Luang Prabang: Good Eats

The real draw of Luang Prabang, and we later found that it applied to all of Laos, was the relaxed atmosphere and food.  The Laotian people just seemed more laid back and friendly, especially when compared to the Vietnamese where we felt like walking ATMs.  It was a refreshing change of pace.  As for the food, Laos is a former French colony and its palate will vouch for that.  We ate way too many street crepes with wine.

The crepes ranged in price from 10,000 to 15,000 kip ($1.22-1.83) depending on what was inside; sweet or savory, combinations.  The kind we got the most often were cheese and salami or ham.

We also dabbled in some real food.  Like the sandwiches and breakfast meals from Scandinavian Bakery.  The breakfast special was 25,000 kip ($3.05) and included a ham and cheese croissant or bagel, orange juice, and coffee.  The pizza was some of the best thin crust we have had and their other baked goods permitted us to become return customers.

We also indulged at JoMa Bakery several times, but that was mostly for the wifi that came with the bagels.

As for real food, we tried an Indian place one night that was very good.  It was also a good value at 71,000 kip ($8.67) per person for a main, nan, and a beer.  We even went to a French restaurant that was big on food and ambiance, but lacking in service.  We only ate salads and appetizers as those would fit in our budget, but based on those, the entrees must be good.

We ate several times at Lao Lao Garden.  The first time we stopped by for drinks midday.  We were parched from walking around the city, and the drinks were cold.  I tried the local brew and Renee tried a fruity drink with the word "gay" in the title.  
The second time we went there, we had Laos BBQ which was done over coal on our table and included a broth that we made while the meat cooked.  It was pretty tasty and Renee tried to find it elsewhere in Laos.

Luang Prabang: getting in and hanging out

Everyone was posing in-front
of the tiny plane

We flew into Luang Prabang, Laos from Hanoi, Vietnam.  Our visas for 'Nam were about to expire (thank you incompetent Korean travel agent) and a 23hr. minibus ride just didn't sound like a good time.  We flew Lao Air for $139 direct.  Pretty straight forward as the airplane was a prop-plane filled with an Australian high school class on a field trip.  The flight came in a little hot for my liking, but it was only 1.5 hrs long and they gave us the usually boxed meal.

The LP airport was basic and a visa-on-arrival cost $23 for 30 days, but the price does vary depending on your nationality.  Also, the taxi from the airport to our guesthouse was fixed and you bought a ticket form the taxi stand before you got in the taxi.  This was welcomed as Charlie made haggling for the fare tedious.

This was the first country where we were going off of a three-year-old Lonely Planet to find accommodations.  We quickly realized the the quality and price of a recommendation changes soon after the book is published.

The first place we tried, Phousi Guesthouse 2,  was in the book, but its quality was limited by a lumpy bed and smelly room.  It was a little more expensive than the books quoted price, but at 70,000 kip ($8.55) for a fanned, double room, we knew we could do better.

Boupha Guesthouse

Though better may have been worse, but to start it didn't smell and the fanned, twin room, shared bathroom had more comfortable beds.  It was closer to the main drag, and the couple that owned seemed to actually care about Renee when she had a stomach bug.  All-in-all, Boupha Guesthouse seemed like a steal for 40,000 kip ($4.88).
That was for the first couple of nights.  We quickly realized that because of the rooms orientation, there was no airflow from outside and the room stayed stuffy and hot even with the fan on high.  A few bugs would be fine considering that we were in a jungle area, but the spider the size of my hand that was relaxing next to the doorway one night was the last straw.  I killed it with two whacks of my shoe, but we didn't sleep too well that night and Renee insisted that we upgrade the next day.

The upgrade turned out to be the most expensive of the three, but it had a/c, tv, and was relatively cleaner.  Renee approved, and she should have for 90,000 kip a night ($11).

The main drag of Luang Prabrang looks even more stunning at night
as the shops are all outlined in yellow Christmas lights.  

Hanoi

We found the lake that is in the middle of the city and apparently very popular with the locals.  There is a pagoda on the island that is in the middle and Renee was kind enough to pose in front of it.

As you can see the traffic is a little ridiculous, but they don't really want to run over pedestrians.  The trick is to wait for the best gap you can get for the time of day and they start crossing slowly and with purpose.  The cars and motorbikes will avoid you, just don't make any sudden moves or stop in the middle of the street.

Enshrined in the box is Ho Chi Minh himself.  They don't let you take pictures and his corpse looks pretty fake.  They move you around him quickly so you can't get too good of a look at him, but it is an entombed communist leader that I can cross off my list of entombed communist leaders to see.  I tried to get there early and it wasn't really necessary.  The line moved quickly, they just make you jump through hoops to see him.  I got yelled at for walking on the grass in front of the mausoleum, so you have to walk all around the side of the building the get into it.  cyclo drivers were trying to get me to pay them to drive me there.  Don't fall for it.  They said it was 2km  to get around the building; it was more like 200m.  They said it would take 30 minutes to walk there and that I would miss the tour time; it was more like 10 minutes with a bunch of tour time left.  You also have to check you camera before you enter the mausoleum, but you give it to a worker of the complex and they give you a ticket.  You claim your camera as soon as you leave the mausoleum.  Behind the tomb, there is a museum to Ho Chi Minh that has a replica of his houses before and after the war and some of his belongings.  It was kind of interesting, but it was the HCM gift shop that really showed how they feel about their beloved leader.

We stayed at Youth Hotel the night before our Ha Long Bay tour.  It was 290,000 VND was a three bed room with a/c and private bath.  It did the trick as it was only $5 a person, but the roomed smelled moldy and there was a hole in the shower that looked like a person kicked through it.  

The last two nights in Hanoi after the HLB tour were at Hanoi Memory Hotel where it was much nicer and only a little more expensive (~$12/ppn).  We did have to switch rooms at one point, but that was because they received a reservation and we were only booking night-to-night.  

Ha Long Bay

We booked a three day, two night Ha Long Bay tour before arriving in Hanoi for 1,976,000VND ($103) per person.  While visually, the tour was spectacular, the amenities were lacking.  The service was generally very friendly and helpful, but focused and time oriented.  Would I recommend a tour of Ha Long Bay? Yes.  Would I recommend this tour company? Probably not.

First the beautiful:

Our vessel

The 'snack boats' that followed us around and served us cheap, cold beer while swimming

View from the caves

Our tour guide Dat trying to explain rock formations in broken English and then looking at us like we were stupid if we didn't see 'The Laughing Buddha'

More caves

In Viet Nam, it is OK to feed your trash to the Dolphins. Renee thought this was just way too ironic. 

Inadequate floatation devices 

Kayaking to floating village

Junk boat + snack boats 

Ahh! Beautiful Cat Ba National Park

Beginning of the 'easy hike' 

While the first part of the hike had some stairs and a clear path, towards the top you were rock climbing and climbing up rusted out ladders. People's shoes were breaking because they did not expect the hike to be so strenuous. We even saw one girl go down barefoot because the mud made her shoes too slippery. 

ALMOST to the top! 

Chris made it, Renee took one look at the weight limit sign and rusted stairs and said 'Not on your life!'

View from the top! Very Jurassic Park-ish! 

Don't look down! 

Monkey Island Resort

Arrival at Monkey Island

Our Hut

Inside our hut

Hiking around Monkey Island

The nicer beach that we could look at, but couldn't go swimming at

Gasp! A MONKEY ON MONKEY ISLAND!! 

'Floating Bar' aka our tour guide with a bucket of booze he was distributing 

Blissful about the Floating Bar and the adequate floatation devices this time! 

Buffet dinner... mostly seafood and some chicken, with the ever present French Fries! Nearly EVERYTHING we ate on our tour was deep fried in one way or another! 

Overall:
During the three days of this trip, I'd say about a whole day was spent traveling.  Ha Long Bay is about 3.5 hours from Hanoi each way, the boat to and from Cat Ba Island took about another hour and there was driving to and from the dock involved, and we got stuck at Cat Ba National Park waiting for about an hour for the bus to pick us up.  Now, I thought that there would be more relaxing time as this is a vacation on a bay; not really.  I think the tour guides count relaxing time as whenever we aren't actively moving, though waiting for a bus or sitting in a car is not too relaxing.  We were granted about an hour of swim time after the cave and kayaking on the first day and we had the last half of the second day on Monkey Island.  We had the nights to ourselves, though I think that was more recovery from the day than relaxing.  We slept on the junk boat the first night, pretty nice boat rooms, and the second night was at Monkey Island Resort, okay huts for the ambiance.
A cruel joke was having air conditioning in the rooms.  While they would turn them on only at night, they would turn them off in the wee hours of the morning to wake us up.  Let me tell you, there is nothing worse than waking up exhausted from the previous day hot and sweaty.  I know they did this to wake us up without "waking us up" but I thought it was unnecessary and started the day on the wrong foot.  The third day was spent almost entirely traveling as we moved from Monkey Island to Cat Ba Island back to Ha Long Bay to drive back to Hanoi.