In this bottle is Lao rice whiskey, a cobra and a scorpion. The instructions say one glass a day cures lumbago, arthritis and the sweats.
In Luang Nam Tha, Laos we did a one day trek into the hill villages.
These villages 10 years ago grew opium poppies but now grow rice, and rubber trees and sugar cane for China.
This lady is planting dry rice on the hill areas where the forest has been burnt and there is no water. I had a go and it is back breaking work!John in a rice paddy which is about to be harvested. They grow 2 crops a year of this wet rice.
We had a Lao picnic of fried water buffalo and yardlong green beans, green eggplants and coriander, fried pumpkin and sticky rice. It was delicious.The Lao people are really laid back and life is simple but we often see them letting their hair down in the evenings.
