We had an unfortunate 3:45 am wakeup call from the gongs at the monastery next door…add it to the list of awful things about our hotel! We were able to both go back to sleep for a bit but were up early so we packed up and headed to a nearby cafe for breakfast that was indoors and warm. They had great croissants and coffee as well as internet so we hung out there for a bit researching new hotels before we headed back out into the cold to find a new hotel. We thankfully only had to look at 2 places before we found a lovely hotel with an ENGLISH SPEAKING owner (she was British) and a lovely (albeit expensive) room. After the prior night of expensive food and expensive (but horrible) hotel we quickly realized our money would not go as far in Luang Prabang as it had elsewhere so we agreed to just increase our hotel budget to whatever we needed to in order to get a reasonable hotel. We quickly checked out of our old hotel and moved into the new one. Michael got to work on updating his resume for his interview and I took a lovely hot shower – first time I felt clean in at least a week! Afterwards we headed out to wander towards the market area and find lunch. We had some great (and relatively cheap) noodles at a street vendor then Michael headed back to the hotel to continue working while I went to find a place to get laundry done and did a lot of window shopping. I bought a scarf but found lots of other things I loved and planned to bring Michael back to look with me! After he finished his work stuff we hung out at a cafe for afternoon tea/croissant and then headed out to do a little shopping together. We ran into the evening food market including endless grilled meats and snacks. We tried chicken wings, ribs, fried dumpling things and a bunch of noodles/veggies. It was all really amazing (especially the meat) and cheaper than any restaurant! We sat and ate with 2 lovely people including an 80yo British man and a 60-something Asian/European woman who were traveling companions but not a couple. It was fascinating to hear them talk and we really enjoyed chatting with them. We hope we are traveling to places like Laos when we’re 80! We picked up our laundry and headed back towards the hotel through the insane street market. We weren’t up for shopping tonight but we can’t wait to come back and do some serious buying before heading to Thailand! We didn’t buy many souvenirs in China, Vietnam or Cambodia other than clothes in Hoi An, Vietnam so we are excited to finally really buy some things and be able to (hopefully) safely ship things home for a reasonable price in Thailand. It was a great first day in Luang Prabang and we look forward to more nice days and hopefully better weather!
Mera and Michael Travel 