(Click on photos to see them at full size. Click on veggie, sausage and temple photos to see albums with additional photos.)

Thailand is a country of many man-made, as well as natural, wonders. Not that they compare with the magnificent Grand Palace, but the sheer number of fake identity cards available is in itself impressive. For a few dollars, you can buy an International Student Identity Card (always helpful for museum discounts in Europe); an official “Press” pass from any major newspaper in the world including one from Lesthoto (that surely, with today’s security practices, will leap-frog you past the Salahis into a State dinner with the Obamas); airline employee cards (handy if you don’t want to remove your shoes); a driver’s license from anywhere in the world, including one from California that was quite good; and best of all, a card that shows you work for Kaiser Permanente – not an insurance/insured card, but employee identification card. Anyone need us to help you start a new life?

Before leaving Bangkok, we found our treasured fried bananas and discovered a new treat they call coconut pudding. It’s really a sort of fried coconut milk with a couple kernels of corn cooked in what looks like a miniature abelskiver pan. I’m certain I could make these but I don’t think Williams-Sonoma carries the right pan and I’m not keen on schlepping back cast iron.  

To Udon Thani we flew Air Asia, the Southwest Airlines of Southeast Asia, which gives priority seating and boarding to people with special needs and – people over 50. Ha! Take that you young whipper snappers! The shuttle from the dinky UT airport, not unlike the Super Shuttle, stopped 7 times before finally depositing us at our delightful, Ikea furnished guesthouse.

UT is a rather unremarkable city at the crossroads of old and new. We took our dinner in one of the traditional outdoor food stall courts and then strolled to the adjacent, spanking new mall complete with jumbotrons and charmless, chi-chi boutiques that could have been anywhere in the world. There was some sort of teeny bopper Halloween/fashion show/competition happening and when the judges were introduced – major teen heartthrobs, we assumed – there were deafening screams from the rabid fans. To keep the younger kids amused, there was a huge courtyard full of hula hoops, free for the spinning, and a gigantic, two tiered “bouncy house” decorated with nagas (snakes) rather than the usual barnyard critters. Those were being grilled back at the food stalls.

We loaded up on fried chicken and things on sticks, the most typical Lao dish being a smoky, grilled patty of sticky rice which, while bad if you’re watching your carbs or gluten, was intensely flavorful. My one real gaff was to buy spicy pork wrapped in banana leaf only to discover the pork was raw. Oops. Passed. Dessert was a bag of rice krispy-like cookies. (Remind Alan to tell you about “justice cakes.”)

The next morning, still struggling with jetlag, after one tuk-tuk, one bus, another tuk-tuk, one more bus across the Friendship Bridge between Thailand & Laos, and a taxi ride, we arrived in Vientiane, the capitol of Laos. Our hotel sits in the middle of the old, terribly quaint, French-infused quarter just a few short blocks from the banks of the Mekong. Again we find ourselves amidst a city in transition. Street vendors and open front, hole-in-the wall shops punctuate the streets of tarted-up French colonial buildings, an array of international restaurants, and sleek cafes with lattes, scones and WiFi. Visitors here only a year ago won’t recognize the riverfront. The grass and gentle slope down to the water are gone, replaced by a serpentine boardwalk of concrete pavers. It will be lovely when finished; unfortunately, there are plans to build enormous, high-rise developments a la Honolulu just across the street. Throughout the city are dozens of magnificent wats (temples) and stupas. (Click on the temple shot at right to see our album of wats, stupas, temples and bunches o’ Buddhas) The newer areas of the city sport wide, multi-lane boulevards; a Laotian version of the Arc d’Triomphe; manicured parks; and massive building projects; as well as the country’s largest outdoor market selling everything from gold to entrails. (For vegetarians and those who may be a bit squeamish about the practice of not wasting any parts, click on the pretty veggie shot. For the rest of you, click on the sausage photo as well for, uh, meatier shots.)

Our hope in coming here was to see a country on par with the Vietnam of 15 years ago. I think it is well beyond that, but not yet fully homogenized. Our timing is good.

Fun fact: Vientiane is a “smoke free” city. We haven’t seen a local smoking cigarettes and the tourists who smoke are very few. Between that, a distinct lack of diesel exhaust, the smell of fresh grilled street food, and a lot of incense wafting from the temples, this is one good smelling town.

FOOD & DRINK

Mango and banana shakes – excellent; Lao beer (think Budweiser); lao lao boom (a likely candidate for this year’s Thanksgiving cocktail); grilled, smoked duck; banh xeo; laap (a sort of cross between Thai larb and Chinese chicken salad – the best version with tiny, buttery croutons and herbs we’ve yet to identify) – SPECTACULAR; garlic pepper pork; chicken curry (different than Thai); puffy fry bread with sesame; an amuse bouche of fried/puffed glutenous rice topped with a pork & tomato sort of ratatouille; gelato (did we mention this is a very international little capitol city?); spicy yellow noodle with chicken & veggies – all outstanding. The only mistake was ordering green papaya salad and naively saying we could take it spicy. I believe the recipe they used begins “shred 6 Scotch bonnet peppers…”

Next up: Luang Prabang for your Buck