Making noodles - hard work - not made in a minute!

Saturday 3 November 2007

This morning I was woken by the crowing of roosters and then became aware of the noise of some machinery close by. One of the money earning activities carried out by the part of the family who own the house we are staying in is the making of noodles. Work begins around 3 am seven days a week when the wood fire is lit in an earthen hearth. Two large aluminium pots sit in holes in the top of hearth and these are filled with water to begin heating. The noodle making day begins.

The “wires” could only be described as “many-times-fixed’ as shown by their many knots, kinks and frayed ends. Waste not, want not.

The whole process takes several days. The first step is to make the paste. Tapioca starch, imported from Thailand, is mixed with water and allowed to ferment for a few days. This very thick and very gooey mixture is then tied up in cloth, hung up and allowed to drain. It’s then forced through a shower-head like piece of equipment which is suspended by two lengths of wire into one of the large pots on the hearth, the water in which is, by now, on a simmering boil. The “wires” could only be described as “many-times-fixed’ as shown by their many knots, kinks and frayed ends. Waste not, want not.

After 30 – 60 seconds, a muslin net is used to scoop the now cooked noodles out. These are rinsed in cold water and dunked successively into a number of large containers of cold water to cool completely. When cold they are finally tipped into large flat basins which sit on the ground in front of up to four women workers. They take small handfuls of noodles, wind them into little hanks and place them neatly into a banana leaf lined woven basket. Some six or so people are involved at various stages in this labour intensive process which is usually completed by around 8 in the morning. Each woven basket weighs 12 kg and sells for 40,000 Kip (AUD4).

Customers arrive throughout the process to buy anything from a complete bamboo basketful to just a small handful sold in a plastic bag.

The noodle making process is carried out on a broken concrete and dirt floor under a makeshift roof of iron sheeting. It wouldn’t rate as a dilapidated farmer’s shed back home, but that is being judgmental – it works here. The floor is littered with spilt noodles and other rubbish, ash and charcoal. The place smells of fermenting tapioca flour which isn’t the best smell early in the morning! And all this happens just outside the front door of the house.

Up the back of the block, along a muddy broken brick and tile path, is another enterprise that keeps the family going. This one makes ice. Here, stainless steel containers of water are placed into a large concrete tank which contains glycol. Each container is about 60 x 45 x 15 cm in size. Once the tank is full of these containers, it is covered and a compressor is started to lower the temperature of the glycol to freeze the water. Then, at around 6 am, a shredder-like machine is swung into action and the blocks of ice are dropped in. This crushes the ice - and creates quite a din, but as the roosters of the neighbourhood had long before shattered the peace of the night, who cares.

What a fascinating start to a day!

After breakfast, we left the family chatting and walked into town, about a 30 – 40 minute walk. Along the way we called in to Steve hotel and he joined us for a pho and Beerlao lunch after which we walked through some of the older parts of Vientiane to the Mekong. The area around some of the food and drink stalls was appallingly dirty; most of the rubbish I guess was left over from last weekend’s boat festival. I wonder if it will be cleaned up or left to rot and/or blow away.

By now we decided that a good cappuccino was in order so headed for a bakery that is known for its coffee and cakes. We were not disappointed! And the chocolate chip cookie I had was to die for, or is it just that I haven’t had chocolate for some time? In a happy coincidence, the bakery was also the destination for some of the other Australian members of the family and their children - and that was good for because they gave us a lift back home and gave our weary legs a bit of a break.

After a well earned rest we were ready for another walk late in the afternoon - this time back to the great Golden Stupa, Pha That Luang, which is in fact only a couple of blocks from the house. The sun shone brilliantly on the gold leaf covering the stupa and this brilliance was exaggerated by a dark cloudy sky behind. A truly wonderful sight which we enjoyed even more with a beerlao for Jim and me and ice-cream for the kids.

Back at home the women had been busy preparing yet another meal - pork, chicken and prawns, fried rice, sticky rice (still addicted) and salad? An interesting dessert was a ‘honeycomb’ with the wasp pupa still inside. It was creamy, sweet and a bit chewy when only the honeycomb was left. Fresh papaya as it should be came next. Beerlao and Black Label washed it all down.

The younger adults went night clubbing again, leaving the kids with us. Well, for some reason, they tended to be little buggers tonight. Nothing was right or if it was right for a couple of them, it wasn’t right for the others. Grizzle, grizzle, whine, whine - I guess they are over-tired or over-excited or something. I’ll be glad when they finally go to bed and sleep. I hope it’s soon or the roosters will be crowing before we get to sleep otherwise. Even though it’s been a fairly laid back day, I’m weary.