For a map of my travels, click here.
My flight to Hanoi is scheduled to leave at 3:30 (if I'm lucky), so I had the morning and early afternoon at leisure to stroll around Luang Prabang. Before starting out I had breakfast at the cafe that is either inside of or next to (depending on your perspective) my hotel. For the third day in a row, I had the banana pancakes, and if I had spent a month there, I would have had the pancakes every day. They were so good, I could have eaten them without syrup, which I had to do a couple of times, since I could apparently get the pancakes with bananas or syrup, but not both.
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| The World's Best Pancakes |
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Apparently, I could have had bagels and lox, but the pancakes won. However, I regret not having a Laotian bagel.
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| Lower East Side of Luang Prabang |
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With a full stomach, I headed off into the streets of Luang Prabang. At one point I encountered a woman carrying two baskets of vegetables with a pole across her shoulder. For some reason, she came over and put the pole on my shoulder, and I almost collapsed under the weight. I think she wanted me to take her picture, so I obliged, being thankful that I didn't have to carry that thing around all day.
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| She's a better man than I |
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I eventually made it across time, and took a trip across the bamboo bridge over the Mae Kok River. They build the bridge every year just before the dry season, and tear it down before the wet season, since it would be underwater. After paying the 75 cent toll, I strolled across the bridge, and immediately strolled back, since there wasn't much on the other side.
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| On the Bamboo Bridge |
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Back in town, I visited the former Royal Palace, which is now a National Museum. The King of Laos was forced out in the mid 1970's, so the building and interior are more modern than most former palaces. My favorite part of the visit was the King's personal car from the late 1950's--an Edsel. This may explain why he was forced to leave the country. Unfortunately, they won't let you photograph the cars.
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| Former Royal Palace |
The rest of the morning/afternoon was dedicated to random shots--here are a few:
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| Well, somebody had to do the laundry for the monks.... |
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| Lots of dual flags around town. I don't know how enthusiastic the people are about the Communist Party, but a lot of them were flying the flag, whether they wanted to or not. |
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| Just another Buddha |
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| Haw Pha Bang (again) |
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| Central Luang Prabang |
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| Just outside central Luang Prabang |
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| Just outside central Luang Prabang |
After lunch, I got a text message from Thai Airlines saying that my suitcase had been delivered to the lost luggage room at the Hanoi airport. I was tingling with anticipation!
Around 2:00 we headed to the airport for my flight to Hanoi. The first interesting thing I noticed about the Luang Prabang airport was that the restaurant (such as it is) and gift shops were in a separate building from the ticket counters and waiting areas. The second thing I noticed is that while the airport looks nice from the outside, the inside is pretty much a dump.
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| Terminal building at Luang Prabang Airport. Food and other stores are in a separate building behind me. |
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| Check-in counter at Luang Prabang Airport |
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With the aid of my guide, I was able to negotiate check in (made easier because I *still* didn't have my luggage). Boarding was typical for Asian and African airports. Someone makes an unintelligible announcement over a loudspeaker (presumably to board passengers needing assistance) and everyone in the terminal rushes the gate. Take-off in our Vietnam Airlines prop plane was uneventful and only an hour late, and I got a couple of good shots of Laotian countryside out the window.
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| Laotian countryside |
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| Laotian countryside |
We arrived at the Hanoi airport (which is very nice) just as it was getting dark. I had to get a "Visa on Arrival" which cost me $25 and took them about 2 minutes to process. I suspect the same thing would take 2 hours at a US airport (if you could get a visa on arrival, which you can't). After I cleared customs, I headed straight to the Lost Luggage room, and look what I found!
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| The object in question |
Apparently (based on the 10 or so tags), the suitcase had done more traveling that I had. After a tearful reunion with my luggage, I exited the baggage area and met my tour guide. I noticed that the car was a brand I had never heard of (which turned out to be some model made in South Korea by Daewoo), so I asked my guide what it was. After we established the car's identify, my guide turned to me we had the following conversation:
Guide: "You have Rekshit in America?"
Me: Pardon?
Guide: "Rekshit--you know, ruxury car!"
Me: "Oh--you mean Lexus!"
After I recovered from that, we drove into central Hanoi. It was dark, but the road was a modern expressway, lined on both sides with what seemed to be an endless stream of karaoke bars and signs advertising other karaoke bars. They loves them some karaoke in Vietnam, I was to discover. Eventually, we arrived at my hotel (Maison Hanoi), which was about 7 stories high and 20 feet wide (more on that later). My room was beautiful; not what I had expected from the Communists.
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| My room at Maison Hanoi. The FILA bag on the right was the one I bought in Yangon to hold my souvenirs. |
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| Exterior view of Maison Hanoi (on left) |
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With great anticipation, I went to open my suitcase and get reunited with my long lost clothing. And the combination lock wouldn't open. I tried about 5 times to open it with no luck. Then I got a butter knife from the dresser and tried to cut through the lock and realized that this approach would take about a month. I ultimately went to the lobby and explained the problem to the concierge. He went into a back room and came back with a pair of pliers (I was expecting a hammer and sickle), and ripped the lock open. My life was now complete.
It was now about 8:00 PM, so I wandered the streets for dinner, eventually eating at the Little Hanoi Bistro. After dinner, I wandered over the the north shore of
Hoan Kiem Lake, which is in the center of town, and where all citizens of Hanoi are required to ride their motorbikes.
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| Traffic circle on the north side of Hoan Kiem Lake |
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| Restaurant reflected in Hoan Kiem Lake |
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| Pedestrian traffic in the middle of Hanoi |
The traffic in the center of town was incredible, with motorcycles outnumbering cars by about 10 to 1. I managed to dodge traffic and get back to the hotel, and prepared for the next day's trip to Halong Bay.
Here are a few more shots from the day:
Next:
To Ha Long Bay and back to Hanoi.
