Costs in Laos

Better late then never. Here is a rundown of my expenses in Laos. It was definitely cheaper in Laos even as I started to add the odd cocktail and a few beers to my menu. I averaged 225,000 Kip or NZ$ 36 per day this includes the cost for my Laos visa at US$ 36

The breakdown of the major daily items was:

Accommodation 48,000 Kip/Day
Food 102,000 Kip/Day
Transport 42,000 Kip/Day

I spend almost no money on entrance fees but even if you were to visit every attraction around you still are unlikely to incur more then a dollar per day.

Accommodation: It rained a lot which kept the temperature down and all but once I stayed in fan cooled rooms. In Muang Ngoi Neua I got a bungalow with attached bathroom and a hammock out in front for 20,000 Kip per night!

Food: Three meals a day, plenty of coffee and some alcohol every now and then. One of my plans for this trip was to limit drinking in the hope that combined with a bit more exercise it would help me lose some weight. However when at the end of the day you are lying in your hammock and a woman half your age comes up to you and asks you to come for a drink you're fool to say no.

Transport: Lots of travel by boat including the two day trip from the Thai border to Luang Prabang. the rest a combination of mini and regular buses. The rest by Shanks Pony.

Miscellaneous: The usual Internet access, toiletries and two umbrellas, obviously quality wasn't their strong point.

Fake iStore

The shop in this photo has become moderately famous over the last week. Together with a similar one, both in highly visible areas of the main Kunming shopping district they have turned out to be fakes.
Someone went to a real Apple store either in China, there are ones in Beijing and Shanghai, or the USA and copied them wholesale from the shop front and layout to the shirts their staff wear.
The merchandise in the one I had a look at appeared to be fake as well or perhaps factory seconds. I doubt Apple would normally let shoddy workmanship like that out of the door though.
Steve wont be pleased.

Now how did this happen?

One of the young women running the guesthouse referred to me this morning as Uncle Coffee while she was talking to her friend behind the counter.
Surely my habit of ordering two cups at the same time for breakfast has nothing to do it.

Cooking

Rice & Friends is a new cooking school set up by a lovely young lady named Luxi. She speaks perfect English and has set up her cooking school in the court yard of the house she lives

Jasper and Senne from Denmark were the other two aspiring cooks and we were taught how to make a tofu salad that dispelled my long held belief that tofu is tasteless and should be generally avoided. Then we did an eggplant and garlic dish that was something I will definitely have to add to my repertoire back home. To finish it off we cooked a stirfry chicken dish with chilly and a sesame oil sauce.



I will post some photos as soon as I can persuade my computer to talk to the Internet again. This message is send from my telephone.
Edit 22/07/2011 Fixed

Retreat to Dali

After watching the rain and gray skies in Lijiang for four days I decided enough is enough and I have gone back to Dali where it's pleasant and sunny!
In the next few days I expect to continue south to Kunming and the Vietnamese border but first I have some cooking to do here in Dali.