Since I had most of Wednesday free, I decided to book a day tour up to the hyro-electric dam and the associated lake. The local tour company wanted paying in U.S. Dollars, cash, so we started the day by going to bank BCEL (as recommended by 'Lonely Planet') so that I could get a cash advance.
Ang Nam Ngum was created in 1971 to feed a hydro-electric plant. The electrical requirements of Laos are low by European standards so surplus electricity is sold to neighbouring Thailand and the project has been so successful that a number of similar schemes are being built.
I was picked up by Mr. Bounleuth and the driver at 8.30 a.m. and, after the visit to the bank, we set off North on route 13. This is a decent road but speeds are not high. Ribbon development accompanies the road for mile after mile. At Km 52, we stop at Ban Lak Ha-sip Sawng (that means Km 52 village, I believe). It's claim to fame is that it's the daily 'minority people's market'. It's run by the Hmong ethnic grouping and is very extensive. The covered section has permanent stalls displaying a wide range of jewellery and a bewildering array of household goods and consumables. But it's the fresh market which is most startling. There's a wide selection of vegetables and fruit more rice than an army could eat. There's 'steam rice', 'new crop steam rice' and various types of 'sticky rice'.
I found the poultry and fish section troubling. The Lao people like their poultry fresh, so live birds are tied to the leg of the stall, awaiting sale. Fish and eels are kept alive in a variety of bowls and containers filled with water and with some sort of netting over the top. The netting is intentionally incomplete, so that the vendor can reach in for the fish but the result is that the more active fish can attempt to escape. I was surprised by the regularity that this occurred. Where the stall holder was alert, the recalitrant could be quickly collected in a bowl and returned to the main container. But when sales are slow, Lao people are quite happy to lie down and doze, so it then relied upon somebody else noticing the escapee and alerting the somnolent stall holder. It's not an arrangement I'm happy with, but I am a 'farang' (foreigner) in their country. There were plenty of stalls selling cooked items - whole fish, like carp, being grilled over charcoal or wood fires. My guide haggled over various items he wanted to buy, including rice as I've not seen it, ready-cooked and wrapped in bamboo, looking a bit like a stick of dynamite. This is the original 'fast food': it can be easily carried when travelling and 'unwrapped' when required. It was made with 'new crop steam rice' and had a sweeter taste than I was expecting. (More follows).
Photographs
Road trip from Vientiane to Ang Nam Ngum.
Km 52 Market, Vientiane.
Ang Nam Ngum.
Salt Mining Village.
Fresh Market, Vientiane.
