Vientiane (Feb, 2010)

[Jasonkoh82]

Wow thanks so much and I've learn something new today. Kudos to peiyan..

Something is not right which I don't understand is why the liaotian call it plains of jar? The stones doesn't look like a jar to me.

[David_Loves_Ubonwan]

Something is not right which I don't understand is why the liaotian call it plains of jar? The stones doesn't look like a jar to me.

But they are jars hewn out of stone.

David

[yy]

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Wat Sisaket, which is an easy walk of about 10mins or less from Haw Pha Kaeo... These are the only photos I have of Wat Sisaket. Either the place forbade photography within this museum-cum-temple or I was too tired to take more photos (can't remember which reason). This Wat or Vat is known to be one of the few (or was it the only one?) Laotian temples to be spared the fate of being razed by the invading Siamese troops, a reputation which Lonely Planet speculated as being attributed by the Wat's structural resemblance of Thai architecture.

As seen by the information board, Wat Sisaket is called Vat Sisaket, which I assumed is the French term for Wat. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[yy]

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Wat Sisaket closed at about 4pm and I left way before that, so I thought I had ample time to hop over to Talat Sao Shopping Mall's foodcourt for lunch. I missed the operating hours the day before; a moneychanger had replied me the previous day that it closes daily by about 4pm and I thought then that either he heard me wrong or he had to be joking with me, as no shopping malls and their food courts in any national capital could be in their right mind to close at such an hour, and indeed the foodcourt of the one and only shopping mall in Vientiane was having its floor scrubbed when I made my way up there during my first day in this lovely city.

The foodcourt had an interesting policy - every patron had to buy a cash card of sorts to purchase food within. I got myself a bowl of glass noodles soup dish (the glass noodles had an unusual texture) which even til today still gets me salivating as it came with very, very delicious pounded chilli padi. The chilli was so good and spicy that I got stomachache 75% through it; this happens to me whenever I took chilli padi which is too hot for my stomach but not for my mouth. The other dish I tried is the Khao Niao stuffed with mock meat (did not like this one much because the Khao Niao is fried and I dislike the taste of most mock meat) and the Laotian spring rolls dipped with yummy peanut sauce.

Halfway through the spring roll, this really sweet, slim grandmother with grey hair sitting next to me started gesturing to me and telling me in local language to stop using my chopsticks to eat the spring rolls but rather to use my hands. AsI further observed her hand gestures, I realized she was trying to tell me that they tasted better using the hands. Well, I gave up chopsticks there and then, and perhaps it was my imagination, they sure did taste that bit better!

[Jasonkoh82]

My my my it sure looks tasty..and I never amazed on your likings with chili padi. One slice of chili padi will sure burn my mouth and soon you will see my face's covering with sweat in no time haha.

All these foodie seems so yummy to me and how I've wished I was there...

[yy]

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There was this drink stall at the food court that had all kinds of sweet-tasting drinks with unusual flavours such as lotus roots (which I bought and came with big slices) and this one green leafy thing which I could not recognize and which nobody at the stall knew enough in English to explain to me.

This drink, plus the other dishes above, for a total of about THB150. Good deal

[Jasonkoh82]

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There was this drink stall at the food court that had all kinds of sweet-tasting drinks with unusual flavours such as lotus roots (which I bought and came with big slices) and this one green leafy thing which I could not recognize and which nobody at the stall knew enough in English to explain to me.

This drink, plus the other dishes above, for a total of about THB150. Good deal

Could I ask you on what is the taste like with the green leafy thing? As it doesn't look too appearing to me...Another one is the lotus root. Normally lotus use for making soups and I find that it doesn't add to much favours in. Please tell us on the taste and your valuable opinions?

Indeed THB150 is also kind of a good deal...

[yy]

I won't be able to comment on the taste of the green drink, because as mentioned above, I only tried the lotus drink. To me, it tasted the same as the Chinese dessert concocted from boiling red dates, rock sugar and longan in water.

[yy]

Sorry, forgot to mention that the dishes from Post34 are all from the vegetarian stall in the foodcourt of Talat Sao Shopping Mall. Yes, there is a vegetarian stall there and it is the Thai-Chinese style of vegetarian, meaning no onions, garlic or leek are used in the cooking. It carries the yellow little flag that has the Chinese character dennoting "vegetarian", much like what is commonly seen at Thailand's vegetarian stalls. I must say Vientiane is very much a vegetarian-friendly little city, probably because the capital itself is pretty small (at least for a capital) and if one knows the way well, can easily walk from one place to another, so it makes it seem like most of the vegetarian stalls are conveniently within reach. Best of all, the two vegetarian eateries I have tried so far are all so authentically Laotian fare and the prices for each meal all add up to about S$4 each time at the most, including the buffet near Wat Si Muang so prices are affordable too.

The Happycow webbie did a good job in preparing me for eating places, much better than Lonely Planet which only managed to mention one vegetarian outlet, though of course it was never meant to be a guidebook for veg foodies

Happycow had much better pictures and more comprehensive reviews of Nirvana (the one near Wat Si Muang, and which I had forgotten its name when I was writing about it here earlier):

http://www.happycow.net/reviews.php?id=19440

... and also that of Yota Vegetarian Food (of which its name I never did register in my mind) at Talat Sao Shopping Mall:

http://www.happycow.net/reviews.php?id=19524

[Jasonkoh82]

Kudos of all the information which you had put it up here in bits and pieces and Nirvana seems to have lots of variety to choose from. Not to forget that they also sell sushi. Seeing all these foodie sure look tempting to me haha

About the lotus drink which you had tasted the same as the Chinese dessert concocted from boiling red dates, rock sugar and longan in water. Which all these my mother did put it when boiling soup, etc...