Luang Prabang Day 11, 6 February 2006

It was raining through the early parts of the morning. and it was still drizzling at 6:30 am. I had already packed most of my things the night before except for my sleeping clothes and the clothes that I will be wearing when I leave the resort.

Pat and I agreed he will take me to see the elephants bathing. He arrived a little late so I thought it was off. It was lucky that he caught me on my way to the restaurant otherwise he would have missed me. When we got to the boat, he rowed to get to the point where the elephants will be. But then his friend told him that they were already on the other end of the camp. He tried getting the boat motor going but it refused to do so. I was getting to be stoic about it, perhaps it was not meant to be. No point in pushing for it. Then suddenly the motor started and we were off to see the elephants. We just caught up with them. It did not take long before the elephants finished with their bath and started to move on.

Back at the restaurant, I ordered my breakfast and took some pictures of the misty mountains as the sun was starting to appear. While having my breakfast, the other guest of the resort approached me, he was an old british man vacationing with his wife. He was asking me where to go in Bangkok to look for CF card readers and I gave him directions to the shop in Panthip Plaza where I got my multi format reader. I then headed back to the cottage so I could take my shower and finish my packing. I also double checked to make sure that my chargers are safely put away in my bag. I also want to make sure that I did not accidentally leave anything behind. I was getting several messages from Cocoy in Bangkok, I still have not yet left Luang Prabang and Bangkok is already catching up with me. I stopped by the town to go to the internet shop before going to the airport. I got there before the tour groups arrived. I had lunch at the airport shop and I bought a black and white photo postcard taken by a Thai photographer. I wrote my note to Auntie Gloria telling her of my trip to this wonderful place, the royal city of Luang Prabang.

Me having a "something about Mary" moment at the Luang Prabang airport.

Luang Prabang Day 10, 5 February 2006

I was feeling much better this morning. After breakfast, I went back to Ban Xing Lom. This time I had both the digital camera and the hasselblad and a meter with a fresh battery plus a spare just in case. The villagers seemed friendlier this time, I would greet people that I would pass and they in turn would greet me. As I was taking my pictures, I noticed that there was only one bar in my 10d. It did not help that I could not charge the batteries because I left the chargers in the guest house and Miss Vanh promised to get these for me yesterday before she attends her friend's wedding. At first I was trying to take pictures of homes but these did not look as interesting so I started taking pictures of the villagers while doing their daily activities. I was received with a lot of giggles. But they did not tell me not to take any photographs. I even managed to take a couple of portraits that I only had 3 frames left in the hasselblad when I left the village.

It was already 11:30 am when I got to the resort. Pat passed by and asked if I would be interested in trekking to a town that can only be reached by walkin. I told him to tell me how much it would cost and he got back with information he received from Ms. Vanh and I agreed to the trekking. I took a nap after my lunch and at 2:30pm I was ready to do some trekking.

Pat showed up on time. He was acting as my guide this afternoon. To make the trek a bit easier for me, we took the boat to where the waterfalls were and there was a stairs that would take us up to the start of the trail to the village. It was a series of uphill climb and plateaus. I took some pictures of the trees because I was confident that I had 2 spare rolls of film in my pocket. We got to a clearing where we had an impressive view of the mountain and I took a few photos. Along the way we saw some huts around which rice was planted. Obviously, trees were felled and burned to make way for these fields. As we get closer to the mountain, it gets even more impressive. When we got to the road leading to the village we met a man from the village we were going to visit and Pat told me to greet him "Smailer" which is the equivalent of "Sabai dee" When we got to the village, I took one last shot with of a boy looking out of the fence. He was patient enough for me to adjust his hat and let me tinker with my camera before taking the shot. I then took out the exposed roll and took out the last roll. and loaded it in the film. I was not paying attention that the film did not have the black wrapper around it, so I broke the seal and loaded it in the camera. When I was rolling the film in the camera, the paper got torn, I took out the film cartridge and tried rolling it out and I noticed some film had already got out. It was then that I realized that the film was already exposed. So I immediately returned it to the camera back and closed it. That was it, there was no more film to take any picture. I may have lost a few images in that exposed film, but it was still better that I realized it at this point because I could have ended up with a roll of double exposed images.

The sun was already starting to set and Pat said that we better start making our way back to the resort. We did a brisk walk. It was good that this time we were walking on either a flat surface or was going downhill. As we got nearer to the resort, Pat pointed to me the location of the Elephant camp. We also met 3 men who were hunting birds for their dinner. It was past 6 when we got to the resort and I asked Pat to let the restaurant know that my massage will be rescheduled at 6:30 pm. I needed to take a shower first.

Luang Prabang Day 9, 4 February 2006.










My sleep last night was not continuous but I did not have any problems getting back to sleep again. I got up at 7:30 am. By 8am my breakfast was delivered. It was my first full meal after my diarrhea. I was feeling very hungry so my breakfast did not last long. I continued taking the medicine we got in town. I was feeling strong enough by 9-am to walk about. At first I wanted to rent a bike but decided not to do so because there are no paved roads in this part of Luang Prabang. Ms Vanh recommended that I visit the village of Xing Lom which I could reach by following a trail. Ms. Vanh's assistant Pat showed me the trail that I should follow. The trail itself was easy to follow. It was also quite busy because the villagers use the trail to reach points of the river to ride their boats. Even so, it was still a challenging walk because I would still have to go up and down the hill. As I pass villagers along the trail, I would greet them "Sabai dee". There were also a lot of activity in the river as people were traveling up and down the river.

I finally reached the Ban Xing Lom. People were already up and about, mostly doing their morning chores or else chatting in front of their homes or the corner store. I spotted an old woman with her grandchild. The little girl was wearing warm clothes and a cap. Then her grandmother put her in a pail and carried her past me. I thought this was quite amusing and was very glad that I was allowed to photograph the baby in the pail. The only trouble was that my meter was set to EI100 and my film was ISO400 so I am sure the photo would be overexposed. Well, worse things had happened before this and a picture still came out. When I got to the wat the light was so beautiful. Best of all, there were some clouds in the sky. As I was about to take this perfect picture, my meter died down on me. I did not want to estimate the exposure, so I just went back to the resort using the already familiar trail.

I tried going back this time with a digital camera. An elephant was bathing in the river. I tried to hurry up to get to the river bank and by the time I got there, the elephant had also gotten out of the river to the other bank and walked away into the camp. I tried to walk towards the village once again but this time, I was not feeling well, so I decided to just go back to the resort to take a nap.

My lunch was delivered at noon. However, I did not have a good appetite that I could barely finish half of the vegetable fried rice that I ordered. I then continued reading Coelho's book. I was getting to the exciting part of the book when Kaew turned up in my bungalow. He told me that his boss lent him the motorcycle, we had some small talk and I invited him to go with me to the boat ride that I scheduled that afternoon. Then I took a nap.

When I woke up it was time for our boat ride. We decided to go upriver. I was getting bored with the scene but the boatman said there are villages upstream. He was right, here I saw how the villagers depend on the river for their livelihood. It is their means of traveling from one place to another, they use the water from the river to water their vegetable garden. The Kam river is also full of seaweed which the villagers collect and pound into paper which are included in their meals.

Upriver, we stopped in one town. I was told that there was a festival in this town. It turned out to be the death anniversary of someone in town so women were cooking a feast. Near the bridge we saw people washing the entrails of the pig while on the other side of the river there were women bathing. We went further up the river a bit more before we decided to turn back. The sun was already setting and we arrived the resort at 5pm. Kaew told me that he has to go back to town because there are still a couple of empty rooms in their guest house. We said goodbye and I thanked him for all his help during my visit.

Luang Prabang Day 8, 3 February 2006.

We had an early start. I did not sleep well last night because of a bad bought of diarrhea. I think it was because of the grilled fish. But then again it could have been the water used in making the sauce of the miang in yesterday's lunch. It was pretty bad because aside from the regular trips to the toilet, my stomach was aching pretty badly. So this morning, I did not eat nor drink anything. I pushed myself to walk to the boat landing. Early in the morning the town was covered in mist. Even the Mekong is not visible from where we were standing. Kaew was doubtful if we can leave early because it may not be safe for the boat to start a trip if visibility is poor. So we had to wait. Little by little the boat got filled up with enough passengers, some taking things they could sell in town. One even brought with her a goat. Finally close to half past eight, the boat started its trip to Luang Prabang. The air was pretty cold. Kaew kept on asking me to take a nap at the back of the boat. I told him, I better not because if I do, I may throw up. I did not join them for breakfast this time. It may be better for me to play it safe for the time being. I would take a few cat naps here and there. Then I noticed the boy sitting beside me. He did not seem to be as lively as the sons of the boatman who were very lively at the front of the boat. He would just sit down and he would not move at all, it looks as if he had a frozen stance. So I started to prepare to take his photograph. As I was ready to release the shutter, he moved away from the light. So I then went back to where I was sitting and once again waited.

The trip to back to Luang Prabang felt like it took longer than I had expected. It is probably because we are going against the current of the river. We finally arrived Luang Prabang at past 10am. I asked Kaew to go with me to the guest house so I can settle my bill with him. I found out on arrival at the guest house that Ms. Vahn had already arrived to pick me up at 10am. So I just put together my things and prepared to check out of the guest house. I settled my bill and then said goodbye to Kaew and was on my way to Lao Spirit, a resort located in Ban Xing Lom about an half an hour away from the town of Luang Prabang.

I was given bungalow No. 3 because it had a double bed. One of the first things I wanted to do was to take a shower. It was disappointing to find out that the water pressure was a bit low. Prior to showering, I ordered boiled rice with vegetables from the restaurant, I specified that I did not want oil or any spices on the boiled rice because I was still having a stomach problem. Unfortunately, my instructions was not carried out, I was given a thai style khao tom complete with oil and toasted garlic. So I had it returned and corrected. What I got back was better although it still had traces of oil in it. Because of the water situation, Ms. Vanh had me moved to Cottage no. 2 where there were 2 twin beds. I actually did not mind because the beds were as big as the beds in the guest house I stayed in town. Because of my stomach condition, I spent the afternoon sleeping. Then I went to the restaurant to schedule a massage and once again ordered plain boiled rice with vegetables.

6 pm, the masseuse arrives with an entourage of 2 people. She did not speak English but is able to understand my limited Thai. Anyway, Trip, the waiter accompanied her to translate just in case it is needed. Trip's English was quite good and I complimented him on this. In our conversation, he told me that he learned English while a novice in one of the temples of Luang Prabang. He stayed a novice for at least 5 years and just recently got out of the temple to work. He mentioned to me that several families sent their sons to the temples to become novices so that these boys can study in the schools in Luang Prabang. In addition to this they are being schooled in the temple about Buddhism. Life in the temple is not easy either, the monks and the novices are up at 4 am in preparation for the morning prayers, then comes the walk around town to receive the offerings of the townspeople. I have seen this in the town of Luang Prabang, I have seen this in less populated towns. Novices have to attend to chores and to go to school and finally at the end of the day is the evening prayers before they retire for the evening. While I was conversing with Trip, he sat in a lotus position. He told me that up to now he still meditates and says the sutras. I told him that for myself I had been trying to learn how to meditate but my mind is like an undisciplined monkey that I have not yet managed to tame. After my massage, the boiled rice arrived, this time done correctly, without oil and without garlic and onions, just vegetables and it tasted good. I was asleep by 8:30 PM.

Luang Prabang Day 7, 2 February 2006

I did not have any problem sleeping last night. By 10:30 pm, I was asleep. Problem was by 3am I was awake. I kept on trying to get back to sleep and was having a hard time getting back to sleep. So I continued reading Coelho's The Alchemist and did some updates to my diary. At past 4am I dozed off again. I was awakened by my phone two hours later. It was Kaew sending me a message. It was time to get up.

After putting on street clothes, I went by Kaew's guest house to tell him that I was having breakfast at the patongko shop if he wants to catch up and join me later. The shop was not as full as yesterday and this time the shop owner was very attentive to me. After finishing my breakfast, I went to the market and on the way back to the direction of the river I saw Kaew. He told me that he was going to buy chicken for the basi ceremony that his mother will hold for me. He was able to get most of the things he needed from the market except for the chicken which was coming out to be too expensive. He said he will have to go to another market for this. I told him, why don't I go back to the guest house and take a shower and get my things ready.

With my rucksack of camera gear I was on my way to the boat landing when I saw Kaew on his bike telling me he still did not get the chicken. I told him that I can spend the time while he was going to another market to take pictures of the main market in Luang Prabang. He can send me a text when he was ready. It took a while and I was able to take a lot of pictures in the market. But then I got a call from Kaew telling me to make my way to the boat.

A couple of people were also making a trip back to Thong Tai village. One of his sisters was there on the trip with us. The boat more or less had enough passengers to make a profitable trip. We arrived an hour and a half later, which I felt flew very quickly because I was taking pictures of the passengers as well. None seem to mind. Behind me was a baby named Namfai.

Kaew's house was a bit of a walk from the boat landing. When we got there, there seemed to be a lot of people milling around. A lot of people were standing by the windows looking in. Kaew' father then turned their tv on and started playing a vcd of one of the Thai comedy shows and the kids were sitting down on the floor watching and laughing at the show even though they have seen the same show several times already. I decided to take a nap while lunch was cooking on account of my erratic sleep last night. When lunch was ready, this was served on the mats on the floor and we had to be seated on the floor and eat the food miang style. They had grilled the huge fish that Kaew had brought back with him.

After lunch we headed out into the sandbar near the river where the women were panning gold. All the panners seemed to be familiar with Kaew and were very cooperative when I was trying to take my pictures. I noticed that there were a lot of plants that looked like mangrove that grew in the sand. It was near these plants where the women would dig up their sand and place them in their baskets. Then they would put a basked in their pan and take out the stones. After this, they will then remove as much clay as possible by swirling the sand in the pan. Once all of the clay has been removed, they put the remaining sand into the a bucket. At the end of the day, they will continue panning the sand this time mixed with some detergent and what to me looked like mercury. If they are lucky, they will find a gold bit for their day's work.

When I was walking with Kaew to their home just right after we arrived, I noticed that there were a lot of water buffaloes in the area. I commented that perhaps most are used for working the fields and when the animal is old it is then sent for slaughter. He gave me a rather interesting response. He said that buffaloes are like people, some can be trained to do tasks in the field and others cannot be trained because they do not learn. These are the ones that are sent to slaughter.

The boys the were watching TV in Kaew's house was in the field as well. They then started running after the buffaloes and started riding them. Sometimes to the disgust of the buffalo. Then they would all laugh when they fall off as the buffalo trots away to safety. I did not get pictures of the buffalo because I could not get near enough to them, they would head off as a heard when they see me nearbly even though I do not have any intention of riding them. After having their fun, I took pictures of the boys who were wet because they just swam in the creek where the buffaloes also bathe.

At dusk, we headed home. Kaew's mother was already starting preparations on the basi ceremony. They were preparing the banana leaf offering cones, a candle, strings of cotton twine and leaves of the San Francisco plant. In another tray are insense wrapped in cones of kip notes. I took some time to clean my camera and then went ahead to take a shower. The bathroom was rather primitive with a huge pool holding the water supply. There was also a squat toilet nearby. When I got dressed up, the elders were already arriving one by one. Kaew's handed out the sashes we are to wear on our shoulders during the ceremony. After a couple of pleasantries, the ceremony started with everyone saying their prayers and then one by one the village elders would make a wish and tie a cotton twine on my wrist. Later on I found out that this was a tradition being done by the village elders when one of the villagers are going away for a long time, either because of work or because of studies. The ceremeony ended with the elders giving us a slice of the chicken and other things from the tray and we were asked to eat something from what was given to us. After this, dinner was served. Lao beer was served to everyone. As the night wears on, everyone started having more fun. By 9PM everyone had already left. So I started to prepare to go to sleep. Exept that I had bad case of food poisoning and I was visiting the toilet several times that night. It was a very long night.

Luang Prabang Day 6, 1 February 2006

Kaew invited me to breakfast so I was up early. before I went to his guest house, I went to the read just by the Mekong river and sat down by the enbankment. I figured, I could practice on my panning, something that I still do not do very well. Everytime someone would pass whether riding a vehicle or on foot, I would point my camera on them.


Pretty soon it was becoming quite frustrating because it is very difficult to focus on a subject that passes at random distances from the camera lens. I was told that to pan successfully, you should keep both eyes opened, one on the camera and the other on the subject as you are panning. Easier said than done.

As I was panning away, Seng passed by and I greeted him. He was on his way to see Kaew. Something about a handphone. I showed him some of my panning pictures and he says he likes them. Unfortunately I was not really pleased with most of them.

I then went to see Kaew and asked him if we are going to have breakfast. He said, he is too busy at the moment. Besides, I do not think he could get away because his bosses are also busy working in the guest house.







So back I went to the patongko place. When I got nearer the place, I saw this magnificent assortment of Vespas lining both sides of the street. The shop was packed! I had to squeeze myself into one of the available spots on one of the benches so I can order my breakfast. I ordered the usual and went on to update my diary. I had already written a couple of pages, and my order came in, only it was wrong. I was being served coffee when I ordered ovaltine. So I told them to correct their order, then I wrote some more and the my orders still did not come. One of the Thais noticed I was still waiting and he asked the shopkeeper to follow up on my order. I thanked him and asked if they are touring in Luang Prabang. He said that he is part of the Vespa rallye. This explains why there were so many Vespas on the street that morning. It seems that they came from different places in Thailand. The one I talked to was from Nongkhai, just accross the river from Vientiane. The other one I talked to beside the street was from Bangkok. After breakfast, I took more pictures of the Vespas in the street. Later in the evening, as kaew ang I was heading for dinner, we saw the vespas lined up in front of a club. But for this morning, they were on their way to the other side of Mekong. I hope they had a photographer with them because this is a unique road trip that has to be documented.

The vespa guys had actually given me a good idea, I will also go to the other side of Mekong so I can take black and white shots of the place while the sun is still low enough and was illuminating the place. This time I will just take my hasselblad. Seng was standing by the other boatmen and I asked him if he already has a client. He told me that he was still free. So I asked him how much it would cost me to cross to the other side of the river and be back before noon. After a few haggling, we agreed on the price. I went to the area where there were many boats docked for repair and where the women were doing their laundry and washing their onions. Then Seng took me to the sandbar where there was someone mending his net and there was a woman planting new onions into her field. She had a little boy with her. I asked the mother's permission if I could take his picture and she consented. As I was positioning the the boy so that I can have a better background form him, he changed his mind and went to his mother. The mother was laughing and said that he got a little scared.

So I then walked on to the end of the sandbar and found a man mending his fishing net. He told me it was okay for me to take his pictures. So I took a couple of pictures while he continued working. I also took a couple of pictures of the fields and the huts. I even found a man collecting onions in a puddle of water. When I got back to the spot where the boat was, I saw that the kid and the mother was standing on their field looking the other way, so I positioned my camera and waited. Finally the kid turned around and faced my direction and I got my shot.

In the afternoon, I just biked around the different temples of Luang Parabang. I went back to Wat Xing Thong becuase of the wooden buddha statues lined by the wall of the funerary temple. This time I stopped by the back of the main wat and found the Tree of life fresco so I took a picture of this as well. The next two temples are where a lot of novices stay. I had a conversation with one of them. He told me that he was trying to learn english so he appreciated if someone would talk to him in English. I then took their pictures by the tiger statue in front of their main temple. This time no senior monk got angry with us. The other novices were studying their books. I saw some playing chess and others were taking their baths. Pretty soon, they will be starting their chores before their evening prayers.










It was already late afternoon when I biked back to the river enbankment by the Mekong. I wanted to go back to the man that sold locally brewed Lao which had snakes, centipedes and spiders in their bottles. While I was there an old italian couple also stopped by and looked at what I was doing. He seem to recognize my hasselblad. We talked about photography for a while. He seem to also enjoy this hobby. If he could not understand what I was saying in English, I would speak in halting Spanish and we would seem to understand each other. So I finished my pictures and went on to the spot across the patongko shop. There I found Seng with the other boatmen tackling a serious business at hand, a bottle of whiskey. They offered me some but then I declined. But I tasted a slice of grilled goat meat they were eating. They were having a good time amongst themselves. Once in awhile a couple of tourists, perhaps previous passengers would also drop by and have a conversation with them.

After finishing my roll of film, I went back to the guesthouse to drop off my camera and then made my way to the Red Cross for a massage. Since it was still early, I also added a session in the sauna. I was given the same masseur who gave me once again a good massage. Then I went to the back of the building to have my sauna. The sauna itself was the size of a huge wardrobe. Packed inside are some rowdy Laotian young men. It seemed to me that the sauna was woodfired and there was steam coming from below the seats. After a few minutes of this I got out and went out and took a very cold shower. I then left to meet up with Kaew for dinner to finalize the arrangments on our trip to his hometown tomorrow.

Luang Prabang Day 5, 31 January 2006

This morning I found a place near the market swarming with Thai tourists. I had been craving for hot chocolate since last night so I was so happy to find this corner in the market seving hot chocolate and pathongko. Pathonko are huge batter fritters. In a cold morning it is nice to dip a morsel of these fritters in the hot chocolate, the eay I would dip pan de sal in coffee when I was little. It did not seem to be rude to do this because everyone was doing the same thing. On the way back to the guest house, I passed by Bong's place to make sure our photo session was still on. I found him chatting with neighbors. He told me his daughter was not available. So it would only be him and his wife. The light was dappled so it was a challenge to position their faces. We managed to do some solo and shots of them as a couple.

I decided against taking the bike and asked Bong to take me around Luang Prabang again. I figured the places I will be going today were too far for me to bike. We visited Ban Xang Long, a village famous for weaving mudmee silk as well as making mulberry paper. Our first stop was the wat. There did not seem to be many monks in this place. So I started taking pictures of the wat. Then some women carrying brooms came in to sell brooms to the head monk. After they finished their transaction, I asked one of the women if I could take her picture. I was glad that she had agreed. Then the novices started to approach me to while I was taking a picture of the wood pile in the middle of the temple courtyard. I then asked if they wanted to have their pictures taken. Later on, as I was going back to meet Bong so we can leave the village, I saw the same novices in the street, walking and they told me that they are on their way to school.

The town's biggest weaving factory was a few doors away from the temple, so I just made my way there. Their work looked pretty good. They have some nicely colored silk scarves so I chose one for my sister. I then asked if I can take some pictures of their weavers. The owner consented to my picture taking. I took black and white pictures of the weavers in this shop. I also notices how intricate the tapestry weaves that they are doing. No wonder the prices are so high becauses of the intricate weaves that they were doing.

It was almost lunchtime when we finished. We found a restaurant in the middle of the Kham river, right in the middle of the vegetable patches on one of the larger sandbars on the Kham River which is quite near by the old wooden bridge. It seems we over-ordered this time because we ordered miang, a sort of vegetable salad where you wrap different things in lettuce leaf and eat it. By the time the huge grilled fish arrived, we were already quite full and I just asked Bong to take the fish home.

kham river scenes

After dropping off the broiled fish, the afternoon was equally slow. Bong took me to the nearby Vietnamese temple. I noticed that there is a flag under the bo tree. While taking a photo of the banner, a novice approached me and started to converse with me. He told me that the banner commemorates a dead person. He also told me that all the monks in this temple are ethnic Vietnamese while all of the novices are Lao. I also asked him why he was not carrying bags of cement like the other novices. He told me that today he was having stomach problems so the monks told him to do lighter chores. The place did not cover a huge area but there were several little temples within the place. There is one huge Buddha statue facing the Mekong river. When we were leaving the place, 5 novices were preparing to put sand in their sacks when I asked if I could take their picture. They said I can do so provided I send them a copy of their pictures. It would have been an easy one had the temple helper not kept of trying to get into the picture as well. So I started positioning everyone including the helper where he could be easily edited out of the viewfinder. I was trying to take a second photo when the head monk started scolding the novices. So I bade them goodbye, it was time to leave and Bong was chuckling as we left the temple hurriedly.

I told him to pass by the bridge so I can take a picture of the golden stupa. I found out later that a group of buddhist nuns stay in this temples. As I had not visited this particular temple, there is no way for me to confirm if this was actually so. Once again the sun was already setting by this time. I just asked Bong to take me back to the guest house. He then told me that we may not see each other before I leave because the following day he was leaving for Van Vieng to get rice for his family.

Lugging the heavy rucksack filled with camera accessories was getting to be difficult so I left most of my gear at the guest house and only took the tripod and my digital slr. Most of the boats are now docked and people were just doing some chores and some are bathing. Then from behind me I heard Seng call me. Today was another busy day for him because a Canadian hired him to go to the buddha caves. I invited him to go to dinner together with his brother Kaew.

Kaew promised to take me to another massage place. It turns out he was referring to the Red Cross in front of Wat Visount.
While they used less oil for their massage, the quality of the massage was quite good and it only cost $3.20 for the hour.

At 8, I was at the gate of the Red Cross waiting for Kaew. We then headed off to the same barbeque place that we went to yesterday.