Parting is such sweet sorry…Ok, I know, hokey, but still, I’m always a little melancholy when we leave Hanoi. There is something about the hustling-bustling craziness combined with the mish-mash of old and new that just appeals to me. But, leave we must – and probably a good thing too as it is Tet-eve, and after tonight, the city will be virtually shut down for 4 days during the extended holiday. So, after breakfast of our omelets (this time with the Vietnamese “hello” on one plate, and pretty fruits on the other)…
…we arrive downstairs to await our car to the airport. The hotel staff is a little concerned about pre-Tet traffic, so they’ve arranged for us to leave 4 hours early for our flight. We’re thinking that’s a bit much, but to we’d rather be safe than sorry. So, off we go at 9:30 am for a 1pm flight. As it turns out, there isn’t any traffic to speak of, and we are safely at the terminal a little after 10. Oh well. Luckily, the check in desks are open, so we can unload our luggage and walk around the terminal unencumbered until our flight.
We end up spending time in a coffee shop, spending the last of our Dong on cappuccinos, then make our way down through security and hang out at the gate area until the flight is called. From there it is seamless – board, one-hour flight, get our visa on arrival (we were 2nd in line, which makes quite a difference as we easily proceeded through immigration while half the plane was behind us), pick up our luggage, buy our SIM card and walk out into the terminal to find our driver waiting to take us to the Mekong Sunset View hotel. Easy.
It’s a quick 15 minute drive into town, giving us a quick overview of the layout along the Nam Khan river, finally ending our journey at the Mekong and the hotel on the corner looking out across the river. We are met there by a wonderfully friendly manager (from Vietnam) whose name we never quite catch, but who takes great care of us during out entire stay.
After we take off our shoes (yep, it’s a barefoot place), he shows us to our room on the second floor overlooking the river (and the street below). It’s a really large room with a comfy king size bed, a long narrow hallway type area on the balcony side of the room that contains the wardrobe and mini-bar (not complimentary this time), a huge all tile bathroom and of course the balcony where we will spend most of our time!
And check out the door handles on the balcony doors – I’m in love with those Buddha hands and am making it my mission to find some for our house at home. LOL.
After getting settled, we go wander around, getting our bearings. Luang Prabang is quite a manageable town – small enough to walk most of the historic district with its restaurants, bars, cafes, museums, and yes, wats – many, many, many wats. That will be a whole day’s worth of exploration, just visiting a portion of the wats in town. But for now, we’re just getting the lay of the land. We walk down Sisavangvong Road, one of the main drags in the old town. Many of the old shop houses have been converted to cafes and restaurants, so, of course we peruse the offerings as we head toward Mount Phou Si, Sacred Mountain and site of one of the most revered Stupas. It’s too late in the afternoon, and too warm, to try to attempt to climb up to the stupa (328 stairs), so instead we enter the grounds of the Royal Palace museum, which is closed now allowing us to wander the grounds pretty much uninterrupted, wandering past the statue of King Sisavang Vong and taking photos of the exterior of the Wat Ho Pha Bang, which houses the sacred Phabang statue, for which the city is named.
We’ll come back another day to visit the interior of this Wat and the Royal Palace, but for now we are happy to just meander through the grounds. On the way back to the hotel, we stop for a cool drink at one of the cafes, Tangor. We grab a table inside, out of the heat, but with a great view of the street and watch the world go by. It’s a cute little place, owned by a couple of French guys, with a decent looking menu and great wine! Definitely a dinner possibility.
We don’t have reservations (a must it seems as every table apparently is reserved), but the hostess is able to seat us at the high top table situated around a support pole in the middle of the restaurant. Perfect! After perusing the extensive menu, Ed decides on Beer Lao battered fish and I go for the Roasted Eggplant spread (because I am on a Baba Ganoush tour with my mission to sample it across the world). Both dishes are fantastic – Ed’s a traditional fried fish and chips dish, with the added bonus of a bunch of Kahiphaen on top – and my roasted eggplant, while far from a traditional Baba Ganoush, is excellent.
Feeling full, we walk off our dinner by going up to the night market – which has transformed Sisavangvong Road into a sea of tents and souvenirs. It’s so reminiscent of the way Chiang Mai used to be – with everyone setting up their stalls in the afternoon, then tearing them down and taking them away in the middle of the night. It’s really amazing – and packed with people and trinkets. We “stall shop” our way to the end, then turn around and head back toward the hotel, reveling in all the same, same but different items. The one thing that really strikes us are the souvenirs made from unexploded ordinance (UXO) – there are a few stalls from different villages with these items. We know there is a huge issue with UXO in Laos, a left over from the “secret” war here. But we need to do some more research on these vendors, and do have plans to go the UXO museum/facility here during the trip, so hopefully we can get more info there.
Ready to hit the hotel – I’m wearing down because, yes, I too now have the cold/illness passed on by our friends in the van in Hanoi – we wind our way through the crowds and traverse the city, gratefully plopping down on the balcony to watch the traffic and the river flow by us.
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