Our last night in Luang Prabang

We were still full from lunch on the Mekong so we decided to forego dinner and go for a wander through the night market and have a drink instead. We started by walking down the “street food” lane; there were some odd things on offer with some rather unpleasant smells. We walked down to the bottom of the lane before turning back and heading to the main market. I bought, what I call “tourist trousers;” they are like culottes with a skirt around the side and only the tourists seem to be wearing them but they are super comfortable. They also cost £3.57....pictures to follow tomorrow!  We also bought some bamboo straws which seem to be everywhere as Laos is very environmentally aware.











After wandering around for an hour or so, we stumbled across a bar still doing happy hour; we decided to try the Lao cocktail which were 2 for £5. Picture below; ignore my hair, its a frizz bomb because of the humidity. They were basically mojitos but with Lao whisky instead of rum. The bar, called “The New Opera”, was a great place for people watching so we stayed there for an hour or so before heading back to the hotel for an early bed....and a 5.45am start!



One thing I forgot to tell you about yesterday; we now know why Xue has 5 children! Basically, the first four children were girls meaning that when they are older and married, they will leave and go to their husbands home, therefore leaving Xue and his wife to look after themselves. Many Lao people want a boy as the boy will always stay with his parents and look after their needs in old age, along with his wife...you can guess that his fifth child was a son! He is considering having one more in the hope it will also be another boy therefore ensuring a happy life when he is older!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Anniversary Holiday

Image
Every year, around December 8th, I look to see what we can do or where we can go to celebrate "surviving" another year of marriage.   Over the last few years, we've been back to our wedding venue for an overnight stay, had an all-inclusive holiday in Ras al Khaimah in the UAE, visited New Orleans and had a Michelin tasting menu at The Kitchin in Leith. This year, we decided to stick with Europe and head to Riga, the capital of Latvia. Back in April 2020, we were supposed to visit Riga, but the trip was cancelled due to Covid. I'm not sure why its taken us so long for us to rebook, but the prospect of a traditional Christmas market and some Glühwein convinced us. We flew Ryanair from Edinburgh to Riga on Sunday 3rd December; the flight was 2 hours late, but thankfully we had paid for a lounge so we weren't too bothered. I had pre-booked a taxi on arrival and was delighted given the delay; the journey was only 15 minutes, but it was midnight and -10 when we arrived ...
Read more

Bucharest & Dracula

Image
This is another one of these holidays that we had booked in 2020, for my birthday to be precise. It's only now, April 2024, that we managed to rebook and make our way to the Capital, Bucharest and the mountains and countryside of Transylvania. It was the usual deal, British Airways via London using a companion voucher and Avios to upgrade to business class; I'm pretty sure the flights cost us £2. The flight to London was early, and it was absolutely beautiful coming into London; we had fabulous views of the city.  We arrived in Romania late afternoon, and had a taxi waiting to take us to the hotel. I had booked The Mansion Boutique Hotel, a 4 star hotel in the centre of the pedestrian district; we had to be let off by the side of the cobbled streets but thankfully it was only a 2 minute walk. Check-in was great, we got a glass of fizz each and taken to our room which was called "Zen". We actually didn't have too long, so unpacked quickly and made our way out of th...
Read more

366 Steps with a Hangover!

Image
Surprisingly, we weren’t feeling quite so fresh this morning. We decided to delay breakfast and go straight to the Belfry of Bruges, a medieval bell tower. There are 366 steps which lead you to the top of the 83 metre high building. Normally, this would be fine but with the cold and a hangover, I was not feeling the best. The spiral staircase is very steep at the top so they only allow 50 people up at a time; we had to wait at the bottom for a few minutes which was a bit of an inconvenience, but now I understand why they have these restrictions. We made it to the top and only had a 10 minute wait until 11am which would signal a lot of bells chiming. I’m sure you can imagine how my head was feeling at the end of it! After descending the tower, we headed to the Church of our Lady Bruges as there is a Michelangelo sculpture located there. Unfortunately, you had to buy a museum ticket in order to see it so we decided it wasn’t worth it. Instead, we went for lunch at a very quaint tea room....
Read more