Best croissant ever from Joma Cafe

There are two kinds of buses that ply the Luang Prabang-Vientiane route: The VIP express and the Express bus. From what I’ve seen, the only difference between the two is that the VIP is a double decker bus, while the express has night departures. I’ve been dead set on taking the night bus, but I changed my mind at the last minute, and will be taking the morning bus instead, so I can see the scenery. Goodness knows how I’m going to pass 10 hours in the bus though.

This morning, I decided to have breakfast at the nearby Joma cafe. I’ve seen this coffee shop the first time I arrived, and have been snubbing it because it’s your run-of-the-mill cafe with outdoor seating and and air conditioned indoor dining area. After looking at the menu last night, I decided to finally give it a try this morning. Now I’m kicking myself for not trying them out sooner. Aside from hot and cold beverages, they serve different kinds of pastries and sandwiches. Ever since seeing the signs of Happy Herb Pizzas in Siem Reap, I’ve been hankering for pizza, though without the happy herbs. Their pepperoni pizza looks appetizing, so I ordered one for breakfast, to go along with my croissant and cup of hot cocoa.

Royal Palace Museum

While the hot cocoa is not something to write about, the pizza was good. It was full flavored, and has lots of toppings. The croissant was fantastic as well. It doesn’t look like the croissant you see back in Manila — this one looks dry (not glossy with oil). I tear of a piece of the croissant and I loved how it’s not as greasy as croissants can be. It’s delightfully flaky and despite its appearance, was quite moist. I love it.

This morning’s breakfast was a huge improvement over last night’s dinner. I decided to try out this one restaurant that boasts of being the longest running restaurant in Luang Prabang. I thought I should splurge, and ordered onion soup and chicken in bread crumbs with cream sauce. The soup came with half a baguette, and sadly, that’s the only good thing about it. It was salty, but doesn’t have any other flavor nor texture. The chicken on the other hand, was just plain weird. Well, the chicken was basically like cordon bleu, but it comes slathered with cream sauce that just doesn’t look nor taste right. The mashed potato that came with it was dry, and the veggies that came with it doesn’t really match the other two, but it was the only thing cooked perfectly.

Sisavang Vong

I’m leaving early tomorrow morning, so this night’s dinner will be my last here in Luang Prabang. Better make the right choice of restaurants this time.

Yuiichiro and Sayuri at Luang Prabang

It’s interesting, these two roads. The main road is filled with shops catering to every tourist’s needs, while the road by the Mekong is quieter and have the stores where the locals shop. I turned right on the road leading up to the National Museum, but I passed it to head to the main road.

I’ve been eating local dishes for the past 7 days, and I’m hankering for some bread. Laos have been under the French rule decades ago, and seeing French baguettes being sold on the side of the road is a common sight. I’m not much of a baguette person though, so I settled on a Croque Madame, a sandwich with 3 white breads, slices of ham in between and topped with cheese and an egg. It was okay. Not as spectacular as the one I had in Melbourne (which comes with salad and the bread is practically covered with sinful cheese and butter).

Croque Madame

While I was waiting for my food, a girl approached me, selling random knick knacks. I politely turned her down, but she doesn’t leave. I take out my Pinkies and started taking photos. She was a really cheeky one, this girl. She was muttering “beautiful” when she saw the dolls, and after I’ve taken the photos, she asked to see them. When I showed the photo preview on my LCD, she keeps on saying “next” to see the other photos I’ve taken. She then started asking questions, about my name, where I’m from, when I arrived. She started selling her wares to me again, and this time, I bought one keychain from her. I have been intending to buy one of these (as per Chris’ request), so I figured why not? Besides, the price she’s giving me is the same price at the night market.

My sandwich came and she runs off to try to sell to other tourists. I take my time eating my breakfast, and though I had a book in my bag, I didn’t feel like reading it. Luang Prabang is the sort of place that makes you just want to sit back and watch the world go by. I finish my sandwich, but spent 30 more minutes at the cafe just watching the people walking past. When the sun went behind a cloud, I took it as a sign to pay for my food and start walking. I walk back to the National Museum, intending to spend the hottest time of the day indoors. The main gate was closed, but the gate off the side was open. Just as I was walking up to the museum though, the grounds keeper saw me and shook her hand, indicating that the museum is closed. Oh well.

Mmm, liempo!

I continued walking down the path to the Mekong again. There are restaurants overlooking the river where I see some locals eating, but I walk past them, since I’m still a bit full from breakfast. However, when I came upon this stall selling some grilled meat, I stop and pointed at a lovely piece of pork chop and pork belly. Each piece costs 20,000 kip, and one order of sticky rice is 2,000 kip. Not bad. I settled down to eat at this roadside carinderia, which is something I don’t really do even back in Manila.

The rice was served in a small plate, and the meat in another. The utensils are inside a container and you just pick what you need to use. I get a fork and when I reached for what looked like a spoon, I discover that it was a soup spoon (the kind you use in Chinese restaurants). I used a pair of chopsticks instead. I pick up a piece of pork belly, and I can’t even begin to tell you how comforting it felt to bite into that yummy liempo. It was seasoned just right, and grilled nicely. It wasn’t perfectly tender, but it wasn’t tough or gummy either. It was just right. It felt so good eating something familiar, though it wasn’t the same eating it with sticky rice. Steamed rice is still the best with liempo, in my opinion.

A friendly puppy

After lunch, I continue walking along the Mekong, stopping by the roadside to take a photo of a puppy across the street. The puppy saw me taking photos of him, and he crossed the road and settled himself on the curbside beside me. Even the dogs are friendly in Luang Prabang.

I enjoy the breeze by the Mekong for a couple of minutes more, then I got up to walk back to the main road. I came upon one of the Buddhist temples in town, and made my way up the stairs to the temple complex. There was nobody around, save for a cat walking around. I walk up to the temple, taking photos, and realized that there was a young monk sitting on by the temple door using a cellphone. I think he was texting. I take a couple more photos and walked back down to the street level, and back to Vilay.

Texting monk

Early to mid-afternoon was spent indoors, taking shelter from the midday sun. It’s also the best time to edit photos and write blog entries, as the Internet is still down (I’m doubting whether it would ever go online), and the Internet cafe closes at 9pm. It’s 5:30pm now and in a bit I’m heading out again, back to the town to check out the night market again. It’s going to be another early dinner, and plenty of time will be spent online, since I have to decide when I’ll leave LP for Vientiane.

Believe it or not, there ARE great tasting airplane food

It was just past 7am on a Monday morning, and this being Bangkok, there was a build up already. Though we are driving out of the city, the inner roads leading to the express way was already congested. However, once we got to the expressway, the roads started to clear up and in just one hour, we were at the airport. My flight wasn’t until 11:40am, so I had plenty of time to kill. I walked languidly as people around me are rushing to get on their way.

Last night, when I got back at the hostel after posting my entry, I realized that I forgot the one important thing I should have done while I was online: research for guesthouses in Luang Prabang. I e-mailed an inquiry to one guesthouse the day before, so I was hoping for that reply. There wasn’t any, so I totally forgot about it when I opened my e-mail. After checking in and going through passport control, I looked for an Internet cafe. One thing I noticed while I was wandering inside the huge new airport, is that unlike Changi, there are still plenty of empty spaces. Changi has plenty of amenities to help you pass the time, but in Suvarnabhumi, there’s really not much you can do except to shop and eat. I was directed to the Internet cafe on the 2nd level, and received a shock when I saw the prices. I knew the prices in airports are bloated, but THB 100 for 20 minutes of Internet time is just too much. Still, I felt I had no choice and paid the absurd fee.

Bastos!

Vilay Guesthouse replied to my e-mail, and said that they do have a room for me. On that note, I hardly bothered checking out other guesthouses, since they didn’t have websites. When my 20 minutes was up, I made my way to Gate C1A. I was flying with Bangkok Airways, and all around the airport, I saw signs of their passenger lounge. I never did find that lounge, but I passed by he Thai Airways lounge on my way to the gate. The waiting lounge outside the boarding gate was virtually empty. And to my annoyance, I see two Internet kiosks being used by two other tourists. Damn it. I walked passed them, settling myself near the TV to watch the news. I was rapidly getting bored and then I remembered that I had my notebook with me. I boot up my laptop, and eagerly checked to see if there’s Wi-fi inside the airport. There were 2 unsecured networks, but only 1 works. I think I was able to get a wisp of the wi-fi from the Thai Airways lounge.

Thirty or so minutes of free wireless surfing later, the gate opens. We were directed to buses on the tarmac that would bring us to the plane we’re taking. I knew rigth then that we were taking a small plane, but it seems some of my fellow travelers weren’t expecting it. When the bus stopped beside an ATR plane, one lady gasped and said “omg, it has propelers!”

Pretty side street

Bangkok Airways planes are all festively decorated, depicting sites and landmarks from their destinations. The plane has a 2-2 configuration, and has 19 rows (though row 19 only has 2 chairs). There was just enough legroom, as as soon as we were settled, the flight attendant went down the row, offering a wet towel for freshing up. The plane was just about 35% full. We can all have our own rows, and there’d still be empty rows. It’s not surprising — it’s the off peak season for traveling, and Bangkok Airways isn’t quite the backpacker’s choice for traveling up to Laos.

The plane was out of its parking space and into the runway within minutes and in no time, we were up in the air. We hit some turbulence on the way up, which probably didn’t do much for those flying on a prop plane for the first time. As soon as we reach cruising altitude, everything was smooth. We were offered drinks, then the lunch meal. There were no questions asked, it was chicken or nothing. The meal was chicken curry with steamed white rice and steamed red fragrant rice that was organically grown by a community in Thailand. I was a bit hesitant about eating it first, since I’m not really into spicy food, but I thought since it’s airline food, it probably wouldn’t be spicy or have any flavor at all. Boy, was I wrong! It was flavorful, and it had just the right amount of spiciness. It’s like that wasabi nuts they served in Singapore Airlines before — it had the taste, but not the spice. I like it! The meal comes with a Thai salad made of bean sprouts and a cake-y bread pudding-like dessert. This is easily one of the best airline meals I’ve had.

Waiting for the sun to set at the Mekong

Bangkok Airways brands itself as a boutique airline. I’m not sure how a boutique airlines should be, but their service is really quite good. The flight attendants were courteous and very professional, and for the wine lovers, they enjoyed the rounds of red and white served on board. They also have the best inflight catalogue. All of the airline catalogues I’ve seen selling various duty free items and airline branded goods are boring. Their is very cute, has a very imaginative layout that makes you just want to buy or kick yourself for not having enough money to buy the cute things on offer.

One-hour and forty minutes after we took off from Bangkok, Thailand, we landed in Luang Prabang, Laos. The weather seemed fine, though there were clouds that treaten to rain. Like all the other airports, there was a health screening at the entrance of the building, though no thermal scanner. The lady was concerned about my congested and runny nose, but I assured her that I never had any fever. I passed the screening, and was directed to the immigration booth. Of the entire plane, I think there were only five of us that didn’t need to apply for a visa on arrival. Thank you, ASEAN.

Luang Prabang night market

The Luang Prabang airport is tiny. Right after clearing immigration, you find yourself in the baggage claim area, boasting of one conveyor belt. I pick up Viktor, and made my way to the airport’s exit. I exchange my dollar to kip at the forex just inside the door, at the rate of US$1 to 8,500 kip. It’s like being in Indonesia again with the numerous zeros in the local currency. I walk out, looking for a tuk-tuk, but there were none in sight. There was a taxi counter, and a ride to town costs 50,000 kip. Seeing that I have no other choice, I accept it and got on a taxi that looks like a multi-cab (truck with two seats running on both sides of the bed). There were no traffic, but the driver drove leisurely. I’m not sure if there’s a speed limit in Luang Prabang, but this is already an indication of how laid back the Lao people are.

It was short drive to the center of town. I was dropped off right outside Vilay, and I made my way inside the house. I was showed the room I inquired about, that has a double bed, a fan and ensuite toilet and shower. The room rate is US$7 per night or in the local currency, 180,000 kip for three nights. I question if I did the right thing, since I found out later on that the internet is down. Curses! That was my only reason for booking here! Oh well. Let’s just hope for the best.

Steamed chicken with Lao herbs and sweet chili

I rested a bit then went out to walk and explore Luang Prabang. It’s a lovely place for walking. The streets aren’t crowded, and there are plenty of things you just want to take photos off. I came upon the night market, that has already started setting up. There are plenty of lovely items that I’m just wishing I can buy, but I’m only on my 2nd week of traveling, so it’s not really advisable for me to buy that cute wooden parasol. At the end of the market, there’s a row of stores and restaurants. I pick one out randomly for an early dinner. Dinner tonight was steamed chicken with Lao herbs and sweet chili. It didn’t look appetizing, but it was actually pretty tasty. The chicken was tender, and the herbs were really packed with flavor. It was perfect with steamed rice and the blanched unseasoned veggies that came with it.

After dinner, I slowly made my way back to Vilay to write this entry and to check if the internet is already up. It’s still down, so I have to hurry up and finish this because the Internet shop closes at 9pm.