Visitez Luang Prabang, et le reste du Laos

Pakbeng

Benolaos — 2017-12-29T08:59:47Z

This small village of Pakbeng lies half-way between Huay Xai and Luang Prabang, perched high on the banks of the Mekong river, in a preserved surrounding, close to the international Thai border connecting Nan.

Travellers might need to stop one night if they navigate with the slow boat from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang (or vice-versa), but they usually don't stay more than 1 night, even if there are couple of (hidden) curiosities around: non-touristic ethnic villages, primary forest with huge multi-century old rare essence of trees.

Pakeng is also a crossroad from Northern-Laos (Oudomxay, and further China), and Central Laos (Sayaboury and Vientiane).

Discover some activities in Pakbeng, see document below by Le Grand (PDF file)

Sayabouri, the Elephant city

Benolaos — 2017-12-29T08:29:41Z

Sayabouri is a city located in Northern Laos, 2 hours drive from Luang Prabang. This region has always been the stronghold of elephants that lived historically wild in hordes. The area was also probably a normal path for elephant transhumance from north to south of Asia.

Today, the city hosts each year the elephant festival which usually takes place during the second half of February, the third weekend. Dates are unfortunately given at the last moment. For that special 3-day festival, the city welcome more than 25.000 persons. in a 5,000 inhabitants city, the principle is homestay accommodation. Attempting to book a room in a hotel of any category is a dream.

The region is very beautiful and the province has distinguished itself very early from other regions by adopting ecological standards, long before they were discussed at the national level.

The Elephant Conservation Centre

The centre itself is worth a detour (see article about the Centre). The place is unique in Laos. Looking for the entry door, only accessible by boat through a little cruise on the lake, the place is charming. The owner and the staff are completely dedicated to the pachyderms, a clinic was set up to help injured or sick elephants. Vistors will find a little museum about elephants, and many books about the subject.

Le Vat Si Bounheuang

in the southern part of Sayaboury, in the airport area, you will find ruins of an old temple (300, 700 year old ???). Renovation of the place to protect the old bricks have been started in 2016.

We will admire the laying meditating Buddha, and the pains about Buddha's life and principle of karma are beautiful.

Le Vat Na Niao

We can also visit the temple Wat Na Niao, in the village Ban Khen Keo where something quite incredible happened 5th month of year 2557 (couple of days before Lao New Yer, mid-April). Kamnoui, a young man a bit lunatic, native of the village, discovered a huge trunk (with a diameter about 2 meter) in a neighbouring river close to the village.

Back home, Kamnoui described his find to his parents, Mr. Bountheung and Mrs. Venphet, farmers, but only got incredulity... Without the help of Khamnoui's uncle, Mr. Bountiane Khounphadit, the trunk would certainly remain where he had been sleeping since we do not know how long. Because during the life of the village, no one had ever noticed the massive and straight like a "i" trunk resting all along. In its perfect state of conservation, it could clearly be predicted of a very dense tree essence, noble, and probably rare in view of its ash colour so singular ... For Khamnoui whose life has not always been very easy is like winning the lottery.

A party (a Boun) was organized to rally the friends and together get out the piece of wood from his bed. Five jars of 20 litres of laolao (local sake) and five big chickens were brought for the festivities to motivate the crowd. Came the moment when it was necessary to get of the precious piece of wood from water. The story (verifiable) says that it was not so easy, and that it was necessary to take several times, and that each time we increased significantly the means, but that nothing made there, that 4x4 vehicles were combined in large numbers to arrive, and after six hours of unsuccessful attempts, the tree finally came out of its coffin.

The tree measured in fact 37 meters, for 2.60 meters in circumference, an exemplary straightness, a weight of more than 11 tons, and especially an estimated age around 900 years after analysis of a sample ...

A beautiful temple, where it is customary to sound the gong caressing it in his heart. The donations (2.000 kip, more if you want) are particularly recommended: they would bring the chance, "the Boun"... another story of Buddhist karma, also verifiable.

Xieng Khuang, the Plain of Jars

Benolaos — 2017-12-29T07:52:09Z

Located in the north-eastern part of Laos, the Plain of Jars is a region well known for the large number of sites where hundreds of jars can be seen. Their presence and their usefulness remain to be elucidated.

Xieng Khuang province was also the scene of intense bombing during the secret war that has lasted more than 10 years and has not only left visible legacy with irreparable damages, but still causes deaths and injuries each year (around 1 per day).

Because of this history, some villages have been converted into the recycling of metals left by intense bombing, such as the village of Na Pia ("the spoon village"), making spoons with some warheads aluminum.

From Wikipedia:

More than 90 jar sites have been identified within Xieng Khuang Province. Each site has from one to 400 stone jars. The jars vary in height and diameter between 1m and 3m and are all hewn from rock. Their shape is cylindrical with the bottom always wider than the top. The stone jars are undecorated, with the exception of a single jar at Site 1. This jar has a human "frogman" bas-relief carved on the exterior. Parallels between the "frogman" and the rock painting at Huashan in Guangxi, China have been drawn. The Chinese paintings, which depict large full-frontal images of humans with arms raised and knees bent, are dated to 500 BC–200 AD.

Variations in the practices of cremation inside jars and secondary burial outside jars, as noted by Colani, have proven difficult to explain. The cremated remains seem to mainly belong to adolescents. While the bomb clearance operations did not involve emptying of jars and thus no additional evidence could be gathered, Van Den Bergh claimed that the stone jars initially may have been used to distil the dead bodies and that the cremated remains within the jars represent the most recent phase in Plain of Jars. The jars with smaller apertures may reflect the diminishing need to place an entire body inside.

The suggestion that the jars, in a similar fashion to traditional Southeast Asian Royal mortuary practices, functioned as 'distilling vessels', was put forward by R. Engelhardt and P. Rogers in 2001. In contemporary funerary practices followed by Thai, Cambodian and Laotian royalty, the corpse of the deceased is placed into an urn during the early stages of the funeral rites, at which time the soul of deceased is believed to be undergoing gradual transformation from the earthly to the spiritual world. The ritual decomposition is later followed by cremation and secondary burial.

For more information about the scientific survey in Plain of Jars, we might be interested by this content: The history blog.

Nong Khiaw

Benolaos — 2017-12-29T07:44:19Z

150km up north Luang Prabang on the road # 13, the peaceful village of Nong Khiaw (also called Mouang Ngoi Khoua). This village is about 4000 inhabitants, and developed around the bridge that straddles the Nam Ou River, one of the most historically pure rivers of Laos and home to fish and crayfish reputed in the region.

The karst landscapes where the rocky peaks abound are beautiful. You will find a relatively unspoiled nature, waterfalls, and a river Nam Ou where fishing is obviously practiced, and a great place to experiment kayaking.

After visiting the Patok caves where the administration took refuge during the secret Laos war (today's concrete stairs were at that time made of bamboo), we can go further to the villages of Ban Sen and Ban Bomvan where one village is specialized in dyeing and another in spinning and hand weaving.

Vibes in Luang Prabang

Benolaos — 2015-10-10T08:19:00Z

We see the pictures, we would like to have the smells, but we often forget the sounds. Working TAEC (Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre), Marie-Pierre Lissoir offers an approach by ear.

The approach is quite unusual. Close your eyes, and let the imagination do ... here is a variegated sound tracks dedicated to Luang Prabang:

* [Atmosphere of sunset over the Mekong> https://soundcloud.com/user-385145349/ste-020]
* Songs and mantras of a Buddhist temple in the late afternoon (click here to listen) ,
* The sounds that occur during a walk around the TAEC (when?)
* [The song of red-Bulbul bird> https://soundcloud.com/user-385145349/the-singing-of-the-red-whiskered-bulbul]
* Or that his lancinant calling the listener to discover the source (a loom ...?)

Meanwhile other productions ...

View online : Find others sounds from the same author

Coffee (organic & fair trade)

Benolaos — 2012-07-10T06:18:56Z

While all the Lao coffee is produced in the south (in Bolaven Plateau), Saffron developed a local production in northern Laos, specially in the Luang Prabang province

The story of Saffron Coffee begins with a group of tribes living high in the mountains of northern Laos. Unable to plant and harvest rice in the lowland paddies like the majority Lao, these tribes cultivated opium poppy on the mountain slopes and plateaus.

In 2004 David Dale, and American living in Laos, researched the possibility of planting arabica coffee in northern Laos. So David explored highland areas (coffee grows at 800m high and more, but not less), around Luang Prabang, and found the land to be promising and the interest high among the hill-tribes. As a result, Saffron Coffee was born.

Partnering with local Hmong anf Khmu workers, Saffron coffee created a coffee nursery, planting numerous varieties of arabica coffee seeds (more than 20 different species of seeds are used). When these seeds germinated the seedlings were transplanted into over 300.000 plastic bags. After the coffee trees are of sufficient size, Saffron Coffee makes arrangements to give them to mountain villagers who have land appropriate for planting coffee. Saffron Coffee agrees to purchase all their coffee when it comes time to harvest.

As the red-ripe "cherries" are harvested by hand, Saffron Coffee purchases the coffee from the farmers, wet-processes it into quality green coffee, and roasts it fresh in Luang Prabang. Coffee is becoming the first sustainable cash crop for many upland farmers since opium.

If Laos is famous for its coffee production in south (in the Bolaven plateau where mostly grow robusta), Saffron Coffee introduced a 100% arabica local production in north, already acclaimed by coffee cupper :

"Saffron Coffee has a deep sweet-toned aroma with notes of cedar and dark chocolate. Rich body. Light syrupy texture. Gentle acidity. Rich flavour with notes of dark chocolate and hints of molasses".

Saffron Coffee proposes 4 quality beans :

Saffron Peaberry, the top of the line. Selection of cherry that has only one bean. This is a favourite of lighter-roasted coffee connoisseurs brewed with a French Press.
Saffron Premium, with a full flavoured and taste especially delicious when roasted dark and brewed as an expresso.
Saffron Prime, made from standard beans with the nicest aroma-strong notes of chocolate when freshly roasted.
Saffron select, made from smaller beans from the coffee harvest.

You can taste it in the 2 coffee shops in town, and also visit the factory where coffee is roasted (5 kilometres out of the city). Saffron Coffee has grown there coffee trees to show of the plants, the cherry, and the way they must be take care of.

View online : Saffron Coffee

Mok Pa For

Benolaos — 2012-06-20T13:58:30Z

Speciality of Luang Prabang that is particularly appreciated by tourists being as its not spicy and only uses fish, vegetables and herbs. There are 2 forms of presentation : either individual (as shown on the left) or in larger ‘packets' (then, the whole banana leaf is used, which is the most usual way of doing it).

Preparation Time : 30 à 40 minutes
Cooking Time : 40 minutes

Ingredients (for 4 people)

1 kg of firm fleshed fish filets
4-5 banana leaves
4 eggs
Salt
Pepper
1 glass of coconut milk
1 soup spoon of fresh, chopped coriander
4 shallots
2 cloves of garlic
2 limes
2 pieces of citronella
11-12 leaves of kaffir lime

Preparation

Blanch the banana leaves in boiling water to soften them.
Cut the fish into small pieces of 2-3 cm.
Beat the eggs and add the coconut milk.
Chop the citronella finely, as well as the shallots, garlic and coriander.
Add this mixture to the fish, egg and coconut milk mixture.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Cut the banana leaves into large pieces, make small parcels, with 3 soup spoons of the above mixture.
Vapour cook for about 40 min.
Serve with lime (add a little on the hot food)

Laotian Sausage

Benolaos — 2012-06-20T13:52:59Z

Laotian Sausage (shown here in pork, but it also exists in spicy beef) is one of the most eaten specialities in Luang Prabang. Marriages, religious ceremonies, and other festivities normaly have a meal and include this sort of sausage, which is very much appreciated by Laotians and even tourists who have more delicate taste buds.

Preparation Time : 30 minutes + 24 heures
Cooking Time : 15 minutes

Ingredients (for 5 people)

175 g minced pork
40 g cooked rice
2 soup spoons of lime juice
1 coffee spoon of chopped garlic
1 coffee spoon of ground white, or black, pepper
1/2 a coffee spoon of salt
1/2 a coffee spoon of chopped lemongrass (citronella)
50 cm of rinced sausage skin casings rubbed with salt
900 ml of peanut or maize oil for frying

Preparation

Mix well together, the minced pork, garlic, pepper, salt, sugar and lemongrass.
Fill the casings, shape them into balls and tie with string.
Leave to dry for at least 24 hours.
Heat the oil on a high heat in a frying pan and fry the sausages on both sides for 15 minutes, until
they are golden and well cooked.

Normally, this sausage is served with fresh slices of ginger and small pimentos and sticky rice.

Tchéo Bong

Benolaos — 2012-06-20T13:36:12Z

Tchéo Bong is one of the most used "creamy sauces" in Luang Prabang. A typical speciality of the province, you will hardly ever find any, apart from in the old royal town. The Laos coming from other provinces, often take advantage of a stay in Luang Prabang to make large purchases of this rather spicy and very tasty composition.

Ingredients

1 kg of dried pimento, emptied of their grains
4 kg of crushed garlic
30 g of chopped mild ginger
3 kg of sugar
1 bottle of brine
20 g of honey
20 g of ground dried shrimp
2 kg de beef rind

Preparation

Cut the beef rind into thin slices, soak them in salty water and drain them. Then put the pieces of beef in an earthenware pot of water on a medium heat until the meat tenderizes.
Roast the ground pimento in a saucepan with a smear of oil. Mix with the sugar, then the ginger.
Put the roasted ingredients in a mortar and pound them. At the same time add the brine and the garlic. Crush until everything is well mixed. Then, add the pieces of beef and the dried shrimps and continue to mix.
Pour the honey over it and transfer everything to a serving dish.

This dish is normally served with rice, vegetables, grilled fish, dried meat, but also goes very well with dried alga from the Mekong (see picture).

Tchéo Bong can be cooked in two ways, sweet or spicy, according to what it is served with.

It is often prepared in huge quantities, because this ‘preserve' keeps very well and is often better after having been kept for a certain period of time.

Green papaya salad

Benolaos — 2012-06-20T13:30:59Z

This is THE Lao-Thai dish. Those with a tough palate, will really enjoy it : the dose of pimento which is normally used, is in the region of 20 pimentos per person. For security reasons, we have divided the doses by 20 so as not to assault our compatriots, who are not as accustomed to "Lao mildness".

Preparation Time : 30 minutes
Cooking Time : 0 minute

Ingredients (for 5 people)

400 g of green papaya
4 small ripe tomatoes
5 red or green pimentos
3 small, round eggplants
5 cloves of garlic
5 soup spoons of Paderk (or fish brine)
1 coffee spoon of salt
2 soup spoons of sugar
2 soup spoons of glutamate
Juice of 2 limes

Preparation

Peel the papayas.
Wash them with slightly salty water and grate them so as to obtain small slivers. Cut the eggplants and the tomatoes into small pieces or in rings.
Pound the pimentos and the cloves of garlic in a mortar. Add a coffee spoon of salt, then the grated papaya, eggplants and tomatoes, limejuice, Paderk (or brine), glutamate and sugar.
Mix everything together for a good three minutes, so that all the ingredients are blended.

Papaya salad can be served with different vegetables. Normally its presented with green salad, cabbage, bindweed, grilled vermicelli. Its usually eaten with sticky rice. Careful, this salad is very often spicy, very spicy !

It can also be served with dried meat (the excellent Sinsavan, otherwise called "paradise meat"), or even Kiep-Mou (roasted pork rind).

Alternative Recipe 1
Alternative Recipe 2