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Published: March 12th 2013
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My first Lao foe
An import/adaptation from Vietnam, foe is one of my favorite Lao foods. My first was possibly the best I had the entire trip. Laos!!
Someone asked me recently how many countries I had been to, and after some consideration I realized that the number was 26. Happily I've upped the number to 27, with my first visit to Laos, my first "new" country in almost 2 years.
Having spent a considerable amount of time in NE Thailand, I figured Laos wouldn't be too much of a culture shock--and I've been pleasantly surprised by how similar the two languages are--but I've enjoyed getting to know the subtle differences, and seeing how, as geography might suggest, there are influences of both Thailand and Vietnam. For example, much of the food resembles that of NE Thailand (laab, sticky rice, som tam--though the names vary), but foe (or pho in Vietnam) is also very popular--and one of my favorite dishes here.
One thing that stands out to me is how un-crowded it is here. Bangkok (the Thai capital) is a crazy bustling mass of people and concrete, but Vientiane is laid back and a bit spartan. It also has relatively few "sites" considering it is the capital city--and makes me think a bit of my own state capital (Raleigh!) in a very pleasant
Vientiane
Though some parts of town are actually somewhat crowded, this is fairly typical of the Lao capital way. Similar to Raleigh, it doesn't take much driving to get into fairly rural areas around Vientiane--which was how we chose our field site for this week. Normally we would make 2-3 week collecting trips, but we were short on time and decided to survey an area "not far" from the capital, with a "field station" run by WCS. We discovered that both of those terms are relative.
For various reasons, we were limited this trip to 6 or 7 nights in the field, and as such, we chose the closest possible field site to Vientiane. Nam Kading in Bolikhamxai Province (east of Vientiane, very close to the Vietnam border) was an obvious choice because 1) there’s a road (most of it paved) all the way there, and 2) it is meant to take about 5–6 hrs to get there. Vientiane lies on the Mekong River, and the first few hours of our trip were along this river valley, but eventually we passed into the foothills of the Annamite Mountains which stretch across into Vietnam, and which contain a stunning limestone karst landscape. It was within these foothills that we conducted our searches for amphibians and reptiles.
Limestone karst
The landscape of central eastern Laos For the sake of brevity, I’ve condensed the week’s work into a few notable highlights from each day.
Day 1: Drive to village nearest field site, speak with village head, & find out that we have to hike and then take a boat to the field site rather than drive. Several hours later we’re informed that actually, we CAN drive. Breathe huge sigh of relief at not having to arrange porters. Gather 6 additional people including 3 protected area staff, 1 district natural resources staff, 1 policeman, and 1 soldier. Hope that they keep the safety on their guns.
Discover that “sub-station” is a stilted hut amid highly disturbed forest, with little primary forest in sight. We’re also informed that the only small streams near the station are about 3 km downstream which ends up taking us 1.5 hrs of dug-out canoe-ing and portaging. Luckily the absence of crocodiles makes this quite a pleasant trip!
Day 2: Boss contemplates leaving due to the lack of suitable survey sites, so we have a meeting and discover that there may be other streams to survey. Prep our first batch of specimens, which takes all day and
Ajarn Niane & Bryan
The start of our marathon specimen prep session during which time 2 of our core party of 4 nearly get heat stroke (including yours truly). Lie down in tent to sleep off headache and last remnants of jet lag before surveying a 2
nd stream which yields four snakes in addition to some good frogs.
Day 3: Run in the morning, followed by a bath in the stream. Prep specimens during the day, and survey 3
rd stream at night in a light mist. Cut survey short due to rain and the hope of getting our truck back up the crazy steep hill we drove down. Discover that the car “can’t eat” (can’t get traction & thus can’t make it up the hill), so the Lao guys arrange to have several of them stay overnight with the truck for safety, and promise to send food back (about an hour’s walk from our camp site).
Day 4: Wake up to discover that it has rained most of the night & think of creative solutions for getting out of camp that result in us making our flight at the end of the week, and hopefully include getting the truck back to Vientiane. Try to stay warm by huddling around a
Philautus sp.
As yet unidentified tree frog species. So cute! fire in camp, and attempt to recall what the searing heat from 2 days ago felt like. Survey an area upstream from camp which yields almost zero frogs.
Day 5: Glimpse bits of blue sky on waking up, and progressively more as the day goes on. Take an afternoon hike out towards the truck and meet it coming up the hill—hooray! Now we can safely get home, provided the roads don’t turn to mush overnight. Survey one final stream which doesn’t yield too much; prep specimens at night after returning from the stream.
Day 6: Pack up camp & head out for Vientiane. Experience minor car trouble along the way. Eat something other than sticky rice and candied sausage for the first time in 5 days. Pass through the Laos Bermuda Triangle which turns our 6 hour journey into 12 grueling hours in the car. Collapse into a real bed after a delicious hot shower.
Our final two days in Laos were spent packing several hundred specimens to transport back to the US, doing a bit of shopping at the craft market, and enjoying delicious dinners with the head of the IUCN Saola working group, and the head of WCS Laos on consecutive nights. All in all, a fairly successful trip given our time limitations.
I know I say this to every country I visit, but I heart you, Laos. I can’t wait to come back to see you again in May!
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