Laos (pronounced 'Lao' without the 's' sound) is a classic Asian stop in the backpackers circuit, but is mercifully little-visited by Singaporeans. One needs to get away from the home country sometimes. The unhurried charm that is Laos is almost certain to vaporise when the China-Laos high speed rail comes into play in 2020, linking Kunming to Vientiane. The 418-km line will be part of the 3,000-km regional railway that will continue through to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. This development is expected to fast track Laos into a tourism (and trade) mecca by bringing in the masses (and goods) and their attendant socioeconomic benefits. We learnt much from our 10-day trip from 6 to 15 November 2015 covering Luang Prabang, Phonsavan (Plain of Jars), Vang Vieng and Vientiane.
Luang Prabang Night Market resembles Bangkok's famous counterpart in appearance with mostly the same kinds of goods on sale (apparently imports from Thailand), sans crowds. However, the night market's short food street was jam-packed with hungry backpackers when we visited. I was happy to see that Luang Prabang was on the itinerary of Westerners, especially the French and Americans, probably due to its UNESCO World Heritage Site status.
Laos also attracts a good number of visitors from Thailand. In fact, Tim and I were intrigued to learnt from our guide in the Plain of Jars that Laotians can actually understand the Thai language and vice versa. Both Thai and Lao belong to the Tai-Kadai language family. Laotians have the upper hand as they get a good deal of Thai TV and radio. Some estimates reveal that 70% of the words in Thai and Lao are similar. However, many common words are different including pronouns, negatives and question words. Formal words are usually similar as both languages have loan words from Sanskrit and Pali, especially for religious terms. Lao vocabulary is also influenced by Chinese, French, and English.
Left photo: From the medley of ready-to-eat food, I picked out the interesting-looking ones in a bowl, and handed it to a lady. She tossed the lot in a wok for a warm-up fry. The overall flavour was acceptable except for a number of tasteless starchy bits. What popped our taste buds was the dark-looking buffalo sausage (middle photo), which was re-heated on the grill and doused in a tongue-searing chilli-lime-and-spice mix. Truly yummilicious - much better than what we had at high-end Tamarind restaurant later.
Right photo: Fruit Shake stalls were everywhere, blended on-the-spot in any combination including adding a dash of lao-lao (rice whisky). Standards varied but generally, it all depended on how much ice was added, the less the better.
Left photo: We visited the Luang Prabang night market twice. One can see tortoise carapaces (similar looking to the Spiny Hill Terrapin) painted with Buddhist images on display. There were other animal-part crafts for sale such as canines and small ivory tusks.
Right photo: We succumbed to the grilled dishes on our second visit, savoured with searing hot dips, spicy papaya salad and our favourite sticky rice served in a traditional weaved basket.
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Left photo: Laotians like their lanterns big with bold designs and boisterous colours. These lanterns can be accent pieces or repeated at intervals, usually placed outdoors to decorate the facade of shophouses.
Right photo: We stayed at Saynamkhan River View Hotel, a quaint, oft-photographed row that typifies French Colonial architecture. Our room was dominated by old-fashioned dark wooden flooring and furniture. We found our bath towels twisted and folded into a swan with two swans forming a heart shape, placed in the middle of our bed. Opposite our second-floor room was a huge fruiting tamarind tree which attracted birds such as an unidentified warbler and bulbuls. The hotel was just off the main Sisavangvong street and located next to the river, and so was walking distance to all major sights. Our room was clean and good enough for us.
Right photo: Tim spotted an E-Bus service that plied a fixed loop which we hopped onto for a relaxing and private tour (nobody else got on) of the Luang Prabang peninsular. The bus had a clean and quiet electric motor and travelled at around 40 km/h. The funny thing was that this bus had a smaller capacity (6 pax) than the modified truck tuk-tuks (taxis - 9 pax).
The 360-degree view at the summit of Mount Phousi shows off the ring of mountains surrounding Luang Prabang (which we flew over on the flight in), the absence of tall buildings and vistas of the two rivers (Nam Khan and Mekong) that envelop the peninsular.
The museum itself bans photography, bags and shoes. Royal artefacts and gifts from 'capitalist' and 'socialist' countries are displayed around the former palace's reception area, throne room, and residential spaces. For me, I learnt the gist of the Vessantara Jataka through a series of paintings and accompanying plaques in English that were hung along the length of the palace walkway. It told of one of the past lives of Gautama Buddha - how he was so charitable that he gave away all his possessions including his two children.
Right photo: We had our first taste of sticky rice (Oryza sativa var. glutinosa) at a riverside restaurant and became hooked on it. Sticky rice is dry and chewy, not wet and gummy. It made everything taste better. Laotians roll this into neat rice balls and eat it with various dishes. Some 85% of the rice grown in Laos is glutinous. Sticky rice is preferred over the generations as it tolerates poor soils and erratic rainfall better than plain rice. When cooked, it keeps longer and can be easily packed for meals in the fields. Plain and sticky rice differ in their proportion of two starches: amylopectin and amylose. Sticky rice has high amylopectin content giving it its stickiness and opaque appearance in the raw and milled form. It only has 0.8% to 1.3% of amylose. Plain varieties have lower amylopectin levels and 10% to 25% of amylose. Rice in general is gluten-free. Un-milled sticky rice with intact bran is purple or black - also chewy and lovely.
We booked a table at the famed Tamarind restaurant in Luang Prabang. Ordered too much as usual. Interesting dishes included the mixed platter with Orlam (stew with meat, eggplant, long bean, lemongrass, mushroom, chili, and lam/chilli wood), River Weed and Grilled Sausages. We enjoyed the Water Buffalo and Tripe Laap - a sour-spicy meat and herb salad. Also had Mokpa (steamed fish in banana leaf), and ended off with a starchy dessert platter (too much fried stuff and a tasteless lump of boiled pumpkin). Tamarind was the only place in Laos that sold eco-friendly bamboo straws. Bought a whole lot for the office folks. The laap and river weed were the highlights of our meal.
Tak Bat or alms giving has long been associated with Luang Prabang, at least for me, although it occurs in most parts of Indochina. We started out way too early at 5.15 am and walked down a near-empty street all the way to Wat Xieng Thong where we found only a few monks milling around. Where was everybody? Took the chance to tour a silhouetted Wat Xieng Thong in the pre-dawn hour and even poked around the nearby residences. Back at the main street, there was only a handful of waiting vendors and spectators, with long rows of empty stools lining the length of the street. A basket of cooked sticky rice and/or packet biscuits/snacks could be seen beside each stool.
Without warning, the place suddenly burst to life when tourists and locals were bussed in en masse. The devotees had arrived. They quickly took their places on the stools and within one to two minutes, the monks appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. The alms procession had started in earnest in the space of five minutes, transiting jarringly from a deserted to bustling street.
One can easily tell the tourists (seated on stools as in the photos above) from the locals (kneeling as in the photos below). Devotees give out tiny lumps of cooked sticky rice or packet food to every passing monk.
I was shocked and upset to discover huge baskets placed at intervals for the monks to throw away excess sticky rice and packet food (right photo). Obviously, there were more alms givers than monks. One wonders how these devotees would have felt having the waste basket right in front of their faces. For me, the food waste was unacceptable and even hypocritical. One wonders too about hygiene standards as each giver picks up a tiny lump of sticky rice with his (washed/unwashed) hands and places it into the alms bowl of every passing monk. Each monk would have taken something from every devotee, throwing excess away just to please those down the line by collecting from them too. Wonder if the monks actually eat the accumulated (unhygienic) sticky rice, or was it all just a show? The sight of the waste baskets made me question the entire spectacle and spoilt the tak bat experience.
The parade ended at the junction right behind our hotel at 6.20 am (left photo). There were as many camera-toting tourists at Myanmar's daily alms-giving ritual in Maha Ganayon Kyaung (temple). The nature of giving also differed. In Myanmar, people donated items such as packet biscuits, sweets, raw rice and even soap. It was the temple that cooked the donated rice, with devotees scooping out rice and other dishes using clean ladles for the monks. We also witnessed the monks chowing down in big open halls. There seemed to be minimal food wastage compared to Luang Prabang.
Sabaidee or 'hello' in Laos was the greeting on the lips of every vendor in Phousi Morning Market, located on a side street opposite the Royal Palace Museum. It was one of the highlights of Luang Prabang rather than Tak Bat. We had our fill of sticky rice for breakfast. I loved the purple variety cooked in fragrant coconut milk and drizzled with desiccated coconut and sugar (middle photo), while Tim preferred his coconut sticky rice grilled in bamboo (right photo). The market also sold odds and ends including amulets and what looked like antique bas relief metal plaques (I bought one).
We popped into a small temple near Phousi Market. In fact, we visited most of the temples we came across. One can occasionally see hellish scenes of punishment dealt out to errant believers in the afterlife. I have always been fascinated with depictions of hell. Laos's images were similar to the Chinese 10 Courts of Hell in Singapore's Haw Paw Villa.
We got off half-way at Bang Xang Hai 'Whisky Village' where tourists could buy lao lao (rice whisky). Tim paid an inflated price for a tiny red bottle. I didn't bother with the liquor, preferring to walk around. Visited a Buddhist temple courtyard and strolled through a small village constructed from wood, bamboo and concrete in combinations thereof. Saw several hand looms scattered around, snake/scorpion wine for sale, and just one provision shop.
The photo shows Pak Ou Caves (lower cave). Apparently both lower and upper caves hold around 4,000 Buddha statues left behind by devotees over hundreds of years. We were not aware at that time, that one could see Buddha figurine designs representative of different eras in these caves, ranging from faded wooden ones to polished bronze and gold-plated icons. It would have been much nicer if we were the only ones around to contemplate the beauty of the religious art, but there were tonnes of locals and tourists all waiting to climb up the narrow staircases for closer views. As such, we only had a few seconds to snap our pictures and scram.
Long boats docking area below the caves. Pak Ou caves is located at the confluence of two rivers: the Mekong and Nam Ou.
Right photo: Spiny-tailed House Gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus) seen at Wat Xieng Thong.
We particularly liked the army of Buddha icons in the 'Calling for the Rain' mudra (both hands straight down by the side) , a posture unique to Laos. This can be found in one of the buildings in Wat Xieng Thong.
Wat Xieng Thong's La Chapelle Rouge (The Red Chapel) houses a rare reclining Buddha in black, dating to the 16th century.
This curious and cute elephant head sticking out of the exterior wall of Wat Xieng Thong turned out to be a water conduit for libation ceremonies. A drain in the floor of the sim (ordination hall) channels water through underground pipes that empty out from the mouth of the elephant.
We paid a second visit to Phousi Market. Saw more bushmeat: the mottled pelage of flying squirrels, the Indochinese Ground Squirrel (Menetes berdmorei) which has stripes, and an unidentified pheasant.
From clockwise: River crabs cleverly tied together with bamboo; a basket of frogs including the Banded Bullfrog; buffalo hide (with and without hair); as well as strange river fishes and eels, all displayed at Phousi Morning Market.
From Luang Prabang, we took an onerous and cramped mini bus journey through sinuous and beautiful mountain passes. We finally arrived in Phonsavan (Xieng Khouang province), gateway to the Plain of Jars, some eight hours later.
From clockwise: We were pleased to see a real 'zhulong' (Chinese for pig's cage) in Phonsavan's Agricultural Market located behind the main street. Now we understood the idea behind cake shops in Singapore churning out pig-shaped confectionary placed in plastic mesh for Singapore's Moon Cake Festival; preserved fowl being sold in Phonsavan market; Phonsavan is an old-world town with shops spilling into the streets; View of mountains at the noodle soup lunch stop on the way to Phonsavan.
Paid sobering and insightful visits to the UXO (Unexploded Ordnance) Survivor Information Centre and the next-door MAG (Mines Advisory Group) Centre in Phonsavan. Learnt about the proxy Secret War in Laos (that took place during the Vietnam-US War) from two free documentary screenings at the MAG centre (and from more reading up later). Between 1964 to 1973, the US dropped over two million tonnes of ordnance on Laos in 580,000 flight missions. This is equivalent to one planeload of bombs every eight minutes, 24 hours a day for nine years. This horrific fact makes Laos the most heavily-bombed country in history. To put things in perspective, over 270 million cluster bombs were dropped on Laos, 210 million more bombs than that dropped on Iraq in 1991, 1998 and 2006 combined.
The US fought with the Royal Lao Government against the Communist Pathet Lao. The main aim was to thwart Communist traffic from North Vietnam through Laos into Vientiane and South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese Army occupied parts of Laos (one of which was near the Plain of Jars) to facilitate the Ho Chi Minh Trail supply corridor and as a staging area for offensives into South Vietnam and Vientiane. The war was ‘secret’ as it was not made known to American voters until years later. It was all very tragic as Laos became the biggest victim of the Vietnam-US War entirely due to its geography as Vietnam’s neighbour. Needless to say, the bombings wiped-out many villages and displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians in its nine-year duration.
Up to a third or approximately 80 million cluster munitions (called 'bombies') did not detonate, leaving Laos contaminated with enormous quantities of Unexploded Ordnance (UXO). Some 20,000 locals have been killed or maimed by UXO ever since the war ended. Over 300 Laotians continue to be killed (60%) or maimed (40%) each year, 40% of which are children. Kids come across the ball-like bombies in the course of everyday life and start playing with them to devastating effect. Several NGOs are active in Laos teaching children the danger of bombies through stories, songs and other means. MAG has been instrumental in training locals to systematically clear the land of UXOs (surface and deep ordnance) since 1994, working with villagers who come across bombies and other UXOs. MAG staff also use metal detectors to locate the bombs, careful digging to extricate them, and controlled detonations to defuse the danger. This effort is very slow and to date, only a tiny proportion of land has been cleared (likely less than 5%) and returned to productive use.
From clockwise: Bomb Village, so named because villagers have salvaged the huge casings used to contain bombies, using them in lieu of wooden stilts to prop up their storehouses and columbary (for rearing pigeons); the Hmong's farms are located some distance from their village where they grow maize and other crops. Maize cobs can be used as fuel, in this case, to boil water; bomb casings are also used as pig feeding troughs and to plant vegetables in. Village pigs wear a wooden triangular structure around their necks to prevent them from escaping through bamboo fences; a columbary with bomb casings used as stilts.
From clockwise: I am standing next to a giant jar, the biggest being almost 3m tall, while others average 1m in height; an approximately 30-m wide bomb crater; a rare jar with lid still intact; a typical unbroken jar. We could also see trenches dug by the North Vietnamese in and around the jar sites.
Right photo: The MAG-cleared main path as demarcated by white markers.
MAG displays showing the admirable extent of UXO remediation work.
We had this smashed fish dish (bottom right photo) at Sanga restaurant in Phonsavan town upon the recommendation of our guide Mr Lee. It looks gooey and gross but actually tasted quite good.
Another minibus ride got us to Vang Vieng. This was the former party capital for backpackers, revolving around tubing, drinking and wild games. Revelers in their swimwear would stop at multiple bars while tubing downriver to dance to loud music, consume hallucinogenic mushroom cocktails, smoke weed, get high on lao-lao (rice whiskey) and/or beer, play mad games, and do dumb tricks when stone drunk such as swinging down a high flying-fox and somersaulting into the river. This resulted in several tourist deaths and numerous injuries each year, when people landed wrongly or hit a rock. The authorities clamped down on the insanity (or fun whichever way you choose to view it) in 2012, by shutting down 24 party venues along the river and dismantling all crazy slides and swings. In its hey day, Vang Vieng was also known for its "Friends Cafes" that served up "happy" pizza, shakes or whatever food laced with magic mushrooms or hard drugs, with reruns of "Friends" or "Family Guy" playing in endless loops.
Too bad, the party has been snuffed out. Tim and I would have loved to observe (and not partake of) the action (since I am bad with alcohol and Tim is allergic to cigarette smoke). Today, what is left is a watered-down version. We only found one happening bar in the middle of town (and not by the riverside) called Sakura. It attracted a good crowd of party goers with its loud music, dance floor and booze. Several other bars were sit-down affairs playing 90s hits with minimal dancing. We counted only five "Friends Cafes", still playing reruns of "Friends" minus the "happy" meals.
In some parts, water was slowly dripping off the stalactites, forming tubular structures that expanded downwards in time.
Launching area for the Water Cave. We each sat in one of these rubber tubes (old tractor tires) and pulled ourselves using a set of ropes to move along a cold river that ran through the Water Cave. This was tiring but immensely fun, especially when we had a group of over 20 squealing Korean tourists who preceded us. They filled the cave with their excitable chatter, laughs, and splashes. We had our headlamps switched on to illuminate the otherwise dark passage. The rock formations here were rather non-descript. Our guide signaled for us to get off at some dry ground midway, and we walked through a short passage to explore a bit before heading back the same way. By then, our arms were quite sore but it was an experience worth repeating.
We spent an hour and a half tubing down the Nam Song, allowing the river currents to sweep us 5 km downstream. Tim risked his handphone camera to snap these photos. Our guide shadowed us in a kayak. He rescued me twice - once when I strayed into some overhanging low bushes by the riverbank and got stranded, another time when a Taiwanese lady (who was recuperating from a broken wrist) and I got trapped in a mini eddy that was taking us nowhere. My new Taiwanese friend (we were floating along together for a while) told me that she had left all her belongings with another friend she had made, but he was nowhere to be seen. Shortly after, we did come across her friend, waiting for her to come by at a riverside bar. She shouted at him that time was short (everybody has to return their tubes by 6 pm or face a fine), and could not say much more before the currents pushed us onward. She was surprised that we had a guide with us.
Our guide got impatient with our slow progress and made Tim and I hold on to some string while he towed us in his kayak. Clinging on took a lot more energy than languid floating, and was painful for the fingers. So clever Tim tied the string to his tube and I simply had to hold his hands or tube to move along in tandem. We grew bored and I invented a bounce-off-each-other's-tube game using a short string that we had found.
At some point, our guide became tired and allowed us to float freely again. There was hardly anybody else tubing at that hour, probably because it was already near the cut-off time of 6pm. Instead, many tourists passed us in their kayaks. We received obligatory splashes (kayakers using their paddles to sweep a wave of water over us). Thank goodness some kayakers were polite enough to ask if I wanted to be splashed and I said a firm 'no'!
It was particularly harrowing to see an approaching large rock just beneath the water surface. To overcome that, we instinctively raised our bums to let the tube take the hit. We also had to go under several wooden bridges - the challenge here was not to crash into the thick supporting stakes. That was not as difficult as I imagined, as we naturally adjusted our bodyweight to maneuver the float in the direction we wanted. Our guide taught us nothing of that sort, we had to use our own instincts and wherewithal to survive. In all, tubing was good fun. If anything, it was a brilliant way to experience the constantly flowing force of a living river.
After tubing, we crossed a bridge and saw some attractive riverside huts serving drinks and snacks. I suggested getting a drink there even though we were dripping wet. Upon entering our hut, I spotted the snake almost immediately in the next hut (resting on a beam just above the waterline but below the hut's floor). However, from afar, I had dismissed it as a 'yellow-and-black' cable, the sort used to tie things together. While chit-chatting over coke and beer, I could not help remarking "that looks like a snake", likely because I saw it twitch in my peripheral vision. Tim turned around and gave a loud yelp. I thought he was joking when he confirmed it to be a snake.
We spent the next half an hour trying to get decent photos. At first, the snake's head was turned away. We both climbed over to the next hut and found its head resting downwards. After some difficult shots requiring us to lie on our bellies and thrust our heads below the floorboards, the snake moved itself and came to rest in a far more amenable position (see photo). Notice that the snake's eyes face upwards instead of sideways, allowing them to remain above water while swimming.
The riverside huts where we found our snake.
The karst landscape of Vang Vieng is seductively laidback. Serendipitously, our hotel (Laos Haven Hotel) was run by a Singaporean guy called Michael who has been living abroad for close to 30 years, first in Thailand, and now in Laos. His hotel (a leased property) was simple and clean, located just a five-minute stroll from the main street, away from the throbbing music. We chit-chatted with Michael quite a bit, especially during mealtimes as his wife runs a well-regarded restaurant called 7 Haven (serving fragrant green curry, the best I have ever tasted) adjacent to the hotel. Somehow, the woody and breezy look-and-feel of 7 Haven reminded me of a beautiful hotel I stayed in when in Hokkaido.
Michael lamented that Singaporeans are a timid lot who dare not explore the myriad business opportunities abounding in Asia as he has been doing. He tried to interest us in a business venture - a retirement village that is in the process of being constructed just five kilometres outside Vang Vieng. He revealed that good solid wood can be had cheaply in Laos, his preferred construction material. In contrast, Laotians favour concrete. His constant dictum was 'In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king'. Indeed, we found it refreshing to meet a can-do frontier businessman, especially one from Singapore.
Twin spirit houses at a Vang Vieng hotel across the river.
Our hotel proprietor Michael said that Vang Vieng was used by the Americans during the Vietnam War (ie. proxy Laos war) as an airfield to bomb other parts of Laos. Today, this airfield is mostly an empty plot of concrete, with a bus terminus at one corner, as well as food stalls and an open-air wedding site at another. It is a five-minute walk from Laos Haven Hotel.
We took a coach from Vang Vieng to Vientiane. We had enough of squeezy mini-buses. Although more spacious, the coach took far longer to get us into town. Fortunately, we sat next to a retired American guy who was a full-time globe trotter based in Panama. He was at present taking his time to tour parts of Southeast Asia. We had interesting conversations on how to get the most from credit card air miles and hotel booking websites (especially those that challenge customers to find the same room at a lower cost) in order to stretch the dollar. Sadly, we did not exchange contact details. He trotted off to the Best Western hotel while we got conned paying top dollar for a very short ride on tuk tuk to our hotel - the Ibis Vientiane Nam Phu (recommended).
The photo above shows a typical temple garden which is usually encircled by headstones of the deceased. We believe that each of these mini-stupas bear human ashes behind tiny closed doors. Contrast this modern cemetery with the Plain of Jars and one can see how Buddhism has influenced the populace even in death.
Chou Anouvong's statue stands regal in Chou Anouvong Park in Vientiane, directly overlooking the Mekong River which in turn marks the Laos-Thai border. There were lots of elephant and horse statues placed around the square base of Anouvong's giant form. We observed locals paying their respects with joss-sticks and lotus flowers.
When Laos was part of Thailand, Chou Anouvong (1767 to 1829) became the last monarch of the Laos Kingdom of Vientiane. He led the Laotian Rebellion (1826 to 1829) against Thai rule twice but failed, and died a sad creature locked in an iron cage. Today, he is hailed as a Laotian hero, credited for solidifying Lao nationality. This is despite the fact that his rebellion caused the Thai king to sack Vientiane, only sparing Wat Si Saket, and resulted in a permanent divide between the Lao people on both sides of the Laos-Thai border (ie. isolating the Lao-speaking provinces of NE Thailand). In the 450th anniversary celebration of Vientiane in 2010, the government created Chao Anouvong Park to honour the man.
Garden Buddha statues can be as interesting as those housed inside temples. This Four-faced Buddha has multiple hands, each holding a powerful instrument.
Right photo: In the outdoor portion of Wat Si Muang, I captured people appearing to pray for numbers, probably in hope of winning the local lottery.
The inhabitants of a spirit house with sticky rice offering rolled into neat balls.
Monday Buddha = Preventing Calamities (Thailand's version only has the right hand held up in a 'stop' sign, while Laos is unique with two hands held up)
Tuesday Buddha = Reclining Buddha
Wednesday Buddha = Holding an Alms Bowl (to receive morning alms). Thailand has an additional Wednesday Evening Buddha which symbolises 'Retreat in the Forest'.
Thursday Buddha = Meditating
Friday Buddha = In Reflection (Deep Thinking)
Saturday Buddha = Meditating while protected by Mucalinda's (King of the Naga) seven-headed cobra hood
Sunday Buddha = In Pensive Thought
My Bird List
(Apologies as it is very scanty and not in taxonomic order as I did not do proper birding in Laos)
1. Eurasian Tree Sparrow - All parts of Laos
2. House Sparrow - Vientiane
3. Feral Pigeon - All over Laos
4. Common Myna - Vang Vieng and Vientiane
5. Unidentified Warbler with a white belly - Luang Prabang and Vientiane
6. Great Tit - Vientiane
7. Red-breasted Parakeet - Vientiane
8. Common Sandpiper - Vang Vieng
9. Unidentified Pond Heron - Vang Vieng
10. Scaly-breasted Munia - Luang Prabang
11. White Wagtail - Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng
12. Sooty-headed Bulbul - Vang Vieng and Plain of Jars
13. Unidentified Bittern - Luang Prabang
14. Barn Swallow - Vientiane
15. Common Kingfisher - Vientiane
16. Stejneger Stonechat (lifer!) - Vang Vieng (thanks Ding Li for the ID)
