Solitary Refinement 2

Sam Neua

For a provincial capital, this sure is a hick town.

It's really the backblocks of Laos, which is really nice. I haven't seen any tourists here, but there is a town called Viếng Xai that some tourists visit, maybe I'll see some there, if I get there.

After finding a room, and slowly lugging all my stuff up to the top floor, I went out for food, and to explore.

My hotel, a dragon, and a watchful moon

Good old-fashioned games.

Grand architecture. The monument is very Soviet-esque, which you do see in some places in the country.

When the Lao civil war ended in 1975, Soviet funds supported the reconstruction of the new communist state. Monuments to the victory of communism were built. Thousands of Laotians were sent to Russia (or other Soviet bloc states) to study at universities.

Many of these people are now in leadership positions in Laos, and it's no surprise that relations between the 2 countries are tight, even since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Laos military is very dependent on Russian supplies and technology, and the two countries even carry out joint military exercises in Laos.

Lao leaders are also close to China, and the small poor country is trying to balance the influence of the two superpowers. Chinese-funded infrastructure here, which includes dams, highways and a fast railway, whilst aiding development in some ways, has also been hugely expensive, and Laos pays China over $450m (US) annually, just in interest payments.

No wonder the government can't pay its teachers, doctors, nurses, or other important civil servants, and no wonder that the whole edifice is creaking.

Spring blossoms are amongst us! It's early days, but winter is on its last legs.

It's not only India where you have to watch your step.

Looking quite speccy outisde my hotel at night.

The morning markets are a ripper here, if you don't suffer from queasiness. There's loads of fresh stuff to buy of course, but there's also a collection of dead forest animals that I'd much rather see in the bush than on a market table.

The ladies at the market were super sweet, but weren't keen on me taking pics, as I guess there's pressure on them from certain circles to stop trapping and selling the wild animals. I mean, it's interesting. In the villages they eat all that stuff anyway, there's no distinction between animals which are ok to eat, and those which aren't.

For historical reasons in the west we've come to regard farmed stock animals as ok to slaughter and cook up for dinner, but not fluffy cats or giant pandas. We'll stuff our guts with huge tuna steaks or salmon, but be completely disgusted by the eating of dolphins or whales, and genuinely believe it's wrong.

It's a complete double standard, if you ask me, although I understand how it's come to be. In my view an animal is an animal. If you don't think it's ok to eat a chimp, then don't eat a cow. That's how I see it anyway.

Of course, wildlife wet markets are notorious for spreading pathogens (eg. Covid), and research has shown that a hefty percentage of the wild animals for sale at such places carry transmissible diseases, which is a major issue worldwide. But that's a different issue.

At these markets there were all sorts of animals for sale, including some of these (pics from the web).

Civets

I saw all of these guys. The one on the right is like a massive forest rat.

There were lots of squirrels.

The women were so friendly. My broken Lao is enough now to be able to at least communicate a few things in both directions, and get the local price.

I bought loads of these delicious cassava and rice flour pastries, with all sorts of things inside, including coconut paste, spring onions and, of course, sweet bananas.

There's an abundance of fresh greens in the diet here. You always get served a bowl of fresh greens with your meal. The greens are often wet, and the washing water isn't filtered, but so far my belly seems to be dealing with it all.

Look delicious, don't they?

Banana flower buds. They're chopped up really finely and added to salads.They have a very bitter flavour, but are perfect in combination with other herbs and spices.

Dried rice noodles of various flavours

Dried herbs

Temple offerings, they place these by the various Buddha statues and in other auspicious spots.

Who knows what's in here

Fresh water fish and wild frogs

Going toes to toes

Baby eels

My brunch, all from the markets, included bamboo shoots (the spiky things), some sort of bambooey coriander salad, sticky rice, cucumbers, boiled eggs, and deep fried cassava.

The spice mix on the banana leaf is supposed to be for the bamboo shoots. It's death. It's so spicy just a tiny dip nearly created an immediate involuntary catastrophe in my nether regions.

Dessert was passionfruits, mango, mandarins, deep fried bananas, and the rice flour sweet pastries.

I ate too much. I was re-stocking my depleted exhausted body. As it turns out I had the runs in the middle of the night that night. Don't know which delicious food caused it.

My go-to dinner around here. Delicious peppery garlicky rice noodle soup with eggs and greens.

More cycling

One day I woke to the sound of the rain! Yay! I'd missed it, it's been super dry and dusty around here.

Many of the shops, homes and businesses surround their premises with plants. It's sweet. Don't ya love the watermelons.

So welcoming

Just as I was forgetting how to speak English, I met Chandra (UK) and Aide (Finland), a couple who live in London. They're so sweet, have quit their jobs (software developer and environmental scientist), and have a few months to travel around this part of the world.

We had a really nice conversation over dinner, and met up the next day in another place.

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Go to Part 3