Surprises in Luang Prabang

To our surprise, Sakai decided to change our trip schedule so that we would be spending three days in one place (it sounded like a deam come true - not having to unpack/repack every night and morning). We arrived in Luang Prabang by plane from Pakse, and were taken to a quiet guesthouse not far from the heart of the city. To our surprise, Evelyn (the other Estonian on the trip) and my room had another door inside it leading to somewhere else. Curious to see if our room was more like a suite with another room attached we opened the door to find out what was on the other side...it was not by any means part of our room. It was in fact the living room of the hotel owners! On the other side of the door we found a woman lounging in the front of the tv and another woman setting out some plates of food. We quickly closed the door and locked it from our side (shortly after we heard them do the same) and decided simply to ignore the door. Easier said than done - the family seemed to have a love for using an electric bug zapper that could be heard through the walls until late in the evening. (Photo: 'Delicious' airport snacks - a brown, dried banana and tea that after adding powdered milk turned orange)

That evening I went out with Jessica, Rosie, and June - we wandered through the night market (the best market so far), where we picked up a few gifts while practicing our bartering skills. Everything went well for the most part, although Jessica seemed to make some enemies (they sold her the items at the decided price, but were not happy about it). While walking home (June had already left by this point), the three of us girls tried to appear as confident and brave as possible (we decided to be cheap and walk instead of taking a sohng tao - a pick-up truck with two benches in the back). This was hard however, when after passing a group of corrupt police officers and hearing what seemed like a whistle signal, we heard a "POP" and all the lights went out. Needless to say we were pretty terrified! Luckily we were right beside a very posh hotel that had a back-up generator so we quickly scurried into the lobby. Although the restaurant was closed, the staff let us sit by the pool where we ordered some drinks and waited for 45minutes before we felt safe enough to venture back home (by this time the lights were back on). We spent most of those 45minutes daydreaming about staying in a place as nice as that hotel.