Our guide says that Lao people do not like Thai people for 3 reasons. (i) Thailand has invaded Laos twice (ii) The colonial French gave a large part (he said 70%) of Laos to Thailand (iii) Thais think Lao are dirty people who eat sticky rice!
Early start today (08:30) when were were collected for a tour of the city. After breakfast in the hotel (good) our first stop was the oldest temple in Laos - the Golden Temple.
The temple used to be painted white but was at some point painted yellow and so did not get UNESCO world heritage status.
Our guide San spent 6 years (from 12 to 18) at monk school. Monk schools are the same as state schools but pupils also have additional studies in Buddhism. Parents are keen to send their sons their as it's free and it keeps them out of trouble. You can choose to leave when you want or stay on as a monk full time.
We did learn all about the 4 poses of Buddha - peace, tranquility, mother earth and rain. And the 3 symbols of Buddha - the banyan tree, the lotus flower and the dragon.
At the temple there was a bride and groom posing for their photographs which was a very serious affair.
San told us that at his wedding their were 1000 guests all of which have to be fed and watered. Each guest usually gives around US$60 as a gift. This goes towards paying for the party and if they are lucky, generate a profit.
Next stop was another temple but even though it was only our second, they have blurred into one so here are some temple pictures.
Next stop COPE.
COPE is an NGO whose aim is to educate about unexploded bombs or UXO (unexploded ordinance). There are said to be 80,000 unexploded bombs in Laos from the estimated 500,000 dropped by the Americans during the secret war.
There was an exhibition
And a very harrowing video. Even the toilets were used to drive the point home.
On to the Patuxay Monument described in the guide books as the Arc de Triomphe of Laos. You can walk to the very top and there are souvenir stalls galore on every level.
Our guide - San
By now it was 40C so time to get out of the sun i.e. lunchtime.
Again, some of the food was a bit on the spicy side
Tour ended with a visit to the national museum which can best be described as tragic. We were in and out in 20 minutes.
Still too hot outside so time for a nap before our evening excursion to the Tum Tum Chen Restaurant and Cookery School.
Here we were taught by Chandra how to cook 3 separate dishes which we ate at the end.
All very entertaining but it did drag on a bit as the other couple were vegetarians so everything was cooked sequentially. Wicker baskets are the sticky rice. Desert was Banana Soup (bananas, coconut milk, coconut oil sugar and lime) - sounds awful but was actually delicious. Chandra made that himself as we were too slow and the guides were banging on the door to leave.
Future dinner guests at Tum Tum Dorothy Road can, until further notice, expect Ginger Chicken, Chicken dumpling steamed in banana leaf, Pork Lahp (spicy meat salad) and sticky rice.
After that was meant to be a trip to the night market but the rain started again so that was that.
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