Category Archives: travel

Thailand to Laos

Laos, travel

(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

Bad News, Good/Bad News

Laos, travel

Sawadee y’all,

Twenty-something years ago we tested our blooming relationship with a month-long trip to Thailand. Having both matriculated, we find ourselves here once more, this time on our way to Laos and testing only the limits of how much we can eat in day. So let’s just cut to the (culinary) chase, shall we? (Cultural and other observation to come later.)

Exotic lowlights: Prior to arriving in Bangkok, while cruising the Narita airport (Tokyo) we spied a bag of cookies that aptly describe us. (See unretouched photo.) Passed on those. Then there was the boneless, skinless, chicken breast shaped object (served with childhood memory-riddled Swanson Turkey TV Dinner “stuffing”) which was bizarrely sponge textured but admittedly moist and somewhat flavorful.

Okay, on to the real grub highlights. The Thai rep for Alan’s company took us to lunch at a lovely open air restaurant near the river. He and his wife ordered up a tsumani of food which we tried in vain to finish. First up was a pot of Tom Yum soup with an intensely flavored broth that had a hint of Chinese five spice powder. Excellent. This was followed by small disks of fried fish cakes with a sweet chili sauce and crispy fried basil. Extraordinary. Must ask Su (the rep’s wife) to help me find a jar of the right sauce, and figure out how to deep fry basil… a lot of basil. Garlic pepper greens. Lovely. Then came the salt-crusted sea bass with two sauces – the first, almost a lime-infused tomatillo salsa; the second, a sweet garlic chili. Ecksanser asked Alan if he wanted some rice, and our best-mannered boy, expecting just a little bowl, replied, sure. So out comes an enormous platter of crab & vegetable fried rice. I could feel I was starting to expand – especially since I’d already downed a Thai iced coffee and an entire coconut milk/water served in the fresh husk (Alan had a beer) – but I’d lost all self control by this point and couldn’t stop. Ecksanser and Su picked up the menu again and we assumed they were going to order a little sweet for dessert – which they did – but not before the gigantic grilled langostines. Oy. Finally, the Siamese Fantasy Ruby arrived. Colored, grape shaped, gelatin-like covered nuts and thick batons of coconut swimming in an iced “soup” of sweet coconut milk. While not on par with, oh, say gelato or a flourless chocolate cake, it was damn good.

We worked off the soup by walking to the Air Asia office to arrange our flight to northern Thailand (with a plan to cross overland into Laos). There we met a South African version of The Illustrated Man. With the exception of his face, every square centimeter (yes, EVERY) is covered in gorgeous, fluid, vibrantly colored tattoos. Evidently, he had recently attended a big tat convention where we’re sure he was a standout. We had a little trouble following his spiritual philosophy but got the gist of his struggle including the daily shrouding of multiple gods (the Ganesh covering his left forearm is exquisite) on his body when he does morning meditation. Observant Jews are forbidden from getting tattoos yet he sports a penny sized Star of David on the crown of his head. Actually, we had trouble following pretty much everything he was babbling about but thoroughly enjoyed the corporal art show.

If you’re reading this, I didn’t die from snacking on fresh jackfruit at the night market. The size of a large watermelon, jackfruit has the texture of a green pepper with the flavor a cross between pineapple and mango. It has moved pretty high on my favorite fruit list. We followed up with a light dinner from street vendors: banana & Nutella roti (Indian pancakes) with sweetened condensed milk ($1.30); huge pahd Thai with egg ($1). Oh, and for those of you who were concerned, 7-Eleven stores abound so there’s no shortage of diet soda for Alan.

The bad news, good news, bad news? I forgot to bring a belt for my loose fitting travel pants — not going to need one.

This year: Laos

Laos, travel

So, the answer to the 2010 question “Where are you two going this year?”: Laos.

Despite all of our trips to Southeast Asia, Laos is the country we’ve always missed. We’d thought of it as the sleepy neighbor of Vietnam and Thailand, but we’ve met a lot of travelers this year who’ve said that it’s a must see. Beautiful vistas, interesting temples and sites, fabulous food, and cheap – which meet all of our travel requirements.

Once again, our plans are extremely flexible. We have round trip tickets to Bangkok, and we’ll be arranging our entry into Laos from there. We’ll spend two and a half weeks in Laos, and then we’ll return to Bangkok for just over a week. We’ll be back in the US in time for Thanksgiving.

It turns out I will be working for the last week in Thailand. My company has a contract with the Royal Thai Navy and I’ll be on-site to provide training and installation. I’ll also get a chance to visit some other business related sites, so there will be some novel elements to this trip.

We will continue our tradition of blog posts with pictures and Harriet’s travel commentaries. She swears she’s going to finish the incomplete entries from previous travels, but I’ll be thankful if we just make more timely updates. I’ll be traveling with more electronics than usual (due to work) so we’ll see how that impacts our overall communications. I’ll be making Twitter/Facebook updates, so you can find periodic summaries here and follow us in real time at Twitter as @alanirwin. And we love email!

And now back to packing.

Chile

Argentina/Chile, travel

There’s a great feel here; the people are lovely; the scenery is spectacular; everything seems less expensive than in Argentina, and the food — ah, dear friends, more on that soon.

Puerto Varas is a sweet, little, rose-filled town on the shore of Lake Llanquihue with a bit of a Santa Barbara feel – not much to do but a nice place to be despite the soon-to-be completed high-rise hotels. This is not a charming little fishing village, but it was a good place to catch our breath and get more information about the fire back home… and to eat our first chupes.

My chupe de centolla would give any cardiologist a heart attack just looking at it. It was a large gratin of fresh king crab with cream, Parmesan, a hint of sweet onion, topped with light, buttery crumbs. Think warm, cheesy crab dip but with 95% crab…the real stuff, not Krab…big hunks of crab…and heavy cream… and Italian Parmesan… and eaten with a fork or spoon instead of filling French bread…and all the double-dipping you could want. I found god in a crustacean casserole. What Alan’s chupe lacked in cream, it made up in other shellfish, chicken, and sausage. Price: about $4.50 per chupe.

In general, pescados y mariscos (fish and shellfish) are to Chile as beef is to Argentina. Good, cheap, plentiful and served in gigantic portions. One afternoon, we ate lunch at a semi-touristy place with pictures on the menu. I chose what looked like a small soup bowl of shellfish; Alan chose the salmon which we thought came with a side of ham and cheese. Alan’s dish arrived with two shoe-sized slabs of salmon with sausages, cheese and tomatoes sandwiched between them. Then came a small bowl of broth for dipping my shellfish and a plastic two-quart bowl for discarding the shells. We began to worry. With good reason.

Out came an enormous platter with no less than a dozen GIANT mussels, a couple dozen small mussels, and large handful of clams. Beneath all that was a substantial chunk of smoked meat, a chicken leg, an entire chorizo sausage, and two bagel-sized gordita sort of things stuffed with different meats and more sausage. Oh, and because we thought the photo on the menu probably exaggerated the volume of my entree and wouldn’t be enough, I ordered a little side salad of avo and hearts of palm—enough for four.

There was a huge influx of Swiss and Germans to this part of the country and that is strongly reflected in the kuchen (pastries) and architecture. Most of the houses are covered in ornate wooden shingles that would seem more likely in the Alps than in Patagonia, and the hostels and restaurants are filled with lots of shell mobiles, model ships, etc. Alpine Nautical Kitch is the dominant theme here. Unfortunately, the Chileans got the look of the pastry right, but not unlike the chocolate, the taste just isn’t there.

We bussed down to Isla Chiloe for a couple of days. We only saw a small area but loved it. Again, great feel, friendly people, gorgeous scenery and fabulous food. Oh, and did we mention los peros? There are lots of dogs everywhere – cute, gentle, well-fed, friendly pups. We love Chile.

One of Chiloe’s claims to fame is its wooden churches, designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites. We had read about them but didn’t understand the aesthetic appeal until we walked into Catedral San Francisco. Think basic Gothic cathedral but all wood, no stone, no plaster. Wood walls, wooden pillars, wooden arches. Think Norm Abrams on commission by the Medicis (or Phil Harris on crack with a newfound religious fervor).

Our last day on the island, we drove over rock and gravel roads through head high fields of psychedelic yellow mustard flowers to a broad, quiet beach that was deserted except for three guys wearing hip waders and a friendly woman who assisted them in digging a boat trailer out of the wet sand. The quartet then rolled up a chariot of sorts and we were wheeled into the water alongside the boat. From there, we motored around the nearby outcroppings to view sea otters, flocks of black cormorants and other birds, and what we had really made the trek to see — lots and lots of little penguinos – all doing those cute penguin things.

Next up: GOING HEAD TO HEAD – EASTER ISLAND

End of the World

Argentina/Chile, travel

Here’s some irony: Our plane touched down on Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire) just a few hours before Santa Barbara erupted in flames. We were online early the next morning (middle of the night PST) and began speculating who among our friends and acquaintances had become homeless.

We knew Chuck’s house was in the middle of the inferno. But a couple anxious days later, he emailed us from Thailand to let us know that firefighters had halted the flames at his back patio and that his housemate and cat were safe. It was one of the very few houses that survived on his street. We’re hoping for word that our other friends in the area were as lucky.

We spent a couple of days in and around Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world (although inhabitants on the small Chilean Islands might beg to differ). The town is unremarkable but provided a great base from which to explore.

A hike to the Martial Glacier provided great views (between snow flurries) of the surrounding mountains and the Beagle Channel (named for famed navigator Magellan’s ship that rounded the Cape Horn). For those of you who live in places with “real” winters and who ski on a regular basis, this may not seem like a big deal. But hey, these Santa Barbarian weather wimps HIKED ON A GLACIER!

A much more challenging day was spent trekking for 7 hours, most of it in ankle-deep mud, through Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego. Despite the muck, a few icy gusts of wind, and only a handful of other determined (or foolish) people on the trails, it was a great hike.

Most interesting was the plethora of dams and damage created by el castores–beavers. We were also surprised to come upon a few large conejos, some Woody Woodpeckers that were completely oblivious to us, bizarre Doctor Seuss-looking parasitic growths on some of the trees, and a family of wild horses. Every so often, the trail would wend its way up a peak or back to the water and we would be treated to breathtaking vistas of the outlying islands and snow-covered mountains.

The end of the world may be muddy, but it is extraordinarily beautiful.

COMIDA
“Vistas schmistas” I can hear my siblings saying. Let’s talk food, shall we?

Argentina: Beef, pizza, pasta, wine. That’s about it. The food is good, not particularly interesting, but good. If you are a steak-and-potatoes person, you’d be in heaven here. The beef IS as good as everyone says and, as our friend Michael points out, Argentina is the only place where fillet mignon (or a thick Porterhouse if that’s your preference) is cheaper than pizza. It IS cheap and the portions are huge. And if you really want your cholesterol to soar, the ice cream/gelato is excellent. Don’t worry, we’re mitigating it all with outstanding, ridiculously cheap red wine.

There are beautiful chocolate shops everywhere so Alan made it his goal to find the best chocolate in Argentina. We soon learned that looks are deceiving, or at least our tastes are very different than the average Argentine. What we’ve tried is overly sweet and short on the cacao. Great looking, but dull. But ever the optimist, Alan will continue the quest. [Sacrifices must be made in the search for excellence. –Alan]

The best meals we experienced in Argentina happened to be French (rivaling some of the finest we’ve had in France) and, of course, Mexican, courtesy of Genevieve and Marcelo who created an incredible feast of mole de Puebla and grilled pollo. The mole was way too spicy for the Argentine guests at Enrique’s birthday party (although they raved about it between cooling swigs of dark beer), while we and the Mexicanos all but licked our plates clean.

Next up: CHILE