Chiang rai food and markets

You see these signs in hotels and guest houses.... 

wonder why?!

Beautiful sticky rice baskets.  

Sellling produce outside the temple

Beautiful fresh produce

Chilli in all different combinations

The raw product

Fresh noodles

This little piggy went to market

and he sure didn't come home.

He did however end up as all kinds of pork products.

Crabs anyone?

Lots of dried fish

Squid

Until I came to Asia the concept of lunch in a plastic bag had no meaning to me.

People in Asia seem to have embraced every type of plastic packaging.  

Sadly there are shops and whole aisles in supermarkets devoted to it.

Could be tea

Christmas/New Year- Laos style

The  Yao store around the corner.

Love it.

This is "the girls" on Christmas day.

Gail, Sarah and myself.

Christmas brunch at Ock Pok Tok 

.... which went on for a very long time with lots of laughs ..........

Sounds perfect.

Gail

These are huge poinciana plants growing wild.  

At L'estranger bookshop

La Silapa had Bamboo as a Christmas Tree.

Pretty ugly - it's made of Heineken beer bottles

Sometime between Christmas and New Year.

Sindao - Lao Bar be que.  

The table is made of cement and has a hole in the centre

Into that hole goes a terracotta pot full of glowing charcoal

You then sit a large aluminium dome shaped dish on top.  

The dish has sides that come up about 10 cm.  

On top of the dome you put fatty meat.  Into the well around the outer side you put stock.

As the meat cooks, it adds flavour to the stock.

You collect all kinds of meat to cook on the dome 

and veggies and noodles and tofu 

to cook in the stock at the side.  

So you have cooked meat and veggies with a beautiful soup stock.

Quite a communal cooking experience.

This is really yummy and fun.

Left to right: Chen, Melissa, Sarah, Emi and David.

And of course, what would New Year be without 2016 made out of Laos beer boxes 

and surrounded by fairy lights.

It goes perfectly with Karaoke.

Walking around Luang Prabang

Walking around Luang Prabang, 

                     you see new and wonderful things.

A great restaurant kitchen

I have never seen such a variety of beautiful fresh mushrooms.  

When you think of the climate in the wet season, it is perfect for growing mushrooms.  

Women (usually) set up on the footpath.  People stop their cars and motorbikes and buy mushrooms, possibly to take home for their dinner. 

This is probably the main street, Sakkaline Road.  

Not so busy in the low season.  

It was the half moon just after I arrived, so women and girls make these offerings to sell.  They use banana leaf and marigolds.  They're for home or the temple.