Laos : Luang Prabang : Local Villages - Rice Whisky, Saa Paper; Pak Ou Caves; Lao Service; Lao Democracy

Luang Prabang is a very small city, a tiny urban island amid the thick mountainous countryside.
The village brewing laolao (rice whisky) was such a direct contrast to Talisker (on Skye) it was comic. At Talisker, the whisky was produced in an enormous wooden and copper plant, polished and gleaming. A wizened expert in overalls would go around checking readings, tasting and occasionally adjusting settings by the fraction of a degree.
The rice used for laolao was fermented in clay jars – often covered with some salvaged corrugated iron but occasionally open to the clouds and chickens. The fermented rice was slopped into a paste by hand, boiled and distilled in a recycled oil drum.
The clear pink stuff that came out was much yummier that Talisker. It was sold in hilarious bottles bearing communist inspired wheat sheaves and the inscription “Lao Standard Alcohol”.
Another village made paper. Anything was used – bamboo and banana as well as teak and other woods. The pulp was measured out onto a submerged grid and a concentrated old woman used myriad hand flicks to evenly spread the pulp over the mesh. Once dried this would give beautiful light paper.
We wandered down to the water’s edge. The mountains surrounding Luang Prabang are like enormous rocks jutting, forced from the earth. We crossed the Mekong in a long-tailed boat, the pale cliffs crouching over us. As we approached the cave mouth, my eyes resolved the hundreds and thousands of Buddhas which filled the cave. The cavern was dimmed by overhanging rocks. The ceiling rose away into darkness, capped by a small gold stupa.
The cavern above only had a small entrance with a daft ornamented door. It was pitch black inside. The place ballooned out and our torch beams were feeble in the vast darkness.
We booked this guided tour of the caves and the villages through ‘All Lao Service’. The name was comic, the service abysmal. Our guide didn’t utter a single word throughout the day, even when he wanted to leave. Questions were answered with nods, grunts at best. They were all smiles until they got your money, the manager promised us half an hour each of free internet (worth quite a lot in Luang Prabang) however when we came back to claim it, he insisted on 10 minutes, one person. He later smilingly sold us airline tickets, however neglected to put us on the passenger list for that flight! We made the flight after much argument.
Communism doesn’t inspire good customer service. It also seems not to inspire good democracy. The democratic system in the ‘Lao People’s Democratic Republic’ is also comic. The Politburo makes all Government decisions. The Politburo committee are selected by the Party General Committee. As per ‘The Mikado’, Khamtay Siphandone is President, Secretary General of the Politburo and holds all positions on the General Committee. He therefore hand-picks all Politburo members from those elected (all of whom must be a member of The Party (i.e. the Communists)