At about 5:00 on day 1 of the slow boat ride, all the actuaries, risk managers, and whoever else was on the boat disembarked the wooden craft for a night in the little riverside town of Pak Beng. We dropped our bags off at our hotel and came out of our rooms to meet Xayphone, our guide. As we were waiting, an adorable little Lao girl bounced up to me and pointing at our boys said, “I want to play with those!” I hesitated responding because we were about to leave and I was trying to figure out how to communicate that. She must’ve taken my hesitating personally because she said in a pleading voice, “Don’t worry, we do not kill.” I’m not sure she knew the exact meaning of what she was saying, but she was so cute and doing a good job getting her message across that she just wanted to make some new friends! Sadly, we needed to head out right away to keep up with Xayphone, but I think we chatted long enough with the little girl so she knew we weren’t afraid of her!
Xayphone led us to a local market where he showed us some of the local flavors, including lots of fresh herbs and vegetables, jungle rats, and goose blood (is your mouth watering yet?). We arrived at the market right about at closing time, and the ladies running the food stands there were ready to let loose! Someone was blasting music and almost all of them were dancing with big smiles on their faces. They tried to get Keegan to show off his moves and he obliged, although somewhat hesitantly. The sunset was fast approaching by this point, so Xayphone hustled us over to a beautiful lookout point to witness the sky going pink and purple. Later on, we found a restaurant near our hotel and had some of the spiciest curry we’ve had yet! Tate was almost hyperventilating trying to cool his mouth down and made himself dizzy in the process. Despite the pain, we all agreed it was delicious enough to be worth it.
Despite only being in Pak Beng for a few hours, it turned out to be a very memorable place!
The picture you took of the sunset is spectacular! God’s amazing handiwork on display! So enjoy seeing the sights and the smiling faces of your family!
Credit to Anya for the photo! Credit to God’s handiwork and Anya’s photography 😀
Amazing sunset photo! It looks to me that you ate at the hotel we stayed in, we must have just missed you that evening because we also watched the sunset from that terrace before heading into town for dinner. Can’t believe they had a curry spicy enough for you!
Funny that’s where you stayed! I think it was called BKC Villa and Restaurant. That was definitely the spiciest food we we had in Laos.
What a beautiful sunset! Sounds like each market you visit is a totally different experience. I was hoping for jungle rat pictures, though.