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Published: April 24th 2009
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Pigs Head
I had some of this for dinner one night, crispy and delicious! I arrived to Luang Prabang after my slow boat journey down the Mekong. The title to this post is not misleading, Luang Prabang is really a place where not much has changed in the last couple hundred years. Still a very communist country, there are alot of hammer and sickle flags flyin around, Laos had not opened its doors to the outside until very recently. There are no western establishments in Laos, no McDonalds or Starbucks, but even better no western mentality. The just do things different out here.
The best part about Luang Prabang to me was its night market. A every night affair consiting of 2 main streets of food hawkers. The main offering is BBQ, quite a difference than any other place I have been to so far. If they can put it on a stick and over a fire they will sell it too you. One night I have some sort of small bird, dont know what kind, head feet and all. Another night I ate half a pigs head with some papaya salad. Crunchy, fatty and addictive.
When I say that people operate differently out here I mean it. Let me give you an
BBQ
The night market has some of the best BBQ that I have seen in Asia example. I was trying to book a bus to Vang Vieng, I listened to the owner of the hostel telling a couple of girls that there was no transportation the next day because of a "holiday". This is a pretty common BS scam alot of these hostel owner pull, gets them a room rented an extra day. So im like okay I'll head across the street and see whats up. The ticket shop across the street say that they can book me on a "VIP" bus heading out tommorrow, alright I think, that sounds good. VIP by the way is not as great as it sounds, it means that you get some weak AC and you wont be sharing your seat with a chicken. As I am booking the ticket the guy tells me, oh by the way, you may or may not get the VIP bus, somedays they only have the "local" bus chickens and all. And of course he doesent know what bus they are going to be running tommorrow. I ask the obvious, so do I get my money back if you put me on the much much much cheaper local bus? "No refunds". Yeah, I'm not
Phu Si
Top of the Phu Si mountain in Luang Prabang, sunset. buying. So finally I get a travel agent who assures me that I will get the VIP bus etc etc. And then she quotes me a price twice the going rate! So I ofcourse I say "no way" and then she sells it to me at the correct price, not in the least bit ashamed that she just tried to gouge me. If you don't know what its worth out here they will all try and take you for a ride, thats just the nature of the beast. Now many people, and sometimes even myself, find it a little exhausting that basically everything is negotiated for, and that everyone is always trying to "scam" you, even if its only for a buck or two more, but scam never the less. You gotta just take it with a grain of salt, thats just the way people work out here.
I always try to give both sides of the story. I would hate to give you the impression that these little scams mean that all Laotions are theives. On my last night in Luang Prabang I met one of the guys whos works at the hostel. A laotion by the name
Beers with Liu
One of the guys who works at the hostel invited me out with some of his friends to see how real Laotions party of Liu who was learning to play the guitar. Of course most laotions love American music so he was thrilled when I showed him how to play some US standards. Liu and some of his friends were going out later on that night and he asked me If I would like to join them, to see how real laotions party. I jumped at the opportunity. For one, Liu could speak English pretty well, he learned it from rap music. So I knew that I could get some great insight into what living in Laos is like. It paid off. Liu introduced me to his friends and we went off to a Laotion club. I learned some really interesting things about Laos and Laotion culture. One example, its easy to forget that Laos is still a communist goverment, and even in the smallest clubs like the one we were in the goverment keeps a close eye on the music playlist! The Lao people are only allowed to listen to a small percentage of American music, by law! Even though it is the most popular type out here. Another one, all Laotion men must be monks for a period of time. Liu
Meet Hawker
All kinds of goodness here had himself was a monk at the age of 12, for 2 years. He told me about the rigorus lifestyle that monks must endure. Monks rely on the charity of the population. They have no income so every morning, at the crack of dawn they walk through the streets of Luang Prabang and collect alms of rice for the meals. They only eat twice a day, no dinner of them.
One thing that seems to be constant in Asian countries is the scooter. Everyones got one out here. And when we pulled up to the club that night there was not a single car to be seen. Just a big scooter parking lot. I imagined that driving a scooter after a few drinks would be tough, and I wanted to make sure Liu would be alright seeing as that he was my ride home. He assured me that he hasent crashed a scooter in a loog time. Ha.
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