Luang Prabang - Day 2

Today I woke up and enjoyed a lovely breakfast on the terrace of my hotel. I got an omelette, a baguette and a plate of fruit. It was even a bit too much and I could barely finish it. My cooking course started at 8:30, and I walked there by taking a scenic route along the river. When I arrived, I was informed that I was the only one who had signed up for the course today. I would be getting a private lesson. I first chose which two recipes to make, which were fried noodles and green papaya salad, and then I was taken to the market by young Lao man, whose name I have forgotten. He was very nice and wanted to practice his English with me. The market he took me too was way out of the tourist quarter, and had lots of delightful things on display. My guide pointed out lots of food particular to the region, and when I saw something that looked strange, he offered insight. I saw very strange block of red stuff, which told me was water buffalo blood, used in soup. The two most horrible things I saw are in the photo on the top left. The first is adead baby water buffalo, and next to it the bag is water buffalo bile, used in salads and soups. On our back to the cooking school, my guide asked me a few questions, such as how much my tuition was in Beijing. Eventually I found out he only makes one million kip a year, just over $100. When I told him the average earnings in Canada wre $38,000, he was very surprised. He couldn't even afford a place to live in on his own, and apparently lived in a temple with a monk.

Back at the school, a girl came and introduced herself as having an extremely long name, which she said I could shorten to 'Tun'. She was to be my teacher today. She went through a plate of produce with me and talked about all the items. One of the stranger ones was 'spicy wood', which is wood that is spicy. I even chewed on a piece, and it is definately spicy! She tehn had me chop some garlic, lemon grass, and ginger, which was more difficult than it should have been due to the dull cleaver knife I was using. While I was only able to choose two recipes, I also ended up making the 'fried weed', sticky rice, and a sticky rice desert with coconut milk. All of the veggies were chopped, so I did none of the hard work. Cooking the noodles was straightforward, and the papaya salad was easy too. They use mortars and pestles here for cooking still, and that's what I used to pound my papaya salad. I was also given some sticky rice wine to try, which was very tasty and pink. When I finished my dishes, I was able to eat them all, but it was way too much, and I could not finish everything. Before I left, I was given a cookbook, and a pouch of spices. Overall it was a lovely experience, although it ended too soon.

In the afternoon, I relaxed. Immediately after lunch, I returned to my hotel and watched a lousy action movie, 'Demolition Man'. After that finished, I went to a cafe and read for a couple of hours, before having a soup for dinner at a cheap place on the riverside. I retired to my hotel for te evening, watched a movie I had never heard of from the 90s called 'Jennifer 8'.