Ian Sherlock

I am still based in Thailand but currently off on a culinary road trip through Laos experiencing this great culture, wonderful untouched countryside and the wonders of their cuisine.

This trip has been taking me through Vientiane, Van Viang, Louanprabang and the far north, we have had the exciting experiences of trying the wonders of their cuisine, and also live closely with the local communities.

On leaving Van Viang we were given a wonderful ceremony where the local monk was called along with all the villagers and friends to sit down with us. Then there was a long period chanting and prayers to wish us good luck, health, wealth and fortune.

We were then blessed with dry rice (that's when I thought we had just been married instead), sticky rice and chicken to eat. To my surprise and delight I was blessed with beer, what an Englishman's dream!!!

The locals then tied white strings round our wrists saying a prayer for us in the meantime.

A big BBQ then followed and the delicacy on the menu was called locally Un, which is a kind of a large local Guinea pig.

Other notable dishes through the trip were, BBQ dog (tasted between lamb and beef) and goat (stronger than lamb), slow baked large lizard in a banana leaf (almost kind of a duck flavour), squirrel salt roasted Chinese style (My favorite up to now tasted like partridge).

You will also see one picture and wonder what a young lad is doing lying on a bamboo bed with charcoal underneath him, well, he had a motor bike accident - and it's basically a herbal sauna which is used as a medicinal remedy, also used during pregnancies.

Please see the photo's page on the Lao section for more details on Laos and the experiences.