I finally tried the food at Sonphao Lao-Japanese restaurant this afternoon. Treated myself to a nice tonkatsu set! These days lunch is the best meal of the day where i can indulge a little in nicer food.. The other volunteers don't seem keen to spend more than 3 or 4 US dollars a meal, so we've mainly been having dinner at places where the locals go. I have decided that while i don't mind a more 'local' experience; it's quite nice to treat yourself to better food in a foreign land too :)

The highlight of lunch was being able to chat with the lady owner - in a mix of Japanese and English.. I actually asked her if she had watched the Hotaru series.. But she seemed pretty clueless after having been living outside Japan the past few years.. Maybe I will go back again to show her heh..

The funniest sentence made by a monk (in his late teens) today was.. "I want to be beside you forever" (he was trying to make a sentence with 'beside') I was amused cos half the monks seem pretty interested in making these silly love-themed sentences... But I guess it's normal to think abt these things at their age... They wld prob be extra attentive if their Lao teacher teaches a "how to write love letters" class haha.. But oh well that is definitely not going to happen ;P

(photos of set lunch and caramel pudding :P)