Mae khong River - part 2

We celebrated Linda's birthday by going on a 3 hour cruise on the river that separates Laos from Thailand. It was just the two of us again. We went several times within feet of the Laos side as the boatman navigated into deeper water. The contrast between the relative prosperity and enterprise of Thailand and the obvious poverty of Laos was immediately apparant. At the half-way point ,which is the confluence of the Mae Khong and another river sweeping in from Thailand, and the end of the river as the international boundary as the river goes upstream into Laos ,we climbed up , according to Linda 429 steps but I made it - but hey who's counting - a very steep hill upon which sits a 20 metre high Buddha. The views were quite breathtaking and yes it was worth the climb.

It has been mentioned in despatches that I have not said much about food which I agree is unusual for me and readers be not surprised to hear that we have feasted most nights.
The array of food in the day markets, the morning markets and the night markets is staggering. Nick would lose the plot if he came here! The markets are full of the most exotic spices and herbs; we are constantly coming across fruit we have not seen before. In addition virtually every street has numerous hawker stalls where one can buy the most delicious food which is freshly cooked for one and therefore safe.
Unlike Malays the Thais do not eat with their hands. They use a fork , spoon and chopsticks. I usually have soup for lunch. It comes in a tin container which has a burner at the bottom to keep the soup hot. Thais have their soup as a main course or rather with their main course and the soup tureen sits in the middle of the table and people help themselves.
In the evening we often eat in a street restaurant with the locals either because the food is better or because there is no alternative. The food is quite chilli hot and on each table there will be a condiment set with 4 different types of chilli in which to make one's meal even hotter! The range of food does depend on the area . At the moment we are in Khon Kaen which is well-known for its hot sausages. When we were in the mountainous region we could get Jungle curry which contains all manner of meats including porcupine- we did not have any.

Must go now food calls.