Catching up with old Friends.

12 July  2010
Day 5 – Luang Prabang to Xieng Kuang

First thing this morning we went to the Kao Soi noodle place to have breakfast and to take some more pictures to go with the story for the cookbook.

We had a very nice surprise this morning, Ket with the help of the Peaun Mit team in Vientiane, was able to get the contact details for Ohn, one of Makphet’s graduates who is now working in a very chic french bakery café in Luang Prabang. We were so happy to see him. He was one of our first students and he has grown up so much. I am so proud seeing him the way he is now.

Ohn told us that he had plans to come to Vientiane next month, so he will come and visit us and cook his favorite dish Olam for our cookbook.

Ghislain and I took the 500 steps up to Mount Phousy, where you get a great view of Luang Prabang.

We then started our next culinary adventure traveling to Xieng Kuang province. The drive was again stunning and we stopped half way on a junction that meets the roads from Luang Prabang, Xieng Kuang and Vientiane. It is a small little town with the most picturesque fruit and vegetable market that I have seen so far. But there is much more the vegetables and fruit for sale, some of it not so picturesque (or appetizing!).

We then arrived around 7pm at our guesthouse had a shower and now I am writing this journal, Ghislain is I am sure in his room working on the 1000 pictures that he took today, Ket and the rest of the team went to see a former student that was reintegrated here and we then will have dinner at around 8:30pm.

Tomorrow will be a busy day because we’ll be visiting two former students and more markets markets and of course the Plains of Jars which makes this province so famous.

They are also famous for their wild mushrooms and fermented birds which (besides seeing our students again) is what really makes me come here.