Day 8 - Pool Day

We had a fantastic sleep in our hard mattress’d bed and then Jackie insisted I put our sarongs on 2 of the only 6 sun beds around the pool. We then went down to the aircraft hangar for breakfast and even as we walked in it did not look appealing.

It was a buffet style breakfast and the coffee was thick tar like and bitter. I nibbled on a couple of chunks of watermelon and some tasteless melon. Jackie had a slice of toast and a spoonful of rice. There was also a an egg station but neither of us could stomach it. We won’t be having breakfast there again.

The morning was spent by the pool with Jackie constantly critiquing the breakfast whilst I tried to catch up with my blog and read my book.

At midday we left our sarongs on the beds and booked a Tuk-Tuk and seats on the bullet train to Luang Prabang for Wednesday with our receptionist, Vanh. She also confirmed that the air balloons were still not flying.

I had originally planned to take a minibus to Luang Prabang, which is apparently a scenic route through the mountains, but Jackie read that the minibus took 6.5 hours compared to just 1 hour by train. It was a no brainer.

We headed out for a lunch The main thoroughfare Route 13 was nowhere near as busy as that first dusty crossing and we even walked along it before cutting down into town. We got 2 million Kip out of a BCEL Bank ATM with minimal fuss, then found a slightly more westernised cafe. I’m embarrassed to admit that we both ordered a cheese burger and french fries with a couple of beers. It turned out to be a minuscule burger in a large bun, but it was still tasty enough and filled a hole.

We walked back to the hotel to discover the pool area was busy, mainly French girls either in the pool or sitting on the pool side. As we returned to our room, I started to feel guilty, but apparently Jackie didn’t. However, Jackie suddenly felt the need to do something or other in the room, so I had to make the walk of shame back to our sun beds on my own, trying desperately not to catch anyone’s eye.

It was a roasting hot afternoon and I managed to get some reading in. The peace around the pool was disturbed when Jackie climbed out of the pool, slipped on the wet floor and went arse over tit and landed with a thud on the tiles. I heard a few gasps from the fellow pool users, possibly secretly thinking there is such a thing as karma.

The peace was disturbed for a second time when my phone went berserk with news alerts. Anyone would have thought that World War Three had started………….maybe it had!!

That evening we went out early and did a tour of the walking street markets, selling clothes, food and god knows what else, but at cheaper prices than we have probably ever previously experienced.

The town was significantly busier than Friday night, which I understand was due to the wealthy Laos families from Vientiane and Luang Prabang driving to Vang Vieng for a weekend of adventures.

We strolled around the bustling town until we found a Lao Restaurant that took our fancy. The owner was very welcoming and the restaurant had a nice atmosphere. We ordered fried ginger and pork, fried chicken and cashew nuts with rice , morning glory and a starter of fried spring rolls. It was very nice, but didn’t have the wow factor of some of our previous meals.

We returned to our balcony for a couple of nightcaps. We were in bed by 10pm.

Song of the Day - War by Edwin Starr.Baca lagi