I haven’t posted about it for a while, but we are still trying new recipes. Last week I tried to create my own version of Lemongrass Ginger Refresher, a wonderful beverage we found in an excellent Luang Prabang restaurant called Tamarind. It isn’t quite right yet, but I’m working on it and if you visit us this hot Kamloops summer you can be sure you’ll get one!
Also we experimented on Vanessa who was in town this weekend from Victoria. She got to try something new from the awesome cookbook Hot Sour Salty Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia. (Chapters.ca has it on for a steal at $30 right now). The dish was oaw’ moo sai pakkat, also known as Luang Pragang Pork Stew with bitter Greens. It turned out great. It is simmered for quite a while to produce tender bits of pork and “melting” veggies. Smack!
Well the weather has certainly turned. This was today.
That means that is is outdoor project season! I’ve got several queued up for this year and I wanted to get started by removing the Forsythia and the especially evil Siberian Elm from the back corner of our yard. Here are pics from two weeks ago of us doing just that.
Phase One: The Forsythia
Forsythias are beautiful bushes, especially in the spring when they flower a brilliant yellow before they leaf out and become the neighborhood favorites of songbirds. Doesn’t sound like something that should be removed from a yard does it? It is with regret that we do. This particular specimen is the biggest one I’ve seen in town by far. We hacked it back each year with extreme prejudice, but it keeps coming back. Basically, we wanted to put the space to better use in the yard. It made it easier to kill this bush in the spring BEFORE it got all beautiful (as all the surviving ones in town have now become).
“Kill it Kev!”
45 minutes with the pruners and viola! Hmmm, that’s quite the stump to dig out!
Phase Two: The Siberian Elm
This tree is a devil. You can see why with a quick look at the stump. These suckers are SUPER fast growing. Ours was ten years old. Have you ever seen growth rings that are nearly an inch in diameter? This is bad for two reasons. One, this tree was growing under the retaining wall and forcing it up. Bad. Second, Siberian Elms each spring have myriad little seeds that grow tenaciously pretty much wherever they land. Worse. It had to go.
Luckily we know Tod. Tod has a chainsaw. He is sure of himself. You can see this yourself.
Luckily also, the neighbors have a shed on their side of the fence that makes a perfect platform for hacking away at a devil tree.
What follows are super arty shots of Tod doing just that!
A satisfied look after a job well done!
Michelle and Heidi pulled this tree to its knees as Tod deftly sawed away from the top. I basically did nothing but take photos!
Tod further showed his worth by volunteering his truck to help haul away the debris. Heidi kicked butt loading it up! Gosh darn it’s good to have friends.
Something you notice in pretty much all the SE Asian countries we’ve been to are monks. Laos is no different. I suppose the fact that you really don’t see many monks wandering your average Canadian street means that when we do see them in our travels it is noteworthy. In these countries however sights like these are simply a part of daily life.
I was fortunate enough to speak to this young fellow and his buddy for about ten minutes or so after snapping this pic. They both were very nice kids with quite passable english. Both were from villages quite far from Luang Prabang and were in the city because their families were not “well off” (poor). In this case families (if they can spare them) tend to send at least one child to a monastery because they can get educated for free there and most of the boys don’t have to be monks, instead returning to their villages to work. Both of these guys were totally homesick and really looking forward to heading home a few weeks hence for a festival. I asked if they were more excited to see their families, or friends, or to have home cooked meals. With HUGE grins, both responded “The girls!”. Monks indeed.
Morning Alms
One of the things Luang Prabang is famous for is the daily ritual of the monks receiving morning alms. This is both a fascinating and troubling situation. It is a wonderful happening in that the hundreds of monks residing in the city all leave their wats and parade through the city at dawn. The residents line the streets to pay their respects to them and offer them alms - essentially an offering of food, most commonly the ever-present sticky rice. This quiet ritual in the morning streets is an honorable practice and one that makes existence of the system possible. It’s also a very beautiful and awe inspiring thing to watch happen.
Unfortunately, like many things in countries that are heavily touristed (as Laos is more and more), the very thing that brings the tourists into the area is threatened by their presence. In this case, many visitors rise at dawn to observe the ritual subtly from afar. This is considered an acceptable practice.
The problem arises when the tourists begin to interrupt the participants. Some decide to participate by joining the residents, kneeling and offering alms. This wouldn’t be too bad except many don’t understand the significance, meaning or importance of the whole thing. This cheapening hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Lao people. One of the side effects of tourists participating in this manner is the emergence of hawker ladies plying the tourists with little packets of sticky rice or flowers to offer to the monks. The locals (a group these women belong to) REALLY don’t like this development. These women are aggressive to tourists, literally running at you, thrusting their baskets of wares into you face at six in the morning. It is considered a rather uncouth way to behave. At least, being Lao, they back off pretty quickly when you say “no thank you”.
The other problem of course is the photographers. I had to wrestle with this one myself for obvious reasons. I took my photos on two different mornings. On both occasions I took pains to remain inconspicuous, taking my shots from afar and of course without flash. It was pretty tough actually as the light was quite low. Sadly though, I watched others get right into the faces of monks and residents with their cameras, as well as using flashes. I heard reports of people actually getting in the way of the long monk lineup. Yeesh. It has gotten so bad that some of the guest houses have taken to posting signs explaining to tourists the etiquette, most of which is common sense. Some people are morons. You can see both tourists and hawker ladies (counting the morning profits) in the video. Sorry it is so shaky - I hadn’t had my morning Lao coffee yet!
Anyway, I did approach a few locals both before and after the monks had been through. They very much appreciated that I took the time to ask their permission to take shots, that I did so respectfully, and that I thanked them afterward. I didn’t see anyone else do that. I didn’t get a chance to talk to monks about it. Obviously I was a part of something they dislike, but I hope they did recognize that I was doing my best to be respectful about it.
So should tourists just stay away from things like this? I don’t think so. Nor do I think the locals feel so either. They see the value of foreigners in their country and are happy to share their customs and culture with them. They just don’t like to see those customs and culture tread upon though.
I’ve been meaning to get some pics and stories about our trip posted, but I’ve been lazy I guess. So click here to see some highlights. I’m gonna try to get to some stories soon…
OK, the days are getting longer, the flowers are coming up, the city is sweeping streets and filling potholes. I was working in the yard this evening with shorts and a T-shirt on. What does this mean? Well, as it does every year after making us wait just a little too long, spring has arrived! And as people seem to come out of hibernation, so apparently does the Northern Flicker. Not so long ago Mich and I awoke at 6:28 to a horrible rattling in the house. I leapt out of bed to investigate. The rattling continued periodically every 20-40 seconds or so, lasting for no more than one second each time. I traced it to the hot water heater. Not good news. Before each jackhammer rattle there was a curious sound not unlike some kind of electric switch clicking. I’m thinking the thing is gonna explode at any time. I muddle around it for a bit and get it turned off. As I turn the dial down to “pilot light” the rattling ends. It doesn’t come back. Not even when I turn it all back on.
This repeats the next two mornings, at EXACTLY the same time (6:28 am) though I wasn’t able to fix it quite as fast the next morning as it went for 40 minutes before stopping.
I hit the internet. I hit the books. I make calls. Nothing. Nobody thinks it makes any sense. Perhaps because it doesn’t.
After three consecutive mornings, the problem solves itself and goes away. I like it when that happens.
Tod and Heidi were over a few nights later and suggested that it could be a Flicker. No chance of that I thought as there was that curious ticking, clicking switch sound just before the hammer sound each time. Birds have no switches. A few days later, and after discussing it with a couple of my classes I started to reconsider. Then one week from the first instance it happened again! 6:18 am this time. A little earlier. Hmmm.
I jumped outta bed and went outside. Though I could see nothing, by 6:25 I was on top of my roof investigating. My students think I was up there with my fuzzy rabbit slippers on, but that MIGHT be because I lied to them about that detail. Anyway. No bird. No nest. No scratches or dents in the metal of the chimney that vents the hot water heater. Nothing. Well, nothing, save the fresh bird poop on top. We are onto something with this bird theory.
A few mornings later our friend visited again (about 6:15 am - days are getting longer!). This time I snuck out and shot him!… … with my camera. See him below in his noisy glory. After getting the evidence I chased him off. Hopefully he feels unwelcome here now.
How do I know he’s a “he”? Markings for one. But otherwise it’s his behaviour that betrays his gender. Apparently male Northern Flickers like to find metal stuff to hammer on because females think it’s sexy! The chimney is awesome because it resonates so well. I suggested to my male grade 10 students that they perhaps try Mr. Flicker’s method. They promised to try it.
Anyway, I wish him best of luck, but hopefully he finds somewhere else to woo chicks! Or at least I hope he finds one soon!
One interesting thing about my sister and my brother in law Kev is that their birthdays are really close to each other - not just the day, but the year too! So Happy 40th Birthday Kev. I guess this is how you’ll ski from now on eh?
My wonderful sister Michelle has reached a milestone, reaching 40 candles! Congrats sister. I’ll save all the jokes until I see you this weekend! Have a wonderful birthday - see you soon.
** Updated April 8 ** That’s it folks! This bird has flown, or rather these birds have. Apparently the young owls have been seen flapping from tree to tree on campus and thus, the owl cam has finished broadcasting. Hope you got to see them!
A pretty incredible thing has happened at TRU. A short distance away from Mich’s building is the site that a Great Horned Owl chose for a nest. She successfully hatched two owlets who are now growing well and soon to fly. Even better is that TRU is now hosting a very high quality webcam stream of the birds. You can see them from the sidewalk, and adjacent building, but hey, we don’t all live in Kamloops. To check it out for yourself, click on the “owly” looking critter above during daylight hours (Pacific Time) and enjoy them. They are very active right now, flapping their wings, jumping from branch to branch, doing that “owl thing” with their necks, and squabbling with each other. Look soon as these youngsters are soon to fly away for good!
