Travel Day to Laos

From 10/10

We woke up early to quick shower and eat some breakfast before the long windy road down to Chiang Mai to fly out. We said our sad goodbye to Ming, our wonderful host that brought us back to full health, and were on our way

The road back to Chiang Mai was under construction for a good chunk of the way down. The construction workers were all wearing sandals! Safety regulations may be a bit different, and may cause a few more accidents. 

We took a private cab which was a bit more expensive but much better than taking a crammed bus. We ate airport food which is the same quality as American airport food: average-subaverage. We got on a small Lao Airline plane and were off. For an hour long flight they even gave us a tuna sandwich and fruit! Much better than your typical 6 pretzels. 

We got into Luang Prabang and went directly to the hostel/hotel. It's more of a hotel than hostel but we found it on Hostelworld.com. The airport is only 4 km from the center of the city. 

Our hostel host immediately gave us a coconut drink and mapped out the entire city for us. She gave us all the details we needed and all the cool spots to go to. We meandered the town for a little bit then headed to the recommended Lao BBQ place right down the street called Lao Lao Bar. 

We got the classic BBQ and Lao beers. They came out with this giant caldron full of hot coals and set them down IN our table. They placed a strainer looking thing on top of it (as seen below) and left us with all the raw ingredients. The waiter told us what everything was and left us. 

We didn't really know what we were doing but at the Lao BBQ you get to cook your own meat and steam your own veggies into a soup. Everything was served with a delicious peanut sauce. Yum. 

It was pouring out while we ate, and continued to do so afterwards so we called it a night and went back to our hostel. We planned or next couple days here (4 full days!) and went to bed early after a long travel day. 

"What is that feeling when you're driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? - it's the too-huge world vaulting us, and it's good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies."

- Jack Kerouac