Our flight out of Luang Prabang to Hanoi was later in the afternoon and Fhan arranged for a late checkout today. We tried to chip away at our ever-tardy blog. Meager progress at best.
I took a short walk into town to get some last pictures then we had a nice lunch at the Maisson. Their restaurant is considered one of the best in Laos and our meal was special. Mary had some of the locally inspired spring rolls and I had the ‘Luang Few’. It took a while for me to connect the Laotian ‘Few’ with Thai and Viet ‘Pho’ (even though they are pronounced the same – duh) but they are kindred spirits. Slightly different, but very good.
We bid goodby to Fahn & Touy at Luang Prabang’s international airport. Clearing security took about 10 seconds. Small and relaxed to say the least. Our flight was on Vietnam airlines. The plane departed some 20 minutes late but still arrived in Hanoi on time. The remnants of another typhoon were passing through Hanoi, and the rain was heavy on arrival. Our new guide, ‘Duc Truong Tran’, met us at the airport and introduced himself as ‘Bob’. Easy to remember! Not so easy was ‘Phuong’, the driver. Good guy though.
Our lodging was in the Old Quarter at the ‘La Siesta Classic’. As it was late (10 PM), we cleaned up and stopped at the hotel’s rooftop bar for a nightcap. We had the place to ourselves with beautiful views and had special attention from our server, ‘Dat’.
Dick