(Alfred: so here we are in the Land of an-unspecified-but-large-number-of-elephants which we are learning to call 'home'. And so far there isn't a lot to report except that house-hunting here is not quite the smooth operation it is at home! The best results so far have come from wandering up and down streets looking for little signs on streetlight posts or in windows. Apparently the idea of keeping real estate websites up-to-date hasn't really caught on here, so all the lovely houses Martine and Ruairí saw were long gone!! More of that anon.)
TRAFFIC
After three days, part of the fun has been in appreciating some of the differences between life in Vietnam and Lao. And easily the first thing is .... traffic! There is just no comparison between the 24/7 cacophonic inferno of decibels that passes for air in Ha Noi and the blessed peace of Vientiane. And it is not just a question of noise. Traffic here is mainly cars, believe it or not, or at least in the centre. We have seen big motorbike parks - especially near the markets - but the ratio of cars to bikes and motorbikes seems much higher here than in Ha Noi.
But above all, there is the question of attitude. We alluded in previous posts to the somewhat ambivalent attitude residents of Ha Noi have towards traffic lights (Alfred: That phrase alone shows that a great career in the diplomatic corps could have been Ruairí's). Last night while walking home, I came to the junction near my hotel, a crossroads with traffic lights. A lone motorbike sat there, patiently waiting for the lights to change and watching me, as I was the only other moving object in the vicinity. I'm not sure how long he waited but he was still sitting there as I wandered off. If he did that in Ha Noi, he would run the risk of being detained and sent for psychiatric evaluation.
HOUSE-HUNTING
We are looking for a house: two, or if possible three, bedrooms and a little bit of greenery and/or privacy/balcony reasonably near the centre. Price negotiable but our upper limit is $800 (and that would be for something quite exceptional). So we saw four houses today, none of which is quite right but all of which were interesting for different reasons. The second one was a veritable mansion for only $700, four doors up from the Prime Minister's residence (Alfred: Exaggeration! Six doors up AND on the other side of the street). So security not a problem! Three huge bedrooms, sittingroom, kitchen, a few extra rooms that didn't seem to have any specified purpose - the only problem really was that is was just TOO BIG.
We also saw this house out towards the east of the city and a Laotian-style house beside it. They were $600and $400 per month respectively. A bit out of the way, however. Basically, we just want to look at a bunch of stuff to get an idea of what is out there and at what price.But we are not getting a car so it needs to be central!! (Alfred: And why won't the text wrap around that photo when it wraps around the others? Eh? Hello, have you even NOTICED?)
We were shown around two of the houses by Barry, an Australian man living here for eleven years and married for nine of them. Barry was a mine of fascinating information on dealing with the police, attitudes towards sexuality, medical facilities and other aspects of Lao life that would not be immediately apparent to an outsider. He also very kindly offered his phone number in case of any emergencies (Alfred: Now THAT is real thoughtfulness! And remember - if we get sick, it's the French Clinic!!!)
DETECTIVE FICTION
Another exciting discovery has been of a series of detective novels set in 1970s Lao written by Colin Cotterill. They feature Dr Siri, Lao's one and only coroner, a role he is forced to adopt instead of retirement when the Pathet Lao come to power. I am halfway through the first one and it is really really good! And there are almost a dozen of them! Strongly recommended. (Alfred: As the more perceptive, or even just the perceptive, among you will notice, he has just strongly recommended the entire series based on the first hundred pages of the first volume. Maybe hold on for more updates before committing to buying the entire series, eh?)(Alfred: And for those of you too inept to do this yourselves, here is a picture of the cover and a link to Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/The-Coroners-Lunch-Colin-Cotterill/dp/1569474184)
FOOD
OK, I am going to get this off my chest. Maybe it was a mistake to have devoted myself so intensively to cooking Vietnamese and Lao dishes back in Ireland because it has slightly taken the shine off the food here now that we have arrived. The grilled fish is marvellous but the pho and larb/lap/lab (Alfred: there are SO many ways of spelling that one) are ... well, fine. But I want to cook my own and I have this little voice in my head (not Alfred - my head is full of voices) that says 'Well, not bad, but yours is better'. Which is the height of hubris .... but maybe also true!!And I want to experiment with water beetle dipping sauces (Alfred: Make sure you only buy male water beetles, they are the one with the musk glands that give the sauce its special taste when you toast them and grind them up) and herb dressings .... and all the stuff in the Lao cookbook I brought with me (Alfred: And - other than his vast electronic library - that is the ONLY book Ruairí brought to Lao. Which, if you know Ruairí, really says something. And it also says something about his cousin, Ronnie Malone, who bought him and Martine the book as an engagement present!! Nice one, Ronnie, nail firmly struck on head there!). So whatever else our new house will have, it better have a good kitchen!
http://www.amazon.com/Food-From-Northern-Laos-Cookbook/dp/0473172364
Next installment: Ruairí and Martine learn Lao!!!! Not to be missed!!
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