Laos – out on the town

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I spent a few days in Laos recently. Here are some happy snaps from out and about in the capital, Vientiane.

Textiles at one of the stalls at the Talat Sao (morning market… which seems to be open all day, and it’s a shopping centre rather than a market so I’m not sure where it gets its name. It should really be called the Talat of Temptation, if you ask me). The salesman could spot this sucker a mile away. I wonder if he remembered me from last time?

My favourite shop in the upstairs section of the building next to the market… give me a pile of secondhand hilltribe textiles and garments in no order whatsoever to rummage through and I’m as happy as a pig in mud.

The shop sells all kinds of vintage textile tidbits but it also stocks brand new Hmong celebration outfits. This girl had come from Chiang Mai with a friend and they were taking selfies all dressed up in the Hmong headgear (she was trying to tell me something else but my Thai is unfortunately non-existent). I would love to be there when a whole village gets into their new year regalia!

Shiny things in the Talat Sao that I somehow managed to resist purchasing…

…and shiny things that I did not resist purchasing…

Grandma doubles as a hairdresser at her silk stall…

And some snaps from around town… I love this section, it’s so “Indochine”.

Monks’ robes hanging out to dry at their temple quarters…

Orchids hanging in pots on a balcony….

One of the many food stall men heading off to make some sales…

And I’ll leave you with the sun setting over the Mekong!

1月2日から7日まで、またラオスのヴィエンチャーンに滞在しました。フェアトレードのビジネスを作ろうとしていますが、このポストではただいろんな風景を見せたいと思います。タラットサオというマーケットにあった商品、街の雰囲気など、どうぞ楽しんでください！また、ラオスのいろんなところの写真を見たければ、去年の4月または2010年の1月のポストを見て下さい。