No seafood in Laos

When I first learnt that Laos is a landlocked country, I was uber excited that I won’t have a problem eating the food (since I don’t eat seafood). When I first mentioned to my host family that I don’t eat seafood, they told me not to worry because they don’t get seafood unless for special occasions. Soon I discovered that while they don’t get “seafood,” they get “riverfood” from the Mekong River.

This morning, a visit to the market I saw eels, squids, all sorts of big and small fishes, frogs (!), catfish (I almost stepped on one of them whey it jumped out of the bowl and snuggled into the drain located on the side of the walkway…)

A little note on the Mekong River. The Mekong River is just a 3 minutes walk from the house and across the river lies Thailand. Along the river there are many food stalls random benches, essentially, places where people can just chill and relax! My first day here, I went to one of the food stalls and had Kaw (something) soup, which looks like pho but in a udon noodle shape, using chopsticks! In the background “nobodynobdy but you!” was playing which made me momentarily forget where I was.

My host father goes to the riverbank to savor his morning coffee every morning. I would love to join him one of these days and get a taste of the famous Lao coffee!

The Mekong

A monk sipping his morning tea