Sao Darly

I am back from another one month vacation in Laos and trying to get used to the old routines. I’ll start posting about the trip once I have more free time. Here is the start of the Laos Trip 2010 with the departure at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam and at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand.

Schiphol Airport

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Lunch from Kuadin Market on day 31 of my two months trip in Laos.

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The best part of the meal is dessert and Nam Varn Lodchong is my favorite Lao dessert.

After shopping at Talat Sao, it was time to head over to Talat Kuadin to see what we would like to have for lunch.

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After a visit to the Immigration Office for Lao Visa extension, it was time for a little shopping at Talat Sao or Morning Market in Vientiane. For this particular morning the priority was looking for Lao silk skirts and shawls. There were many shops at the market selling similar materials if not the same and finding the best bargain is the must have experience when it comes to shopping in Laos.

Of course I’m not much of a bargainer and Aunt Kian was doing all the bargaining and inspecting the materials. In the end we went home very happy to have found the Lao sinh and prabieng at the right prices.

A morning drive after breakfast to the Immigration Office in Vientiane for one month Visa extension in Laos.

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For breakfast on day 31 of my two months trip in Laos it was stir fry and jeow. Aunt Kian made the stir fry while Aunt Phone made jeow phak ee kood.

For dinner we had a special treat from Pakse. Aunt Tou asked her relatives to make a special batch of Som Moo (Lao soured pork sausage) and sent them as a gift to Vientiane.

Aunt Kian grilled the Som Moo and later made Sao Noi Disco to surprise me. Of course since she can’t eat the dish raw and doesn’t want me to try my dancing with Sao Noi Disco, Aunt Kian made sure these girls were not dancing too wildly.

I spent my morning taking care of Sidney and later took a walk to Gok Pho market to order a batch to Lao green papaya salad and Lao sticky rice noodle salad. Aunt Kian prepared the pickled fish she bought in Pakse and heated the famous savan ping kai for us.

For breakfast I ate khao thom made by Aunt Kiane and the rest of the relatives for the Morning Alms Offering (Giving) after Grand-Mama’s funeral. It is a tradition to give out the left-over to relatives and friends.

I found it comforting and was reminded of the same old tradition from my sister’s funeral when I was a young kid in Laos. So much memories and so much emotions but so loss of words to express my feelings at that moment.

W’re back to the long adventure of my two months in Laos. I woke up to another day of November rain in Vientiane. Aunt Kiane finally came back from Pakse from Grand-Mama’s funeral at the crack of dawn. It was not too long before the sky started to pour down on us.

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