The Countryside of Laos. Blog #4

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Hello Everyone!

We crossed into Laos after a morning bus ride from Krati in Cambodia. It is quite the ordeal crossing the border, you have to line up at about 3 different places while they stamp your passport and process your visa (which is $45 for Canadians) and finally walk over the border and board a new bus. Every country has a different fee and of course Canada is the most expensive! No computers at this border, just pens, paper and stamps. It's all very official!

Our first night was spent on the island of Don Khong on the Mekong River. It's a sleepy little village with the hotel and restuarant overlooking the river. Very beautiful! Great food and service. We went for a boat ride in the evening which was lovely. The next morning we took a 12 km bike ride around the island. It was a great tour with a fairly good road with just a few potholes. We stopped along the way to watch the local people working in the rice fields and our guide explained the process. What a lot of work as it's all done by hand! Next stop was at a family's yard who make palm sugar. The end product after they boil the Palm sap tastes like fudge. It is so cool in that everything is natural in the process even the forms for the candy are made from bamboo. The whole family helps out and they can make a decent living from the few palm trees they have.

We have a local Laos guide that stays with us for a few days in the sout of Laos. He gave us a little introduction to the country which helps put our experiences in perspective.

Loas is a large country in comparison to its population of 7 million. There are lots of ethnic groups including tribal people and many different dialects. 80% of the Laos people farm rice. 75% of the country is mountainous with the Mekoing River flowing through which forms the lifeline of the country. It is bordered by Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and China. There are about 4000 small islands in the Mekong Delta. The local currency is a a kip. One US dollar is worth 8000 kip. It is a very laid back country with small cities and lots of simple rural villages. Traffic in the cities is not a problem like it is in other Asian cities. The food is similar to Tai and Cambodian with a few specialties. They prefer buffalo meat and sticky rice which is served in little bamboo baskets. Of all the Asian countries Laos has the most conservation and clean energy. Although Laos is a relatively poor country their economy is improving.

That's it for now. More about Laos in the next blog. Thanks for reading!!

Mallory and Warren

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Photos

Demonstrating how they get the sap from the Palm stem
After they boil the sap it turns to a sugary substance that is like fudge

Pouring the Palm sugar into forms
They then sell them like candy. Very tasty!