Hello ( Sabai- Dee) From Luang Probang, Laos everyone!
Last time you heard from us, we were joining a three day hiking trip through the northern Laos jungle. This was a great trip! We hiked the first day, the second day, and then we kayaked on the third day. Our guide was named Toe and spoke pretty good English. We had awesome meals prepared for us by the locals at the villages we stayed at. They were all local cuisines made with ingredients grown at the villages or from the forests. They served most meals on top of huge bannana tree leaves (Table clothes) and we all ate with our bare hands. Sanitary?.... probably not, Authentic? ... Yes! Some food highlights were: They cooked a soup all from plants found in the forest over an open fire inside a piece of fresh bamboo. They also served us a Duck they killed (inside the hut we slept in) and cooked it for us on the second night. On the morning of the third day, some others woke up to the sound of a chicken getting its throat cut(once again in our one-room hut). We were with a group of six other travellers: An American couple , a British couple, an old Italian dude, and a Polish girl. Everybody was fun to be around. We interacted with the locals and drank some local homemade village whiskeys. We didn't see any wild animals, but saw remains of a cow that had been eaten by a tiger along the trail. Yesterday we took a local bus here to Luang Probang which took nine long hours on a dusty and very bumpy road. Luang Probang is a very cool city that has alot of French influence. The architecture and the food is very French. Today we spent the day walking around the city and checking out a few Buddhist temples. Today is Laos National Day so we will be celebrating with "Beer Laos" and local whiskeys tonight!! After tomorrow, we are taking a two day boat trip up the Mekong river to the border of Thailand. Thats all for now. Hope everything is well and we'll probably write next from Thailand!
