Welcome to Laos

Saturday, June 24, 2017

Up at 4 am to catch a 5 am taxi for the airport.  As we head out, Luke finds his flip flops missing.  In many Asia hotels, one leaves their footwear at the front door and wear hotel flip flops up to their room.  The girl at the desk with the manager determined that one of the other guest would have taken them.  She then heads up stairs with Luke and starts pounding on doors.  The first guy wakes up and opens the door, she heads in and checks the shoes.  After no luck, a confused hotel guest is allowed to go back to sleep.  The second room she heads into produces Luke’s flip flops.  Things you would never see back home, Luke was impressed how she would just head into the room once the sleepy guest would crack open the door.

The flight is uneventful, although the boys were a little concerned with being dropped off on a bus in front of the plane which was a twin prop 70 seater.  Our arrival into Luang Prabang Airport was very scenic as we land between little mountain ranges.  At customs, we were thrilled to see that Canadian visas cost more than any other nation in the world.  $42 US each, plus a $1 US each processing fee.  Laos better be good!  And as of 9 pm, we are thrilled with Laos.  After settling into a very nice guesthouse, we headed for a walk on the main street.  What a pleasant and major difference from Vietnam.  Normal traffic, soft sales, and friendliness.  We find the restaurants on the main street to be expensive for Asia, so we head down a side street and find a noodle shop.  Dirt floors, home made table and bench, and some excellent noodle soup.  Now we are talking.  In the evening, we head back into town to check out the night market.  After a purchase of some Laos slippers, we head down the main local food court.  The kids are thrilled as the Laos food is much better than Vietnamese, not as oily being the main difference.  The boys each have a chicken breast on a stick, and Luke gets a buffet bowl of local food for 15 000 kip (2.50 Cnd).  On the way out, the boys get some little mini pancake / sweet cakes that are delicious as well.  Everyone is excited to eat tomorrow, a first time in a long time for that. 

It is a small world.  During a walk to young children come running up to us and ask if we are the Canadian family that was in Australia.  Cindy recognizes them as a family we had talked to in Melbourne.  They take us to their parents who are at a restaurant and we spend the next hour catching up on each other’s travels.  Ends up we had gone to the game footy game in Melbourne, and would have been sitting in the same section.  They will be returning home to Hamilton in mid July after almost a year abroad.