Back in Udon Thani, Thailand

For our last meal in Vientiane we at at Ray's Grill. This time Laura ordered a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich on a baguette. It was delicious, and she was eating bread. Ray taught us how to ask for rice flour. We say "Bang Cow", at least that what it sounded like to Jim. With the Philly Cheese Steaks we had red wine, which Ray did not chill to cellar temperature. But, it was still a pretty good French Merlot.

This morning it was time to leave, so we caught a bus to Udon Thani. The trip took longer than it did getting there because the border crossings were jammed with Thais heading home after New Year. Anyway, we made it and checked into our hotel, @ Home At Udon, which is less than $20 per night and a bargain.

But, we did bring a few baguettes with us from Lao. At the bus station Jim said "Bang Cow" to a lady selling baguettes and she nodded and painted at the baguettes. So, Jim bought half a dozen which we have been eating all day. Here's a photo of one after it has been mangled in the trip from Lao to Thailand.

Couple of thoughts on Lao that we never posted.

At our hotel is a French couple and their twenty-something son. They are here to visit Vang Vieng where their other son died last year. Very nice couple and very sad. There is French woman and her two teenage children that are traveling around SE Asia for ten months. They came in September and go back to France in July. Their daughter goes off to college next year so she thought this would be her last chance to do something like this.

We had salted fish a couple of times. The fish is caught then the complete fresh fish is grilled over charcoal after dipping each side in salt. When we say complete fish, we mean it. The fish is served with its complete head, tail, and entrails, and stuffed with an onion in its mouth. The fish was quite good, but we left the entrails along with the bones and the head.