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An unexpected decision during travels through Asia had placed me in Huay Xai, Thailand outside of Chiang Rai. As flights for the next two days were sold out to Luang Prabang, I carried onto my next mode of transportation: a two-day slow boat down theMekong River. No cell phone reception until our nightly stops, slow-paced Lao life churning on in the villages running parallel to the river - alright I thought - I can get behind 36 hours of this. The environment was perfect for a dive into my read at the time: Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. A relaxing day coasting down the river ended in a night’s stopover in a village named Pak Beng. While maintaining its charm as a local Lao village, Pak Beng clearly had the tourism infrastructure in place to support many boats stopping along the river. Wanting to start my journey into the cuisine of Laos, I learned I had to wait one more day until I got to Luang Prabang - or risk some disappointment. My first meal on land in Laos was a classic Indian thali, not what I expected, but to my surprise it was some of the better Indian food I had in my recent stint in Asia.
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We boarded the boats at sunrise, and there was a clear distinction between the well-rested travelers, and the joyfully hungover backpackers. We’d be arriving in Luang Prabang in 12 hours, and there I could begin my culinary escapade. Day two mirrored day one, except for a stop at a more rural riverside village for lunch halfway through. Exactly what any traveler in Southeast Asia would expect - a few rice and noodle dishes amongst local stalls, and a market selling generic wares you could find at any night market across the region…until you make your way over to the vendor off in the distance selling something in bottles, handing out free samples.
I approached the stall and was quickly told “Try! Try!”, but upon closer examination, I found a collection of local rice wine and whiskey, with snakes and scorpions perched within the bottles. I knew both rice wine and whiskey were popular in the region, but the poisonous creatures nestled inside were new to me. What about the poison!? Well, it turns out that during the production of these spirits, they are infused with a dead snake or scorpion. However, as the spirit begins the fermentation process over the course of a few months, the ethanol from the fermentation neutralizes the venom that had been found in the previously lethal creatures. Borrowing from eastern Chinese traditions, these spirits also contain various other herbal and natural ingredients. Beyond the typical western-use of high alcohol content spirits, they are consumed for medical reasons, whether that is to heal a pre-existing ailment, or improve the overall vitality of an individual.
The time to“Try! Try!” had come, and while I’m glad I did, I won’t be returning to a riverside market in Laos with hopes to expand on my creature-infused local spirit knowledge. Both the rice wine and whisky were STRONG, and the underlying flavors were overpowered by the high alcohol content. I quickly came to the conclusion that it’s not the scorpions or snakes that make the spirit less than ideal. While I planned to actively avoid drinking any further local rice wine or whiskey that would come my way, I decided to purchase a bottle with a scorpion infused into it. I was glad to support the small local market on my journey towards Luang Prabang, and that bottle eventually made its way back to my home, Bali, as the corona virus airport closures were in full swing. Today it sits unopened in a friends’ home bar, because I figured a bottle of Lao Snake Whiskey was about as badass a birthday gift as one can give (or receive!).
