Thanks for the comments on my pics (Serial, Laurelin, Spink, Mylene, and Lui). To Serials point . . . money does help when you are traveling, but the key to traveling the world is to work in the travel industry. You can still get some great discounts and in my case, I squeeze in some R&R time when I travel for work; however, it the pay is shit.
Here is a trip I took back in November of 2007 to Asia. We went with a group of friends to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. These pictures are of the Laos portion of the trip. It is still VERY rustic. Luang Prabang was the town where we stayed at . . . very spiritual and tranquil. Before its independence it was part of the French Indochina Empire. You can still see the French influence in the cooking. The people are so kind and easy going, its hard to envision the chaos of past wars that took place here (Independence from France and the Vietnam war). They still have some old bombshells that they used as plant pots and other everyday use.
Here are some pics of the markets around Luang Prabang:
This is late morning in an indoor market and this is the meat department . . . it's where they slaughter the water buffalo (no beef as we know it in these parts of the world). It was something like 80F temp inside the place and no refrigeration! Narly! The poor ladies get there from 4am. The people in this region of the world love the taste of freshly slaughtered water buffalo! Water buffalo tastes very gamey and it is tough meat. Very much an acquired taste.
Fresh chickens! Yum!
We went to this village outside of Luang Prabang off the Mekong River where they make "Rice Whiskey". It is basically rice moonshine! It doesn't taste great cuz its basically straight alcohol (similar to Everclear). Check out these pics . . . the guy here is making the rice mash to ferment . . . and the lady in the next pic is selling the finished product. If you look closely, those are Red Cross water bottles. They receive bottled water from the Red Cross and re-use the bottles to bottle there Rice Whiskey! Its about 1 US Dollar a bottle! Talk about a cheap buzz!
Here is a trip I took back in November of 2007 to Asia. We went with a group of friends to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. These pictures are of the Laos portion of the trip. It is still VERY rustic. Luang Prabang was the town where we stayed at . . . very spiritual and tranquil. Before its independence it was part of the French Indochina Empire. You can still see the French influence in the cooking. The people are so kind and easy going, its hard to envision the chaos of past wars that took place here (Independence from France and the Vietnam war). They still have some old bombshells that they used as plant pots and other everyday use.
Here are some pics of the markets around Luang Prabang:
This is late morning in an indoor market and this is the meat department . . . it's where they slaughter the water buffalo (no beef as we know it in these parts of the world). It was something like 80F temp inside the place and no refrigeration! Narly! The poor ladies get there from 4am. The people in this region of the world love the taste of freshly slaughtered water buffalo! Water buffalo tastes very gamey and it is tough meat. Very much an acquired taste.
Fresh chickens! Yum!
We went to this village outside of Luang Prabang off the Mekong River where they make "Rice Whiskey". It is basically rice moonshine! It doesn't taste great cuz its basically straight alcohol (similar to Everclear). Check out these pics . . . the guy here is making the rice mash to ferment . . . and the lady in the next pic is selling the finished product. If you look closely, those are Red Cross water bottles. They receive bottled water from the Red Cross and re-use the bottles to bottle there Rice Whiskey! Its about 1 US Dollar a bottle! Talk about a cheap buzz!