Thong Namy Market II

N18°10.314'
E104°14.143'

Another image from the wonderful Thong Namy market (see Thong Namy Market) in Bolikhamsai Province, Laos. I took several shots of this vendor. She was staying so busy cleaning and trimming and arranging the few items that she had for sale. [NOTE: I bought some ginger and got a beautiful smile].

Thong Namy Market

N18°10.314'
E104°14.143' 

A brief tour through the local market at Thong Namy in Bolikhamsai Province, Laos. We always stop here to get supplies. e.g. bananas, nuts, cookies, small brass Buddha statues,  on the way back to Vientiane from Lak Sao (see Training in Lak Sao). My WWF colleagues say that this is a good place to see threatened and endangered wildlife - offered for sale as bushmeat. I was more taken by the incredible diversity of Cucurbitaceae and medicinal plants. [NOTE: Music is "The Hearts of Empty" by Dakota Suite].

Donsard

N18°09.598'
E104°55.241' 

After the training workshop (see Training in Lak Sao), we traveled down a bumpy road for about 45 minutes to the village of Donsard where we practiced running rattan inventory transects in a nearby tract of forest. The steep karst pinnacles surrounding the village were breathtaking. [NOTE: Fortunately, there was good forest about a kilometer from the village and we didn't have to do any steep climbing].

Bolikhamsai Landscape

Another shot of the Nam Theun river, this one looking back toward the beautiful karst formations of Bolikhamsai Province in Laos where the rattan inventory training was conducted last week. More on this later.