Fika! Laos

Min dotter frågade mig en gång vad jag egentligen har för hobby. När jag inte svarade med detsamma sa hon "dricka kaffe!" och nog hade hon rätt, en god kopp kaffe är något av det bästa jag vet. Gott kaffe kan man hitta både här och där men om man har lite längtan efter något svenskt och man samtidigt befinner sig långt borta i Laos vad gör man då? Fikar på Scandinavian Bakery så klart! Här finns både gott bröd, bullar, smörgåsar, baguetter, kanelbullar och småkakor men även gamla trotjänare som dammsugare, semlor och rulltårta. Mandelmassan görs på cashewnötter och i disken kan man även köpa svensk godis som gelé hallon och lakritssnören. Sune Wissmar från Järfälla heter mannen som öppnade bageriet (det första europeiska) i huvudstaden Vientiane 1994. För inte så länge sedan öppnades filialen i Luang Prabang och nyligen startade hans son Daniel Swedish Pizza and Baking House i Vientiane. Tillsammans har de 90 anställda, bara det ett beundransvärt och nyttigt sätt att hjälpa lokalbefolkningen med välbehövd sysselsättning och arbetstillfällen.  

När jag nyligen var i Luang Prabang med en grupp beställde jag en födelsedagstårta till Annica som fyllde 50 år samma dag vi anlände. Självklart dekorerades den mumsiga tårtan med en födelsedagsgris!

Adress: 

Scandinavian Bakery finns på 74/1 Phangkham Road i Vientiane (tel+856 21215199) och mitt i stan på Sissavong Road i Luang Prabang.

email: scandi@laopdr.com

website: www.scandinavianbakerylaos.com

Blessed, damned rain

Hoi'an, Vietnam ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

A Chinese poet, seated by a latticed garden window, might reflect upon the hypnotic quality the sound of raindrops makes upon the surface of a banana leaf, rhythmically transporting him to other worlds. In Laos Buddha statues have been created standing with their arms in a special position named "Calling for Rain". The Buddha's hands are held straight down, tightly pressed flat against his body with fingertips pointing to the ground, beseeching rain to come and help the people grow their food and survive another year. Thus the farmer considers rain a blessed thing, longed for and cherished. But too much of it can also be a curse - when it drowns fields and rots crops like the flooding that caused many problems in northern Vietnam this autumn. The tourist, on the other hand, seldom looks upon rain as anything but a bother. Something they definitely hadn't paid for when they booked their ticket (usually from very rainy countries) and an irritating annoyance put between them and unending leisurely hours in the sun - a precious luxury the tourist has come to expect and demand as his right when arriving at his (as portrayed in the travel catalogue) sunny destination. But where does the water come from that let's you take that wonderful freshwater shower in your hotel room?

Picture: The last days of the seasonal monsoon. November, Hoi'an, Vietnam. 

Thanksgiving dinner in Laos

Luang Prabang morning market ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Instead of roast turkey, sage stuffing, corn on the cob and pumpkin pie the local offerings this November for a home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner at the morning market in Luang Prabang, Laos were bat, bamboo rat, mouse deer, grasshopper (crunchy but a slightly unpleasant undertone of tobacco juice), flying squirrel, wasp larvae, exotic birds and Mekong catfish. Not that I pooh-pooh local delicacies that for some are the very height of gourmet dining but on a special day you just kind of want to eat the traditional food that your mum served you as a child. For some Laotian I suppose that is a juicy bamboo rat but I just couldn't quite conjure up an image of turkey feathers on the fat rat so I gave it a skip. No warbled thank-you was to be had from the rat who only hissed at me through very unattractive front chompers. (Bamboo rats look like grossly fat rodents without the long tails but with hideous rabbit-like buckteeth). What sealed my vegetarian fate that day was a little bat who stared forlornly at me from a large platter of his fellow mammals, all trussed up by their feet. He, unlike them, had not yet succumbed to his fate, his liquid black eyes unblinking. I heard later that a special northern Laotian treat is bat stuffed in bamboo tubes then left for several days to ferment....

Photo sales at CIWC Christmas Bazaar

I just came back from one month in Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia and have a lot of catching up to do. Keep your eyes peeled the next couple of weeks to catch new photos, postings and travel info to these extremely interesting countries. I'll be writing about bamboo rats, grasshoppers and mouse deer, Buddhist caves and dancing apsaras, hidden rocks and shoals on the Mekong, sailing amongst the karst islands of Halong Bay, lingering sorrow in Cambodia and shy smiles in Laos, Laotian coffee versus Vietnamese and tropical fruits like Nipa palm, jackfruit and pink pomelo...

But first some good news: we had great success with selling photos at the Third Annual CIWC Christmas Bazaar: 32 prints sold! That means around 7,000 RMB (about 1000 USD) will be given to the two charities working with the Sichuan earthquake victims. If anyone still wants photos please feel free to continue placing orders. All money will go to the quake charities. Thanks for all the support!

Photo: An afternoon bath in the Mekong, Luang Prabang, Laos