Thank you, Bob, Kathie and CFW. One begins to wonder if this is so much solipsistic twaddle, but a few encouraging words from you folks and I am ready to unpack my LAOS guidebook for name/spelling verification and lash myself to my mac again.

It is funny. My 18 year old is so very happy to be home, but my husband and I mope around with long faces. The suitcases are only partly unpacked and I haven't started the laundry. The house is a dusty dump, quite a tumble from 4-5 star service for this grumpy malcontent.

Good coffee, sweet corn, berries, lovely yogurt, water that can be drunk from a Britta pitcher as well as from a bottle...these offer some consolation but not much. I have a lovely mango ripening on the kitchen windowsill and am getting great pho recipe responses from Fodorites on another thread so I'll soldier on. Still, there oughta be a DSM category for this malaise. Maybe there is...

Looking forward to hearing about LP...

Interesting to read about your experiences with tailors in Hanoi. While we have had much success in Bangkok with tailors, I can see that the situation in Hanoi is not quite the same. Jeane will likely want to have some things made while she is in Hanoi - we'll be sure and do our research.

Of course, it's solipsistic twaddle. That's our specialty. Thankfully, it's a communal disorder. Writing trip reports extends the trip for me. It clarifies memories and lets me daydream. How bad can that be?

Craig:

Our whole tailoring comedy of errors flowed from my mistaken notion that that particular tailor was recommended by our friend -- a friend with both unimpeachable taste and six years of living in Hanoi. Anyone who selects a tailor properly is likely to have a satisfying experience.

The additional mistake that I made that seemed most worth exploring and sharing was this. I knew that Hang Gai tailors are used to quick production for now-you-see-'em-now-you-don't tourists who'll never return. As a returning customer who clearly expressed an interest in developing an on-going relationship with this particular tailor -- becoming a regular -- I thought that we could get a better quality of service
and attention just by virtue of the profile we were presenting.

Ultimately, we did get better service than they routinely deliver, I suppose, but at too high a price emotionally since we had to work too hard to defend our interests. Also, high relative to their norm wasn't necessarily high enough.

As I mentioned to From DC (above) who is also planning a stay at the Metropole, I notice that Khai Silk has a branch at the hotel as well as their store on Hang Gai. Does this thinking have a flaw...in order to maintain a good relationship with the Metropole, would they not have to offer a high level of service and product? Furthermore, might that facilitate fittings, etc., if they were located right at your hotel? How competitive their pricing is is another matter, of course, but one would expect a more customer responsive approach from a shop catering to Metropole guests.

What I will be interested to hear is what you/Jeanne have to say about Vietnamese textiles vs. Thai textiles. I would like to educate myself more about fabrics now...

From SAIGON to LUANG PRABANG

I mentioned earlier that Sofitel Plaza is located diagonally across the street from the US and French consulates. Both consular offices present a fortress-like appearance at street level. Aside from catching a glimpse through tree branches of the tricolor and the stars and stripes, we were hardly aware of the French and American presence.

Yet one day, as my son and I were walking down the street (Le Duan Boulevard), we saw hordes of people thronging the entrance to the US consulate. It wasn't an orderly queue; it was a huge crowd, on both sides of the street, of people waiting expectantly with eyes trained on the (still closed) front gate. The crowd was growing by the minute.

We finally found an English speaker who suggested that this was probably "a day when folks were applying for visas to got to America because America is better." I have no idea whether that explanation was on target, but it was an eerie experience. Although I was still a teenager in 1973 when the last American personnel were evacuated from Saigon by helicopter from the US embassy roof, I do remember it happening. My son and I did not stick around long enough for clarification though I will not soon forget what it felt like to be part of a gathering crowd of Vietnamese in front of closed US Consulate doors.

As we drove to the airport for a pair of flights that would take us to Luang Prabang, the dream destination at the very, very top of my list, I nevertheless felt sorry that we had to leave Vietnam. And we did "have" to leave because my son's and my 30 day visas were up. I felt so lucky to have had 30 consecutive days in another country at this stage of my life with no serious interruptions owing to illness, accident, or mayhap. I left with a list of experiences for which I was grateful and, more importantly, a list of places that I would love to explore in future visits. Here's hoping...

Our previous Vietnam Airlines flights were on various model Airbus 300s but this first 1 hour and 20 minute flight, HCMC to Siem Reap, was on an ATR72 turboprop. It went fine but we did incur the excess baggage charge that triggers a jaunt to another counter and another queue. We were so early though -- personal preference always -- that we had plenty of time and no stress aside from the charge: $4.50 per kilo. Don't ask about the total amount; given my husband's work materials, my books and portable pharmacy, and my son's guitar, we asked for it.

Another aside: we flew business class trans-Pacific and economy class within Asia. All six economy class flights were quite pleasant. I wish that I could say the same about any random six flights in economy in the US.

We had a nearly 3 hour layover in SR airport which we remembered from two years earlier as being new, airy, and pleasant. It was even more upscale than we remembered, with good coffee and a pleasant bookstore as well. I tried on some blouses in the Artisans d'Angkor shop because I love those I bought two years ago in the main SR shop. The quality seemed off though. I found the exact model that I wanted in a lovely shade of grey -- I have it already in black and in burgundy -- but the quality of silk was not the same as what I bought last time and the seams seemed flimsier and inclined to roll rather than lie flat. I left empty-handed. Too bad.

Our second flight, on a Fokker 70 jet, was a tad longer, about 1 hour and 40 minutes. The visa-on-arrival queue moved a bit slowly but then so did we. Since we were near the back of the line, my husband stepped out to use the ATM since that was, to our surprise, permitted. A power cut killed the ATM just as my husband stepped up for his turn to withdraw cash. We had enough to cover the $105 (3 at $35) without the ATM but mention of the power cut might help first-timers or those on a budget. (You veterans would never even expect to find an ATM before the visa-on-arrival line.) Also, they only wanted one of the photos of the two that we had prepared.

Out to the waiting room where our driver from La Residence Phou Vao was waiting. I was elated to finally be in Luang Prabang.

Thanks to people on this board for singing the praises of La Residence PV because we loved it. I was torn between this hotel and an upstairs room at Apsara when booking because I thought that there might be advantages to being in town (not to mention cost savings between the two room rates). My husband is extremely glad that we were out at La Residence for the the peace and serenity it afforded.

A word on cost. Since La Residence was acquired by the Orient-Express Hotels company, and since LP has become such a "hot" place to stay, being trumpeted by the New York Times and various high-end publications, the hotel has become expensive by many standards. Our low-season rate was $275++ for the base room plus another $60++ for the third person in the room, so we were closing in on $400 per night for bed and breakfast. That was quite a splurge for us. Of greater interest, it is also an enormous amount of money in that economy so there is an argument to be made against such extravagant spending on accommodations in Laos. I realize that, but the trip being special to us, we made the decision to, as I said, splurge. Note that rates are even higher in peak-demand periods.


We were fortunate enough to book a pool-and-mountain-view room located in the main house. (Turn right at the top of the stairs and proceed to the last room on the left, directly above the pool, for those of you who know the premises.) The room was spacious without being cavernous, with a very large bathroom and generous double balcony fitted out with two floor level chaises-longues (term?) with a large varnished coffee table between them. The highly polished dark woods and white linen create a very restful environment. And, ah, the view...that view from both the bed and the balcony of the hills and Phou Si.

After a late lunch in the dining room and a leisurely swim, we happily settled in for six nights. Speaking of night, as the sun sets -- about 6:30 p.m. -- the staff undertakes elaborate preparations to welcome the evening by lighting candles and lanterns everywhere, raising them onto tree branches, floating them in the pool, slipping them them into alcoves in the elaborate masonry on the property. It is incredibly beautiful. Even the faux ruins by the right of the pool do not detract from the magic. At 3 am, I would get up and slip out from under the mosquito netting onto our balcony to see many flames still burning... What a delight.

Seeing all those untended flames, we wondered whether there must be no lawyers in LP aside from those on vacation. But I digress.

Coming up: Dining, the Spa, the Mekong, the Royal Palace, wats beautiful wats, Phou Si, the Night Market, and more

thanks for a great trip report.

just wondering, what tour book did you use for laos? and how did you like it?

I'm glad you loved the Phou Vao. You stayed in the same room we did - fabulous! I chuckle when I think of what we paid - I can't remember if it was $120 or $125 per night including tax, service and breakfast.

You are welcome, ared2879.

Will work for compliments so...

On some valuable advice of Kathie (of this board), I read Christopher Kremmers's STALKING THE ELEPHANT KINGS last Spring. If you have not read it and can make time to do so, it will enrich your stay. Until recently, I managed to miss the fact that Kremmer published another book, BAMBOO PALACE. Have any Laos-lovers out there read it?

Because our time in Laos was alas a brief 6 nights, I only brought one travel guide for the country with me: THE ROUGH GUIDE, published in February 2007. I just went into the Globe Corner Bookstore and the Harvard Coop and surveyed what was on offer, then chose the Rough Guide based on appeal and publication date. I haven't used RGs before but liked this quite well.

Before leaving, I skimmed the LP section in the Lonely Planet SOUTHEAST ASIA ON A SHOESTRING (pub. 2008) but it was too bulky to transport.

Most important, I set up a (Staples) soft-cover binder for every trip I take, with tab dividers for travel issues (meds, dox, flights, etc.) and destinations. At the Laos tab, I included a cut-and-paste doc made from quotes from Fodor trip reports and miscellaneous reading that I had done on-line and then loaded pell-mell into a Word document. (Thank you to ekscrunchy for generous contributions here.)

I tend to throw out paper from the binder as I go through my trip, so the stash of old binders on my bookshelf is not a rich repository of guide-dox though -- more like a graveyard of picked over carcasses. If I were less lazy, I would annotate them as I traveled and then have something special at the end. Maybe I should rethink this system.

marya, I have not read Bamboo Palace. Have you? Like you, Stalking the Elephant Kings enriched our experience of Laos.

Wow, Kathie, in addition to everything else delectable about the place, didn't you love the view from the room at all times of day and night?

You were the person who recommended the Golden Triangle Anantara to us on our first trip to Thailand three years ago. We loved it as well and were very grateful for the recommendation. The candle-lit fantasy approach to evening at La Residence PV reminded me of part of what we loved so much about the GT Anantara.

So...hmmm...If you have up your sleeve any other places that spin a similar magic, will you suggest what an Anantara and Phou Vao lover might start dreaming about? We still haven't been to Indonesia, Burma, Malaysia, many parts of Thailand, India...

Catching a place like La Residence PV before the rates uptick would be ideal, of course, but we also are willing to go places out of season so that we can afford a level of luxury that's out of range during high season.

If anything springs to mind....

Here we go...A bit more solipsistic twaddle with communal characteristics (thanks, Gpanda) before Fodor's takes down the board for evening repairs.

First of all, I loved Luang Prabang. But I do envy those of you who went a few years back for the special opportunity that you presumably had. In town, in addition to some meltingly beautiful wats and riverside landscape, there is a giddy, expansionist, commercial spirit in the air now that would probably surprise you. Out at La Residence, the difference is perhaps confined to price hikes, but, in town, there is a sense that tourists will come, tourists will spend more than the previously posted rates, and tourists like to eat such things as pizza and drink such things as cappucino.

It was a first visit for me so I have no right to be fancifully nostalgic about something I have never experienced before.

I also have no desire to participate in keeping rates low for well-heeled tourists when the Laotians are entitled to develop their tourism sector in a way that will benefit them. They should establish market rates and bring in as much money as they can. They desperately need it.

By the same token, I hope that someone is managing the process so that the old goose-that-laid-the-the-golden-egg cautionary tale doesn't eventually spring to mind whenever one hears the words, Luang Prabang.

Signs with prices crossed out, and then crossed out again, suggest a restless desire to get to that higher price level asap.

A cup of coffee in a simple Mekong riverside cafe that costs roughly as much as one in a Paris cafe ($4+) is still a bargain to well heeled westerners, but too many of those cafes spread out end-to-end, will change the town.

We chatted with an older couple associated with a major American university who were visiting LP for the third time. When I asked how they found the town compared with their 2006 visit, they said that they were amazed at how many little Laotian style restaurants had been replaced by pizza and sandwich places, "tourist food."

I also read in the BANGKOK POST that UNESCO had issued a warning to LP that they were too rapidly transforming old buildings into lodgings and were thus jeopardizing their UNESCO status. (I did not check that out beyond the BP article.)

I'll be back to rhapsodize about what we loved. Thanks for letting me express some anxieties first. Perhaps I am just on edge because I find LP's charms so seductive. Perhaps one or more of you knows of efforts to manage the boom in a savvy way. I hope so...

WOW...to so many things about LP...
we also paid about $110 at the hotel in 2005...i remember that it was a good deal that year in comparison to what others were paying...we loved the hotel but not $400 worth...i want the peninsula for that price or even the oriental...

i know your room (they were painting the balcony), but we stayed in the first room next to the pool in the bigger "motel" building on the top floor...we had the view out to town and also a side view of the pool....we had two decks...our room was huge... the lites at night were wonderful...i took great pics at dusk...i loved being outside town, except that we missed the monks because i was tooooo lazy to get up early....the food was excellent at all meals that we ate there...

i remember being disappointed in the brick street paving that unesco (world bank) was paying for in town...i thought it looked more like wellesley MA or fairfield county CT... i felt it was the beginning of the down fall of the place....too bad really but if people still come and the lao can make a good living, then i guess it is progress...

marya_

thanks for the guidebook tip. i oddly enough, made the same binder for our last trip, which was to peru. but didn't throw anything out until i got home. i found it helpful to label some pics.

also, just for another traveling tip...lonely planet's website has started allowing you to purchase specific chapters from their books to download. for our peru trip, instead of buying the book, i just bought 2 chapters & printed them for my binder.

excited to hear the end of your trip -- finally bought our flights for a late feb/early march 2 wk trip today. hanoi, LP, & siem reap -- so now the hotel research begins!

I agree, marya, the view from that room was glorious! The view from all of the Phou Vao was wonderful, but I thought that was the best room with the best view in the hotel.

We were there in 2002... I expect in many ways we wouldn't recognize LP. There were a few pizza places aimed at backpackers, but no other western fast food that I can remember. And there was almost no shopping in town...

By the way, I can think of some other places you might love - Bali is magical and there are wonderful atmospheric places to stay for good prices. And our trip to Sri Lanka was fabulous. Later, ask me about places and I'll be glad to brainstorm with you.

For now, back to your wonderful report!

Yes, Bob, delighted to report that the food is still very good at La Residence Phou Vao. The breakfast buffet didn't have the extravagant range of choice of so many high-end Asian breakfast buffets -- I am thinking of Beijing's Kerry Center, Singapore's Shangri-la, and Hanoi's Intercontinental, for example -- but it was suited to a hotel of La Residence's size.

This next claim deserves its own paragraph: the fruit in Laos, particularly that at La Residence, was the best that I have eaten in my entire life. Not during a month in Vietnam, nor during a total of three weeks in Thailand, never have I found fruit to be so exquisite. I would like to board a set of flights now just to savor the mango, papaya, mangosteen, rambutan, pineapple, dragonfruit, etc., that I reverently heaped on my plate each morning. It made -- sit down, Bob -- the fruit at the BKK Marriott Resort & Spa subsequently seem inedible. (I actually think that that's a problem but we'll get to that eventually.) The fresh juices were also lovely -- familiar lime, mandarin, pineapple, and watermelon, but also tamarind and hibiscus.

I particularly enjoy a breakfast that features a strong cup of coffee and fresh-squeezed juice, service on starched white linen, a credible newspaper or two (among the dwindling supply of such), and a peaceful view. La Residence supplied the linen, the juice, and the view. While the coffee was better at 6:30 am than at 9 am, suggesting a preparation problem rather than a "beans" problem, it wasn't good enough to roust us early; we switched to tea. Some days, a few copies of the Bangkok Post were on offer, some days not. In a setting as tranquil as LP, it is probably wise to dispense with the morning newspaper anyway.

We also enjoyed our first day's lunch and dinner at the hotel but after that chose to explore the town's restaurants.

Ekscrunchy and Gpanda had favorably reviewed the TAMARIND Cafe so I emailed co-owner Caroline ahead of time to reserve three places at the Friday evening Lao communal feast. She asks for a guaranteed reservation by 6 pm on the day before so I stopped by to say hello and prepay that Thursday afternoon. I am glad that I stopped by then because that was our chance to chat; her husband, Joy, was to be on duty for the Friday feast while she stayed home with their 9-month old son.

The recommendation for Tamarind Cafe was a superb one so we pass it along. The charge was about $10 per person excluding drinks. We ate at two long tables. There was a tour group of about 10 at one table. We sat next to a delightful NZ couple presently living in HCMC and across from a young American medical student who had just done an internship in Mongolia. Joy made brief, helpful remarks about the food as he and a server delivered it to the table, and he coached us how to scoop up sticky rice Lao style. The fish, riverweed, rice, condiments, and many scrumptious dishes were a huge success. With tongue firmly planted in cheek, I say that the only drawback to enjoying the food was the equally fabulous conversation with very interesting dinner companions. Oh, and did I mention that this cosy little restaurant is directly across the street from lovely Wat Nong? If you are fortunate enough to participate in a Friday dinner at Tamarind around 7 pm, go a little early and step into the outer courtyard of the Wat. You can stand at a discreet distance and center yourself while listening to the monks' chanting. If you are not in LP on a Friday, stop by for lunch any day.

Located down the block from Tamarind and Wat Nong, L'ELEPHANT gets top billing in many guidebooks and it is indeed a lovely spot for dinner, either on the shallow terrace or indoors. I tried the Laotian prix fixe menu -- $16 for course after course of local specialties. I learned that I adore riverweed -- whether Nam Khan or Mekong, I cannot say -- while I am less wild about the pungent dish made with bits of dried, fried buffalo skin. Soups, salads, steamed fish, sticky rice...yum. We had two dinners there. The second time, I tried the lighter "Menu Sante" and was also pleased.

The apparently well regarded THREE NAGAS was closed during our visit to LP. The hotel across the street was opened but the restaurant was shut up tight. We had a language breakdown so I was unable to understand why or how long the restaurant would be closed. Moving on...

The VILLA SANTI is in a gracious, open-air, adaptation of the Princess Villa. While the food was not the best we sampled in LP, it was quite pleasant and the candlelit dining room set back amid tall palms in a lovely garden is sure to delight you.

While the premises are less dramatic and less pampering than those of, say, La Residence Phou Vao's dining room or the Villa Santi, TUM TUM CHENG, which is housed in a cheerful little neocolonial house with charming local pieces of sculpture and other artwork, served extraordinarily wonderful food. While washing my hands before lunch, I chatted briefly with a French patron who kissed her fingers and said "Vous allez tres bien diner...vous avez tres bien choisi," then she swept off, making a grand exit. Oh, my...delectable soup to start and everything was perfect. Each dish was a marvel, with special attention to presentation. Go. Better yet, sign up for a cooking class there and learn how to do what they do so well.

Dining in LP is a pleasure. We very much enjoyed every single breakfast, lunch, and dinner except, I suppose, the one meal that we took at a pizza place among the many on (I think) Sisavangvong. Remember: we were traveling with our 18-year old who needed the lift of a pizza and ice-cream meal. I doused my pizza in lots of fresh chopped chilies and reflected that I should perhaps not have related to him the recipe for the buffalo meat dish that I had tried at L’Elephant. If what I read is to be believed, it goes something like this: leave bits of dried buffalo skin to rot, then fry the bits to remove the excess hair, chop, add chilies and…well, maybe that’s a spoof, although I did read it somewhere.

To dine out in LP is to dine very well, unless you head for the pizza joints. Unless you are traveling with a homesick teen, just say no to pizza and yes to treats such as riverweed and sticky rice.

Your description of LP makes me consider stretching my trip longer.

For now I will live vicariously through you.

Am enjoying it very much

Thanks...and thanks for tolerating it, warts and all. I cringe to reread some of the breezy generalities and half-formed ideas, but I need to tap it out quickly because time pressures are bearing down. At least if I provide the frame, people can ask questions about their specific interests.

while we were at LP the PV breakfast was samplings from a small menu....very lovely...no buffet...

Kathie:

No, sorry, I have not read BAMBOO PALACE -- only read about it on Amazon. My focus is elsewhere now but, if others recommend it strongly, I'll keep it on my list for a future read.

I just got SACRED WILLOW for reading more about Vietnam. Also the highly regarded Duiker biography of Ho Chi Minh. Both require a substantial time commitment but I hope to get to them in the next year.

Thank you for agreeing to brainstorm on exotically lovely hotel possibilities later on.

ared2879:

Hanoi-Luang Prabang-Siem Reap...Are you ever in for a treat.