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Jun 09, 2024 10:00 PM The Akha Puli Tribal Village of Ban Tu Lau Sen Kau
A walk-through tour and lunch with the village Chief at the Akha Puli subgroup tribal village of Ban Tu Lau Sen Kau, also located on Road #1B south of the town of Bountai in the Phongsali province of northern Laos. This was the third and final village visit of the day before first stopping in Bountai to drop off a second local guide that had accompanied us for the morning's village tour itinerary and to change drivers, and then to continue due northeast along Road #1B to the town of Phongsali. Whereas the other ethnic villages visited bordered the shoulder of Road #1B, Ban Tu Lau Sen Kau village was located on the crest of a hill some distance up from the road, with the trail leading to it fairly steep.
https://youtu.be/7ke6xbESEW4?si=tu3GCRqUNmRrf9Nh
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Jun 09, 2024 10:00 PM The Akha Chupia Village of Ban Sanomai, Phongsali Province
Northern Laos’ Phongsali province is one of the regions where the ethnic minority Akha people live, with a number of Akha villages fronting Road #1B and Road #2E which are easily accessible for guided visits to allow one to experience the culture and daily lifestyles of the different tribal groups. The first of one such morning walk-through tours that I did during my first day in Phongsali province was the ‘Akha Chupia’ subgroup tribal village of Ban Sanomai, located on Road #1B south of the town of Bountai. The village included an elementary school and a health clinic that also serves the surrounding villages in the area. Our arrival time allowed us to briefly observe a couple of class sessions followed by some outdoor calisthenics lead by one of the teachers.
https://youtu.be/u8PZe1YbnhI?si=P3wc8M3rEPtg-Nr_
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Jun 08, 2024 10:00 PM Ethnic Khmu Village Visit Near Luang Prabang
An ethnic minority Khmu village near the town of Napho, on Road #2501 that leads from Luang Prabang to Kuang Si Waterfalls. My guide had our drive stop at the village en route to Kuang Si Waterfalls so that we could do a walking tour through it, though did not mention the name of the village. This would be the first of several ethnic villages that I would visit during my 13 days in Laos, with the majority of the ethnic villages being in the far northern province of Phongsali. I did not have cellphone signal and could not map the exact location of the village, but from my photos and video clips of the village and surrounding rice paddy terraces later passed beyond the village, and by review of a satellite map of Road #1 from Luang Prabang to Kuang Si, the approximate location of the village is 19°48'36.0" N 102°00'21.9" E. The village also contained some ethnic White Hmong and Lao Lum ('Lowland Lao') residents, with the Hmong language heard spoken among some girls (one holding a baby) in a clip near the end that's used as the video thumbnail image.
https://youtu.be/Za2Qs09XHzc?si=vQgjZNWwcbqL_Xls
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Jun 08, 2024 10:00 PM Souphailin Restaurant, Oudomxay, Laos
Souphalin, the namesake restaurant of owner and cook Souphailin (pronounced 'Su-Pai-Lin'), is located off Road #13 near the intersection with Road #2E in Oudomxay, northern Laos. A woman of mixed ethnic Khmu and Lao Lum ('lowland Lao') bloodlines, she was a very intriguing and friendly person with a very unique and intriguing bric-a-brac and photo-festooned restaurant that specializes in northern Lao cuisine, with the combination of her endearing personality and abundant hospitality, the restaurant's eclectic, rural village home-like ambiance and her very tasty food making my late lunch one of the most memorable meals during my stay in Laos. She was kind enough to let me take a couple of video clips and photos of the restaurant's interior as she prepared my 'mok moo' minced pork steamed in banana leaf. Souphailin is definitely worth checking out if one's travel plans in Laos includes a stop in Oudomxay.
https://youtu.be/9FEfbt7Jog8?si=oGAAqLVCY59HiIk1
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Jun 08, 2024 10:00 PM Bangkok’s Boat Noodle Village
Bangkok's Boat Noodle Village. Located along a small khlong near the northeast quadrant of the Victory Monument's Ratchawithi Road traffic circle in the city's Ratchathewi neighborhood, the village contains an assortment of Thai boat noodle vendor stalls and restaurants that offer a choice between a small bowl of noodles for 15 Baht and a large bowl of noodles for 50 Baht. I tried a small bowl of pork namtok noodles from the Jay Kloy Soi Ratchawithi 10 noodle shop, which flavor profile wise was spicy with a good balance of tangy and salty and a pleasant savory umi (fermented shrimp paste?) funk, and was very tasty.
https://youtu.be/7UIIbyIePws?si=qbTJ9K-cYwWJOVu4
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Jun 06, 2024 08:00 PM Cruising Northern Laos’s Nam Ou River
A collection of short video clips of a cruise down northeastern Laos' Nam Ou River from Muang Khua to Nong Khiaw over the course of two days (December 2 - 3, 2023), which included a stop at the Nam Ou #3 hydroelectric dam near Nat Nam to change boats, and an overnight stay in the quaint village of Muang Ngoi. The Muang Khua to Muang Noi segment of the journey was rough 4.5 hours, with the Muang Noi to Nong Khiaw segment being roughly 45 minutes, followed by a roughly 2.5 hour drive from Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang.
https://youtu.be/56b8m1tkTZE?si=NIs1mBUqf-nz7jFD
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Jun 06, 2024 08:00 PM A Peaceful Morning in Muang Ngoi Village, Laos
Video clips of a morning in the quaint & peaceful village of Muang Ngoi, located on the bank of the Nam Ou River in northern Laos. Early on the morning of my one night's stay in Muang Ngoi, I was awoken by the sound of a distant large wooden gong being repeatedly struck at the Wat up the village's dirt 'Main Street' from my guest house bungalow, and knew the echoing tolling of the gong was the signal that the morning precession of monks begging for alms was about to begin. I quickly threw on some clothes and grabbed my cell phone to take some video of this daily ritual that takes place throughout Theravada Buddhist Southeast Asia, with some of the offerings made right in front of my guesthouse, followed by general clips of the village before leaving to continue downriver.
https://youtu.be/FpODBhy8N5w?si=6O3TmU6mzBGmIS0G
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Jun 06, 2024 08:00 PM The Ban Xang Hai Rice Whiskey Village
The Ban Xang Hai ‘Whiskey Village’, visited on a cruise up the Mekong River from Luang Prabang to visit the popular Pak Ou Buddha Caves near the confluence of the Nam Ou River. The village is roughly 22 km northeast of Luang Prabang, Ban Xang Hai village by car or tuk-tuk via Road #13 (GPS: 20.00333° N, 102.23056° E). The ‘lao-lao’ whiskey is made from sticky rice, has an alcohol content of roughly 45% by volume/90 Proof, and to me is similar in taste to a tequila. The village offers samples of un-distilled white and red sticky rice wines in addition to the distilled rice whiskey, and sells both the regular lao-lao whiskey and the cobra-infused version for men that is believed to ‘make you stronger for longer’. The village is also known for its hand-woven textiles and a Buddhist temple a short walk from the lao-lao still.
https://youtu.be/V_iX-ivdqI0?si=6AY427L-RXXRYSd1
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Jun 05, 2024 08:00 PM New Contributions Despite Website Bugs/Errors
Greeting Globosapiens community! Having not posted in a long time, I’m finding that the website has become very ‘buggy’, with error messages that I have reported to the Admin at least a few times prohibiting me from uploading photos, travel tips and presumably travel reports (I haven’t tried that yet). I seems that travel log entries are still viable, so I will use that section of the website to share travel tips, observations and experiences pertaining to northern Laos (Luang Prabang, Oudomxay, Bountai, Phongsali, Muang Ngoi, assorted ethnic minority tribal villages along Road #13 and Road #1B) and Bangkok from my trip in November & December of 2023. I will also include links to associated YouTube videos and SE Asia travel blog posts as they are published. Cheers, and happy travels all!
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Jun 05, 2024 08:00 PM Bangkok’s Khlong Toei Wet Market
If you will be visiting Bangkok and (like me) are intrigued by visits to the local wet markets to experience the true local color as conveyed by the unique combination of sights, sounds and smells particularly in the busy morning hours, I highly recommend a visit the the fascinating Khlong Toei Wet Market, Bangkok’s largest wet market. The market’s surrounding are decidedly less that fashionable/upscale, with the Khlong Toei neighborhood a formerly infamous slum, but the size and scope of the sprawling market grounds (especially the massive fresh meat, poultry and fish sections with the stalls bathed in red and blue hues from the overhead rows of umbrellas) will make for a memorable experience!
https://youtu.be/PE3CM49X_50?si=SqaVq3EoOyv0k_0p
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