of amazing handmade crafts and smiling faces.

The night market in Luang Prabang is on Thanon Phothisalat, and sets up everyday at around 4pm. It is extremely vibrant and stretches for about 200 metres. You can find hand woven silk products, bags, lanterns, antiques, shoes and jewellery. There are 2 laneways which run off the main street with loads of food. One laneway is full of vegetarian food, whilst the other contains a huge selection of all things bbq. Whole fish, lemongrass skewered chicken, buffalo sausages, pork sausages and a few salads and vegetable dishes. Both alleys have communal tables which make for a friendly affair, with a good mix of people sharing their morsels. One could have a "Beer Lao", if one was that way inclined.

One block towards the river is home to a morning market which kicks off around 6am. And yes, I did manage to crawl out of bed one morning to see it. You can buy all kinds of green vegies and herbs, a variety of potatoes and yams, dried goods, gorgeous mushrooms, fish, fresh and bbq meats and some curious looking "deceased" wildlife, which were not allowed to have their photo taken.

Breakfast Baguettes

For breakfast in Laos, it's really hard to go past the baguettes and local, thick, sweet brewed coffee.

The freshly baked baguettes can be found in the street everywhere and the fillings are as varied as the many stalls. The choice is yours, cream cheese, salad, pate (a kind of lucky dip "meatloaf", where it's probably better not to ask what's in it), crispy fried fish, dried buffalo strips, bbq chicken, pork sausages, pork floss, mayo and sweet chilli sauce.

Prices vary from $1aus to $2, depending on how much they can actually fit in these things. Sounds more like an after pub or club feed than breakfast, but is a welcome change from noodle soup!

Another remnant from the French era are the many Patisseries found around Vientiane. You can indulge in croissants, danish pastries, pain au chocolat and tart au citron. It is quite surreal to be sitting on the pavement tucking into a pain au chocolat and a thick brewed coffee in the middle of SE Asia. Bon appetit!

16 hrs on the bench

Well, what a bonding experience it was - 16 hrs perched on a narrow wooden bench, travelling from Trang to Bangkok on the rattler..

We were lucky that we weren't allocated seats together; at least with people of Asian build in between , we had a chance of keeping half a bum cheek on the seat!

Of course we sought some relief from the hard seat and the monotony, by getting up to move around. Luke spent a lot of the journey in the alcove between the train carriages - before this area became prime sleeping space. The aisles were also full of bodies stretched out on sheets of newspaper. The hawkers somehow managed to keep up their activities, in an endless parade through the train: cigarettes, newspapers, beer, tea, coffee, cold drinks...an array of food from dried squid snacks to rice and pork meals. Even Thai ice cream made an appearance.

We brought along a bottle of Thai whiskey to ease the pain, but it 's success was limited. Our location was certainly convenient - right outside the toilet facilities ( with no water to flush ). Ah, the stale stentch of urine grew to a nostril burning climax by the early hours of the morning. We were pretty drained and disorientated when we finally hit the blanket of pollution in Bangkok.