Laos meaning ‘Land of a million elephants’, now only has 860-odd elephants, some in the wild and others in protection camps. I asked about other wildlife and it seems that many of the people, hill/rural people particularly, are very poor and so they eat whatever they can find - monkeys, bats, birds, snakes, insects, and so on. As a result, wild fauna populations are diminished - and markets are real eye-openers! Never say you don’t have enough to eat. These people eat everything - a lot of the wild vegetation, river weed, tiny fish, frogs, small birds, frogs, fowl of all descriptions, bee and wasp larvae, fungi, snails, buffalo skin - and insects although we didn’t see any at the markets. Some of the sights at the market were a bit challenging for us used to sanitised, vacuum-packed food. One confronting sight was tiny birds in miniscule cages. I discovered that they are birds that the rice farmers capture because they swarm through ripe rice crops eating the rice as they go. Many farmers once simply ate them but now they capture and sell them. It is seen as a win-win scenario. The farmer gets rid of his pests and the buyers more often than not free the birds and in so doing are blessed. (We gave our guide money to release two birds.)
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| These packages of buffalo skin and fried mushrooms were less than $A2 |
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| These tiny birds were similar to Java Sparrows |
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| Buffalo skin while not very attractive is highly nutritious |
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| River weed on the left and either roots or bark in the centre |
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| A delicious array of mostly vegetables |
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| Either bee or wasp larvae - we saw both |
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| Fresh river fish and toads |
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| On this stall were small birds, a wee mouse, and crabs trussed up ready to go |
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| Fresh ducks, chooks and other fowl on offer. You could also buy them BBQed |
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| The BBQed fish looked quite inviting |
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