Back on the green curries...
I had the tom yam this afternoon and it was SERIOUSLY spicy. Loadsa green chillies in it.
Discovered a nice Lao recipe (or maybe it's a style of dish) called 'laap' - or 'larp' as it's sometimes written in English. It's usually meat-based, but I had a tofu and mushroom version which was very tasty. It seemed to be made of minced tofu and mushrooms, lightly seared in a little hot oil, then mixed with chopped onion, green beans and chilli, mint leaves and lime juice.Yesterday, we went to visit some caves. The approach was a walk through some pleasant countryside for a couple of kilometers - across rice paddies, along a river bank and through some forest. Getting into the caves involved a little scrambling and climbing up rickety bamboo ladders. Nothing difficult, but a few uncomfortable maneuvres and a bit of strenuous climbing left us both with aching legs at night. It cost 10 000 kip to get into the cave which many visitors seem to feel is a rip off, but I think that's just an intelligent use of resources.
Vang Vieng is well known for 'tubing' which involves floating down the river with your arse wedged in an inner tube, stopping at one or several of the many bars on the way and swinging off trees into the river while totally pissed. It's mostly kids that do it. Maybe they've got especially slow tubes for the older folks, but I didn't ask. I'm sure it's fun but some of the kids make complete arseholes of themselves when they get back - probably stoked up on adrenalin and booze (maybe magic mushrooms too) - wandering about the village with nothing on but their keks and being really loud and obnoxious. I did much the same kind of thing myself on many occasions at that age, but that was in the UK. The grace with which the Laos camly tolerate such bad behaviour, for me makes it doubly embarassing.
I spent this morning and afternoon working on my computer. I calculated that I earned enough to keep us in food, guesthouses and travel for three days. I think I'm on to something good here. I just hope the work keeps coming in (but not too fast, eh?).