Africa - Maasai Mara National Park

Elizabeth, me, Jambo and Willy

Okay, now I'm impressed. I'm from Alaska, a state whose nickname is "The Great Land". And it is. Big, empty, wild, and crawling with large critters, many dangerous. But the sheer scale of these African plains is mind blowing. The dome of the sky is immense, the landscape dwarfs everything in recent memory and it's packed with wildlife, big, dangerous wildlife. During our one day in Maasai Mara National Park we saw virtually all the animals I had hoped to see during the entire trip. This was a three day trip in which one day (on both ends) was spent traveling over some very poor roads just to get to the park, which is about 350 km from Nairobi. But that one day inside Maasai Mara Park was incredible.

I am traveling with three friends from Homer, Jambo, Willy and Elizabeth, and in the photo above you see us formed up in front of our vehicle, an all-wheel drive, heavy-duty Mercedes diesel truck set up for off road touring.

The first 250 km out of Nairobi are over normal roads, if a bit rough and crowded by most measures. The last 100 or so are rough, very rough. Especially when you're traveling in a big truck, far above the pavement and the truck's center of balance. The driver would get our truck up to maybe 30 mph and then a rough spot would appear and he would hit the brakes, shift into 1st gear and crawl over the pot-hole or sag, the big truck rolling and heaving violently from side to side. The going was very slow during that last part of the trip. I had a great seat -- up front with a good view of the road ahead.

On the road to Maasai Mara.  The pavement was rough and pot-holed.

We had some rain on the way in. Typical of the tropics, it came in fiercely, slashing the windows with big drops, and drumming on the roof.  But before long the sun was back out and the road drying before our eyes. We had a good preview of what was to come when a jackal crossed the road ahead of the speeding truck. Just a few miles after that we spotted some giraffes and Thompson's gazelles. And we were crossing through Maasai grazing land at this point -- we were still far from the treasure that is the Maasai Mara Preserve.

The road to Maasai Mara after the rain-  we're in the African bush at last

Finally at about 6 pm we arrived at Acacia Camp just 1 km outside the park boundary. We were assigned tents and supper was started. After supper our guide, Moses, issued orders to be up by 6 am so we could be finished with breakfast and in the truck by 7 -- the whole next day would be spent in the park.

The tents at Acacia Camp were comfortably fitted out with more or less normal beds and mattresses. The temperatures here in Kenya at this time of year are perfect and due to the high altitude, the air is dry. We had temps in the daytime that ranged from about 70 to 90 degrees while at night it got down into the high 60s -- perfect for sleeping and thankfully not all that friendly to mosquitoes. I reckon I knew this in advance but the altitude around here, including Nairobi, is mostly above 5,000 ft. We're only a degree or two south of the equator which would ordinarily mean hot, humid conditions but here the high altitude effect kicks in and makes for very comfortable days and nights. After a nice supper we turned in and set the alarms for 6 am -- we wanted to get an early start so as to maximize the amount of time spent in the park.

As soon as we crossed into the park proper we began to see wildlife, lots of wildlife. Pictures will tell the story. The first animal we saw, appropriately, was the wildebeest. The Mara River, our furthest destination within the park that day, is famous for the fact that migrating herds of wildebeest cross it and when they do, they fall prey to crocodiles that are plentiful along its shores. The big migrations occur in July so we won't see that spectacle during our time here, but check out the photos below for a taste of the drama of the river crossing.

Wildebeest - Masai Mara

Mara River shore - bone yard for deceased wildebeests

After the wildebeests we saw so many animals - cheetahs, elephants, lions, ostriches, warthogs, spectacular birds, cape buffalo, impala, zebra, giraffe, the list goes on. Near the end of the day we came close to a black rhino, a lucky break according to Moses. We tried to get closer but the beast was skittish and trotted off before we could get close enough to photograph it.

A cheetah with her two cubs

The Cape Buffalo - one of the most dangerous of big game animals 

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I thought we had been very fortunate to have seen a cheetah right away and then just after that, we saw cape buffalo. When I was a hunter many years ago, I remember reading about how the cape buffalo was considered the most dangerous big game animal in the world. I can't vouch for that but these animals are most impressive. I never thought I would ever see one in the flesh, yet here they were, a herd of about twenty animals, quietly grazing in the protected confines of the park. Awesome!

And then, just a few hundred meters from where we saw the cheetahs, lions! It was a group of three males, perhaps brothers Moses said. Here are two of them.

I imagine you're getting the idea floating around in my head by now. This place is a paradise, but a fragile one. It's a preserve, a last holdout against man's incessant incursions. A treasure. A treasure like Alaska's North Slope, like the Galapagos, the Brazilian rainforest. A threatened treasure. Even we benevolent tourists threaten the balance. That cheetah was bothered by us, and bothered all day by people like us, people interested in preserving species but by our actions,  threatening her very survival. Did she hunt that day? I doubt it.

Yes, we saw elephants that day as well. No big bulls as yet but we enjoyed seeing them just the same.

Elephants grazing in Maasai Mara

Impala

I recognized the impala by noting that the male's horns looked like the emblem on a  62 Chevy Impala, my first car. Eventually, after many bumpy miles, the road led to the junction of the Mara River with the border of Tanzania. We stopped for lunch there and saw yet another animal I had not thought we'd see, the hippo. (Note: We saw hundreds of hippos in subsequent days.)

Hippos on the Mara River

On the way back to camp that evening, we saw a hyena laying right next to the road. We had seen one other earlier in the day chasing a wildebeest. This one spooked as soon as we stopped the truck so this photo was taken from some distance --- I include it because it is the only shot I have of this bizarre looking predator.

I must close now. My batteries are about done and it's late. We depart early tomorrow for the 21-day safari we signed up for last summer, the actual trip. We'll go first to the Serengeti in Tanzania, of which Maasai Mara is only a small northern extension, and then to the Ngonongoro Crater. And Zanzibar after that.

Africa - Nairobi

I arrived in Nairobi early this morning after one of the most uncomfortable flights I've ever experienced. Kenya Airways may call itself  "The Pride of Africa" but apparently comfortable seating isn't part of what they take pride in. My knees were jammed into the seat ahead of me for 9 long hours. I caught a few hours of fitful sleep but when those wheels finally touched the runway at Jomo Kenyatta Airport I was the happiest man on that airplane.  I quickly grabbed a taxi ride from the airport to our hotel, The Kenya Comfort Hotel, in city center. I walked in to the hotel restaurant at about 7:30 am and caught Willy,  Jambo and Elizabeth having breakfast. It was good to see them after all the planning, emails, and hours of travel from our respective origins for this meeting in Nairobi. And how very strange to see these friends here rather than at our weekly saunas at Kirk's. I'm sure the feeling was mutual. After a nap and lunch we met up with Moses, who will be our guide for the first part of our adventure extravaganza, a 3-day trip to Masai Mara. This park is the northern extension into Kenya of Tanzania's famous Serengeti Park. We'll leave tomorrow morning after breakfast. Moses thinks we will see elephant hyena, giraffe, zebra, oryx, and impala. If lucky we might see a black rhino, cheetahs or, with luck, a leopard. We'll also visit a Masai village. Tomorrow will also bring me my first view of the famous African veldt I've been reading and hearing about since childhood.

I have no photos to post as yet but have some first impressions. This ain't Thailand. LOL I'm in a big city and it's busy and crowded. The people here aren't as friendly as the Thais and we foreigners stand out more because they are fewer of us here than in Bangkok. Rather than the smiles I've become so accustomed to there one gets mostly stares here; some are merely curious, others less so. It's the contrast I think I'm reacting to. I didn't get friendly smiles in Paris either. I'm curious to see if rural people are more open than these city folks. It's also more expensive than Thailand. Our hotel room is costing $95 USD for example. We're four of us sharing a smallish room, which drops the rate considerably, but it's still expensive if you consider the fact that this place would probably be classed as a 2-star hotel at best. A Tusker beer I had during dinner cost about $2 but at only 4.2% alcohol, Tusker is both weak and bland. I'm missing my Leo and Singha already.

I'm sure the Internet access we;ll have will be spotty so I'm not sure how or when I'll make my next post.  Eventually something will appear in this spot, something I'm betting will be quite a bit different from my usual entry.

I buy a refrigerator in Bangkok

I know, that's a strange name for a travel blog post. Let me explain.

As you know if you've been reading this blog for any length of time I've been traveling for the past few months with Nut, my beautiful Thai girlfriend. It's been a wonderful experience getting to know her and, at this point after spending every minute of every day and night for 3 months together, I'm feeling very connected to her. When I left Bangkok last spring I had only spent a few weeks with Nut. I was infatuated with her, sure. After all she's an exotic lover, a Thai woman 20 years younger than me, so very unlike any other woman I've ever been with. We kept in touch over the summer via Skype but as the time for my return drew closer I began to wonder just where this relationship could ever go. There is this huge language and culture gap separating us for one thing. Also, given my history, I'm more than a little bit cynical about relationships at this stage. But it's always a turn on to "ride the wave" as a good friend confided to me one day concerning her new love affair. Who doesn't enjoy that feeling of being swept up in something big and new and romantic? It was in this frame of mind that I met up with Nut after our six-month separation. Long story short, things have worked out better than I ever expected. We're still together and I'm growing fonder of her every day. As Nut is fond of saying, "We can't know the future. We just accept whatever happens day by day." 

Getting back to the refrigerator story. Before we went to Cambodia last month her apartment was broken into. My guess is that some local guy had seen me, a wealthy tourist in his mind, coming and going and one day when we left her place to have breakfast he seized his opportunity and ripped out the wire mesh in a window to gain entry.  Nut had decided to return from breakfast alone leaving me at the cafe to do Internet stuff and surprised the would-be burglar inside her room. He ran off without hurting her and got nothing. I had only about 80 bucks in my suitcase and had my camera and computer with me but our passports, my extra credit cards, and my GPS were inside. We caught a very lucky break, two lucky breaks actually because Nut wasn't hurt. But from that point on I carried all my most important stuff with me whenever we left the place and I never left her there alone again. It was time to find a new place.

In this area of Bangkok, Banglamphu, there are many apartment buildings. Actually, apartments as we know them stateside, are fairly rare here, at least for ordinary people. Most live in one room flats like the we just moved to. Anyway, after a few days of walking the neighborhoods we hit on this place -- a nice, partially furnished room at ground level, all tile, with A/C and wi-fi Internet, a big bathroom, and a very private, completely tiled patio where Nut can wash clothes and cook. It's in a quiet neighborhood yet only a short walk to the big tourist center of Khaosan Road where Nut will work after I return to Alaska. And it's on the shady side of the building so the sun doesn't roast the place all day, a big consideration for this large farang. Her old room was tiny, stiflingly hot, and had a bathroom I could barely squeeze into, not to mention the narrow and exceedingly steep stairway to the second floor. This place seems heavenly by comparison.

Nut doesn't own much in the way of furniture. She sold most of her stuff when her marriage broke up a number of years ago. This place came with a desk and table and chairs and a comfortable king size bed but I needed a refrigerator to keep my beer cold. And Nut has cooking skills, extensive cooking skills it turns out, that I wanted to enjoy. Off we went to the local department store, Tang Hua Seng, which reminded me of a older Sears Roebuck's, where we bought a small Panasonic fridge. It cost 5,000 baht, about $150 USD. We added a nifty induction hot plate for another 1,000 and as I pushed my Visa card toward the clerk I asked if they could deliver the fridge.
"No problem", replied the salesman, "we can deliver today."
"Great. When today?"
"Right now."
"Wow!," I replied, surprised by his answer. "But we have a bit more shopping to do."
He wrote down his cell number and said as he handed it to Nut, "Call me when you're ready and we'll meet you outside. You can ride with us in the truck and show the way."

We picked up a few more things, a mop and broom, a bath mat, a dish towel, the sorts of things you always buy when moving to a new place. After about 20 minutes Nut made the call to tell him we were ready.
"Watch for us downstairs. We'll be out in a minute". A moment or two passed and out came our new refrigerator in its shipping carton with the salesman and a helper, another appliance salesman, pushing it along on a two-wheeled cart out onto the street. I'm already regretting I don't  have my camera because the sight of these two salesmen in white shirts and ties actually delivering the refrigerator they just sold to me is such a far cry from what happens stateside that I wanted to capture the whole improbable scene. As if that isn't crazy enough, he signals to a passing tuk-tuk and when it pulls to the curb he begins to negotiate the delivery with the driver.

Thus I learned there would be no truck involved in this delivery. Instead the lowly pick-up truck of urban Thailand, the tuk-tuk, usually powered by a noisy, smoking 2-stroke engine, invariably operated by drivers who rev those engines incessantly at a red light, and I must add here, a vehicle thoroughly despised by my friend Albie, was to deliver our purchase. The driver lowered the tailgate and together with the salesmen strapped our fridge onto it. Although bulky, it's a small unit only weighing about 90 pounds so the load isn't as heavy as it appears. Of course we're all riding together in the tiny vehicle so Nut and I hop into the small cab with our bags of other purchases. Our salesman wedged himself in beside us while the other guy hangs himself off one side of the driver's seat. Off we go to make the most bizarre appliance delivery I've ever heard tell of.

The tuk-tuk drove us right up to our doorstep and the salesmen muscled the carton to our doorway where they unpacked it and walked it through the door. They plugged it in and after assuring themselves that it was in good working order, departed in the tuk-tuk. The store picked up the tab for the delivery, as promised. Imagine this happening in the states. I don't think so.

Giancarlo and Albie with me and Nut and the new fridge

We had a little gathering the other night, an impromptu housewarming, attended by our friends Albie, Walter and Phil, from Homer, along with Henry, who introduced Nut to me last spring, and Giancarlo, an Italian expat and like the rest of us, a lover of Thailand. This is the group I hang out with when in Bangkok and by now they all know and like Nut a lot. Here are a few scenes from that celebration.

Henry at the housewarming - Nut and Walter in the background

Walter at the Gecko Bar next night

Phil at the Gecko Bar

Anyway, that's the story. Nut and I are really enjoying our quiet and cool apartment. We've been picking up little things here and there-- a wicker chair, a folding table for the patio, some cookware. Bangkok's become very comfortable all of a sudden. When it gets hot later in February we'll just use the aircon but for now we leave the sliding glass doors open day and night. It doesn't get much better than this.

I'm off to Africa in a few days. I'll be back in a month but I'll miss Nut a ton while I'm away. I booked my return flight for Mar 31st. I'll miss the Songkran festival this year but by then it's just too blasted hot in Bangkok for this farang. Okay, signing off for now -- next post will be from somewhere in Africa.

Cambodia - Angkor Wat

Wow, Angkor Wat was simply fantastic! I posted some of my photos in a Facebook album that can be accessed by clicking on this link: Angkor Wat Album, so I won't repeat them in this article. I first heard about Angkor Wat when I was helping Toby Tyler put together his travel reminiscences from an around-the-world trip he made in the 1950s. The resultant memoir is in the Top Drawer Collection at the Homer Public Library. When he visited it the site was far off the beaten track. Today it's a World Heritage Site that draws thousands of tourists from all over the world. See this Wikipedia article for more. Toby's books, Around the world with pencil and pen, (it's in two parts) is an excellent memoir and aside from the travel descriptions contains many pencil sketches and photographs that illustrate what surely was by any measure, but especially in 1950, a very ambitious trip. (I worked at the HPL from 1991 to 2003.)

Due to the proximity of Angkor Wat, Siem Reap is a very touristy town. We liked it okay but could have shortened our stay once the temple tour was under our belt. Had it been cheaper we might have visited again but at $20/day per person we decided once was enough. Add to that the fact that falangs cannot rent a moto in Siem Reap so you're forced to hire a tuk-tuk driver as guide -- you're looking at an excursion that will set you back 60-70 bucks. We hung out in our hotel room for a couple of afternoons watching cable TV which in Cambodia has tons of English language content. We watched National Geo Wild, Animal Planet, and a lot of the stuff on the Discovery Channel. Nut, being a Thai chauvinist, didn't really like the street food in Cambodia so we ate three of our dinners in an excellent Chinese restaurant, the Monorom Kong Yiv Key, on Sivatha Rd downtown. They offer a fabulous dish called Eggplant Hot Pot that we liked so well we ordered it twice. I also had a sweet-sour fried catfish and a black mushroom cabbage soup that were also excellent. Everything we ate there was scrumptious. Great service too. It was a bit more expensive than buying food in the market or at street-side but at $12-14 for two not out of range.

My darling Nut at Angkor Wat

We hopped a bus back to Phnom Penh on December 22nd and were back in Bangkok on the 23rd. Fast Forward -- I'm writing this on New Year's eve from Nut's new apartment, a place we'll be sharing whenever I'm in Bangkok. More about that later. We just got up from a great supper of tom yum prawn soup and long-eggplant and pork stir fry cooked by a very talented cook, my sweet girlfriend Nut. It was the first meal she's cooked at home since she left Yala Province over 2 years ago. Later we'll head out to the park near Fort Phra Sumen on the river. The Rama VIII bridge is close by and the fireworks at midnight promise to be pretty cool. Already at 8 o'clock the neighborhood here on Samsen Soi 4 is lit up with exploding star shells and many folks are out on the street drinking whiskey and beer. The Thai people certainly love a celebration -- any excuse for a party!

Cambodia - Sihanoukville

Nut and I visited Sihanoukville for a few days last week. Our main goal in returning to Cambodia was to see Angkor Wat but the beach that I enjoyed here last spring was calling and we decided to answer that call. Albert and Johnnie, good friends from Homer, told me of a new hotel that has recently opened, the Okata Guesthouse. It's near Victory Hill on the west side of town where many other hotels are located and is in an area I am already familiar with. It turned out to be a great deal in terms of value -- for $10/night we got a brand new room with balcony, flatscreen TV, wi-fi, fridge, and a nice view from our 4th floor room. Oh,  yes, it has an elevator too. Aircon was a few bucks more per night but we didn't need it at this time of year. I enjoyed a couple of hours on the balcony in the evenings -- nice spot. (N10.63105 E103.50529)

The view from our balcony - Okata Guesthouse - Sihanoukville

Sihanoukville, and Cambodia generally, is not considered an ideal tourist destination for many travelers. Cambodia is a very poor country, the roads and markets are littered with refuse and you're constantly accosted by beggars, tuk-tuk drivers, and people selling everything from lotus roots to marijuana. But it has its charms too and Sihanoukville is an an up and coming hot spot. There are many new hotels and condos going up and if the beaches were developed and protected, they'll draw tourists. The seaside nearby isn't as spectacular as what can be found in Thailand but the people are friendly and the prices are right.

I rented a moto and Nut and I went to Otres Beach both days to swim in the warm water and eat some good Kmer-style stir fry at Mein-Mein (N10.57789, E103.54796 - see this earlier entry from last spring). The photos below are scenes from our ride out and back.

 Nut watches a rain squall near Otres Beach, Sihanoukville

Stormy sky near Otres Beach, Sihanoukville

The road to Kbal Chhay

We also took a ride to Kbal Chhay waterfall about 10 km out of town to the north. We found a pleasant uncrowded park with good swimming. Last spring when I was here it was the dry season and the falls were totally dry. This is how they appear in the "winter".

The falls at Kbal Chhay (N10.67632 E103.60884)

We took a short walk upstream to the top of the falls where I took a dip. Refreshingly cool, almost too cool for my heat acclimatized body. I caught this little Kmer girl taking a swim a bit later.

Next year I think we'll spend a lot more time at Sihanoukville. Next stop, Siem Reap and Angkor Wat.

We visit an old friend at Ban Pik Noi

December 1 - 4, 2010, Ban Pik Noi

Morning mist and the Nam Khan river from Scott's deck
(N19.89203 E102.22663)

We spent three days visiting Scott, an old Homer friend, at his rustic bungalow near this tiny Lao village (pop. 400) about 15 km east of Luang Prabang. Scott is an engineer and the type of guy that can do it all, from raising the new radio tower for KBBI Public Radio back in 1986 and relocating the station to its present quarters, to building his own home at 17 mile East Road, to speaking fluent Lao today. Lately he has built a simple but lovely dwelling on the east bank of the Nan Khan on the opposite side of the town proper. The Nam Khan is a medium sized tributary to the Mekong that joins it at Luang Prabang (see photo in the previous post) and along with the Mekong sort of defines the old city. With the help of some local workers he pulled a power cable across the river and hung it from posts he'd erected earlier. The power wires are suspended by cables whose tension was specified by calculations Scott made in advance. They applied the tension with a wire-rope come-along like the ones you can buy in Home Depot. However, there is no Home Depot, no Homer Electric Association in Laos nor are there any electrical contractors handy. If you want electricity, you make it happen on your own. From a stainless steel water tank mounted on a steel-pipe platform he built on the spot and erected with pulleys and ropes he derives running water that's been first pumped up to the tank from a well near the river -- he has a flush toilet and a hot shower -- more than I have in my present living situation in Homer.

Scott's home - Khoun is cooking breakfast at left - Scott is grinding coffee at right

Scott grinding coffee

As is typical for SE Asia, the house is made almost completely of concrete. It consists of a ceramic tiled concrete slab as the base with concrete block walls. There's a lot of hardwood trim inside though and the doors and shutter-style windows are also of hardwood.The roof is typical for SE Asia too -- fluted concrete tiles.  Concrete is used for several reasons: it's relatively inexpensive, it's impervious to termites which attack any wood that is in or even close to the ground, and there are plenty of local craftsmen who can work with it. In fact, all the blocks were made on site from cement mixed with readily available river sand and gravel. This is especially handy as everything else must be floated across the river from town. Pretty damn impressive!

Scott has migrated to an amazing community. I met many of the local people, his neighbors, who by our standards are desperately poor, and found them to be hard working, fun loving and seemingly content with their situation. They were great folks to party with -- we had a dinner gathering that eventually developed into a beach BBQ party, and a picnic at Taat Sae, some particularly beautiful waterfalls about 10 km upriver from town.  Everyone that attended was cool - we didn't have much to say to one another, obviously, because I speak no Lao or Thai, but Nut carried on conversations in Thai with them as did Scott and his partner Khoun.

During this time of the year everyone living  along the river is collecting riverweed to make a local delicacy, kai-pan.The green weed is collected, pounded perhaps to tenderize it, chopped into smaller pieces and shaped into square sheets which are then sprinkled with sesame seeds and sometimes thin tomato slices and/or garlic. These sheets are then placed onto split bamboo drying racks and put out in the sun to dry.

After collecting the weed, the 2nd step in making kai-pan is pounding it with a stick. Everyone helps.

Every home in Ban Pik Noi  has these racks to sun dry the kai-pan sheets

The sheets are then rolled up and stored for the rest of the year. One way to to eat the kai-pan is to plunge it into hot oil for a few seconds. It's a bit salty and tastes good -- everyone eats massive quantities of it. Scott recommended eating it with plenty of beer to quench your thirst. I bought into that completely.

The visit to Taat Sae waterfall was pretty cool too. Scott got one of his friends who owns a longboat with a motor and hired him to take up upstream to the falls for a picnic. We loaded the boat with our picnic stuff: beer and ice in a cooler, food for Khoun's special Lao salad, assorted snacks, a charcoal brazier (described below) and a fresh fish Nut had bought at the market the day before (it was alive when she got it). As we motored up the river, Khoun grilled the fish. Yep, while we were moving along he lit a fire and cooked the fish. Scott continually passed me glasses of Beer Lao with ice. I was nervous when turning around to grab the beer fearing I'd flip the very tippy-feeling longboat, which BTW was leaking water by the gallon. No worries, said Scott, all these boats leak like crazy. After a pleasant and uneventful trip up the river we reached the falls. We unloaded everything and hiked a short distance to the picnic area. It turns out that the falls are accessible from the road system so there were many other visitors, including some falangs, there enjoying the cool shade and the somewhat chilly water. I had half expected the falls to be similar to many of the other ones I'd seen in Thailand but these were quite a bit different. For one thing, there were elephants taking people for rides in the water. For another, minerals in the water have created some bizarre looking deposits. And the water is azure blue, presumably due to those same minerals.

Taat Sae Waterfalls

We ate the fish and the Lao salad in the "picnic area" while some folks played in the water. There was one falang couple who had a baby with them, probably about 18-24 months old, who was an instant hit with all of the Lao girls, and with Nut. All Asians are fascinated by people with white skin, and this blonde toddler was not only very white but very cute and not at all shy about all the attention being showered on her. The girls photographed her, and one another holding her, constantly.

Lao girls and falang toddler

Nut holding the falang toddler

This fascination with whiteness is, to me, simply absurd. I know what it's about (poorer people work in the sun and are therefore darker) but the extent to which it dictates how Nut, for example, feels about her skin color is extreme. And she's not alone in that feeling. Far from it. Every skin product sold here includes whiteners and all the models, even Asian ones, have light skin. It's crazy.

Scott and Khoun met in Luang Prabang where Scott had a computer/Internet shop for a while when he first moved to Laos. Khoun is a native of Ban Pik Noi, speaks pretty good English, and is an amazing cook. Much of the day in any Asian home is spent eating and preparing food -- lucky is the visitor who gets  a chance to spend time in a home where Khoun is cooking. We'd get up in the morning, have a couple of cups of strong Lao coffee while Khoun prepared a three-course breakfast. An example: rice, stir fried pork with mushrooms and ginger, stir fried veggies, sometimes an omelet made with local tomatoes and dill (Lao name is pakse). Delicious. Almost as soon as breakfast was over Khoun would start preparing lunch. And so on.

The coffee hereabouts is tasty and always brewed strong-- it's also very, very black. Scott thinks that's because they roast the beans in big pans or woks with a bit of sugar added. At any rate, you can add tons of evaporated milk to your cup and it simply refuses to lighten up. It reminds me a lot of the coffee roasted with chicory I loved so much in New Orleans.

Another great breakfast with Khoun and Scott

Our last meal together was a masterpiece. The main course was Stuffed Deep-Fried Bamboo Shoots. Khoun served steamed squash and fried sticky-rice cakes with it and of course there was plenty of Beer Lao to wash it all down with. We drank Beer Lao with every meal except breakfast.

Khoun frying the bamboo shoots

Bon appetit!

If you'd like to make Stuffed Deep-Fried Bamboo Shoots for yourself here's how to proceed. The first part will be the hardest because you must find a thicket of bamboo somewhere. Got bamboo? Okay, now cut about 10 inches off the growing tips of as many young shoots as you think you'll need. For three people you'll want about 12-18 of them. Boil for an hour or so. (They can be stored in plastic bags for several months in this parboiled state by the way.) Now peel off the tough outer layers of each shoot and boil again for about another hour until the shoots are very tender. Drain well and allow to cool.

With a toothpick or other pointed object make many lengthwise cuts or slits along each shoot. You'll place the stuffing inside these slits. You've already prepared the stuffing, right? If not, here's the recipe: with a mortar and pestle grind together until smooth handfuls of lemon grass, garlic, and a small onion. Finely chop about a pound of lean pork loin (moo sap). Blend the chopped pork with the lemon grass mixture. Add a bunch of fresh pakse (dill) from the garden along with some nam pla (fish sauce) or soy sauce, some salt, and enough pork or chicken broth to make a moldable mixture. Stuff this mixture generously into the slits in each shoot.

Get a steamer going because the pork must be cooked before deep frying. Everyone in SE Asia uses a wood or charcoal fired stove for a multitude of cooking chores. This is one of those chores. These stoves are made of concrete (see photo) and have a simple three point system that conveniently supports various pots, pans and woks. They're also semi-portable if a bit on the heavy side. Many of them are cast right inside of a galvanized bucket so they have a bail-type handle built in. You started your stove earlier, right? Okay, good. Place a few shoots at a time into a woven bamboo steamer basket over boiling water (I guess a stainless steel basket would work.) and steam them until the pork is fully cooked. Drain and pat dry.

Prepare a tempura type dipping mixture. Eggs, cornstarch, water, a bit of soy sauce and chicken concentrate for taste and some salt should do it. Dip each shoot into this mixture until completely covered, then drop into hot oil and with constant turning, fry until golden brown. Serve with deep fried black and white sticky rice crackers and Beer Lao over nam kang (ice cubes). Awesome! (You remembered to make the sticky rice didn't you? Oh hell, let's see.... )

December 9, 2010 Bangkok

It's been almost a week since we left Laos and I'm just finishing up this entry. I'm staying with Nut at her place and she has no Internet so I'm in a coffee shop working against the clock. Well, sort of.


Our trip to Lao was about rivers I reckon. The trip down the Mekong was mighty fine. And visiting Scott in his adopted home on the Nam Khan was awesome. Everything we saw and did revolved around river life. The weather in Lao was different too. Night time temperatures were in the low 60s -- one night it was 59 deg F -- and they sent Nut into a paroxysm of shivers every morning. She slept in all her clothes and under two blankets. While she enjoyed the good air and the sunny afternoons she soon got tired of being cold. I might've stayed for another week in Luang Prabang but we wanted to visit Cambodia before Christmas and I also have the Africa trip ahead. So we somewhat reluctantly made our way back to Bangkok. Two very long days on buses brought us first (the first leg was in Laos over very rough roads on a very old bus) to Nong Khai and then from there to Bangkok on quite a bit nicer Thai bus.

Tomorrow, we'll fly to Phnom Penh where we'll meet up with Albert. Last time I was there I chased bar girls and spent a lot of money on booze. This time I want to see Angkor Wat and also spend a few days in Sihanoukville. This visit promises to be quite a bit different. Stay tuned....

Journey down the Mekong to Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang, Laos - Nov 30, 2010, 10 pm

I'm sitting on the front porch of my guesthouse in this fair city on a beautiful evening in (almost) December. It's a very pleasant evening  -- the temperature about 70 F and calm, and on my little lane, it's quiet. I'm working on a bottle of affordable French wine while the Mekong River, wide and abnormally placid hereabouts, is flowing silently toward Vietnam to my left while my comfy room is just off the deck to my right. Below me, the family that runs the guesthouse opposite is eating dinner, charcoal brazier sparking brightly right next to the table, family members and friends coming and going, their conversation rising and falling in the night air. There are some other conversations going on -- the neighbor lady is talking with her daughter, two guys next door are chatting away and I can faintly hear some music in the air -- a radio program perhaps, early American rock? -- the little neighborhood of  Wat Nong is feeling very friendly. This is a great place to be and I've had a super day.

In Luang Prabang - the local museum and a temple are in the background

I just reread what I wrote above and I asked myself, how can I use so many superlatives? I reckon it's because I've run out of other words that can describe the things I've seen and experienced. Of course, that's only me -- there are others who have journeyed much farther than me, and who have embraced challenges I wouldn't ever consider. But for me, a slightly adventurous retiree who is all too rapidly approaching the age of 70, being here with no schedule and no responsibilities is feeling mighty fine, mighty fine indeed.

But I need to step back a couple of days to describe the river trip down the Mekong. There are several ways to get to Luang Prabang but a good way, perhaps the best way, is to take the two-day ride down the mighty Mekong by "slow boat" from Huay Xai, Laos, which is just across the river from Chiang Khong. For 1,600 baht (about $50) I bought a package that included a minivan ride from Chiang Mai, accommodations at a guesthouse in Chiang Khong that included dinner and breakfast, and the boat ticket to Luang Prabang. It was a pretty good deal even though the guesthouse in Chiang Khong was nothing special and the meals there only so-so. But the boat ride was very cool.

A view of Huay Xai, Laos, from Chiang Khong

After breakfast and a quick trip through Laos Immigration we were on our way. We had bought some cheap seat cushions to use on the boat because we were told the seats were hard and not very comfortable. But our boat that day was equipped with automobile seats. We were a bit crowded but the seats were nice. Many of us were convinced that we had been scammed into buying the cushions (about $1 apiece) but it turned out we had occasion to use them the next day. I'll get to that in a moment. On the first day we traveled about 140 km in approximately 7 hours to the small town of Pak Beng, about midway to our destination. The photo of the riverboat below was taken at Luang Prabang but it's typical of the boats that ply the Mekong and very similar to the one we rode.

Typical Mekong riverboat

The river journey was surprisingly scenic. I had expected to travel on a river that looked like the Mekong at Chiang Khong, broad and muddy but slow moving, meandering through broad valleys and farmland. No, not exactly. It is quite a formidable river, the 12th longest in the world, considered unnavigable where we were traveling, full of rocks and small rapids and passing through wild, mostly undeveloped country. There are people living along the entire Mekong valley but they are definitely living, as we say in Alaska, remotely -- no question about that.

Here's a Google Earth screenshot of a portion of the journey. Clearly visible are some of the rocky stretches we frequently negotiated as we made our way to Luang Prabang.

Our overnight stop in Pak Beng wasn't remarkable. The town survives because of these tourist boat trips and has apparently been much built up over the years as  a result. We paid quite a bit relatively for our dinner and breakfast but all in all, it was no big deal. The Lao money is bizarre in that $1 = 8,000 kip. A meal will set you back 70,000- 150,000 kip. Getting used to those numbers takes a while. My wallet is packed with 50,000 kip notes -- each is worth a little over 6 USD. (I went to the ATM in Luang Prabang yesterday and withdrew 1,500,000 kip. Presto, I'm a millionaire!)

Mekong River looking east and downriver from Pak Beng just after sunrise

We went down to the river next morning and found a boat waiting for us that was quite a bit less cushy than the one that had deposited us here the night before. It was a smaller boat equipped with dilapidated wooden seats, small and tightly spaced. The first boat had a snack bar with sandwiches, snacks and cold beer, and let's not forget those car seats-- this one had a cooler loaded with Beer Lao -- but no sandwiches and precious little room to get back to the beer. Some of the passengers began a small revolt and demanded a better boat, like the one tied up alongside ours. My thinking was to just make the best of it so I didn't join them in making those demands. It was just as well because the other boat they were eying was going back upstream -- there was no way we were going to get a different ride. After much bitching and whining on the part of the would be revolutionaries, off we went down the river. And so too, we found a good use for those boat cushions we had brought along from Chiang Khong. During the trip I had the thought that the people operating this boat might have been driven out of business in the states. They (all of these boats appear to be family run -- the man skippering, the wife serving beverages and handling lines, etc., their kids running here and there, helping out where they can) had an obviously inferior boat compared to the one that had taken us to Pak Beng. Yet, under the circumstances, I believe they deserved to be working and earning money to support themselves. Should they take out a loan for a newer boat, if that is even possible in rural Laos, in order to keep up with the Joneses? Probably not. I think it's best to try to ignore our western standards, which really don't apply here where nobody is making big money, and simply go with the flow. We're only guests in their country after all. And it's a beautiful country.

Rocky outcrop on the Mekong near Luang Prabang

Fellow traveler Mick, a friendly Aussie I had a few beers with

We arrived in Luang Prabang after a really nice day on the water. I was impressed with this town from the moment we landed. Yes, it's more touristy and a bit more expensive than many places I've visited in Thailand, but it's a place where I could easily spend a month. It's very friendly, with a perfect winter climate.

A view of the Mekong from a riverside restaurant - Luang Prabang

A few more photos follow:

Junction of the Nam Khan and the Mekong at Luang Prabang

The Nam Khan river has special significance. We visited an old Homer friend, Scott, who has relocated to Laos and lives upstream on the banks of the Nam Khan in the tiny town of Ban Pik Noi. I'll have more to say about Scott and his home in my next entry,

A flower - of course. Luang Prabang

We spent a few days with Scott at his riverside home in Ban Pik Noi. I worked with Scott at the Homer public radio station, KBBI, in  around 1985-87. He permanently relocated to Laos about 6 years ago and has built a new life here. The visit with Scott was at his home will without a doubt go down as a highlight of my trip. Stay tuned....