February 12th 1809... Charles Robert turns 200 today. I thought of him as I took sunset photos about 7.00 PM on the Mekong at Luang Prabang - midday at Downe House (and Westminster Abbey).
[See folder at left. As usual, it has proved impossible on this connection to get pictures to load into the blog itself.]
He would have loved this place - and done a better job than any of us at identifying and classifying the numerous bizarre lifeforms, vegetable and animal, in the morning market. (When you can't tell whether something is an insect, a grub or a type of seed, you know you are out of your depth.)
We did a great one-day trip up the Mekong on Tuesday, and a wonderful visit to (and swim in) some waterfalls in the hills near here. Lots of new pictures just posted in the online folder. Heading off for 2 days of elephant trekking tomorrow, then probably 2 days back here and then Thailand.
Kerry and I, desperate to seem to ourselves adventurous travelers, are finally admitting that we really just don't like Lao food, and are pining for the Kmer food of Cambodia or Thai food. Lao seems to vary between very bland and repetitive, on the one hand, and (not spicy, but) just too weird on the other. River weed with dried buffalo skin and homebrewed fish sauce, anyone? Or just more sticky rice? We have had some good meals, but never been so tempted to fall back on "farang" food - i.e. very loose Lao interpretations of sandwiches or pizza - which also tends to be a mistake.
Swimming in the falls was a blast, and we had a fascinating hike in the jungle nearby.
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