Laos with the mouse

I didn't give many details about our dinner at Opera Club last night. Many of the meals came with beautifully carved carrot animals. There was a 20 cm dragon that the boys smuggled out without my knowledge to take "alien" exploding chest photos with. I heard the giggling in their room last night but only saw the photos today. A funny thing did happen with the music at the restaurant - some members of our group were having a quiet singalong to the music. All of a sudden, the music was changed to an album with no words. A while later, some of our group were having a little dance in their chairs. The music stopped completely. Coincidence?

We left Hanoi this morning, after breakfast, to fly to Luang Prabang in Laos. As usual the airport process was a breeze, with our Adventure guides taking care of everything. 

I had a quick reread of my posts this morning and realised that I omitted to explain who our tour is with. We are travelling with "Adventures by Disney" - a tour company run by Disney from the USA, with tours that cater to families. The tours are expensive, but the accommodation and activities are all first class and the service levels are amazing. For those a little skeptical about mixing the mouse with overseas travel, I stress that there is no "Micky" element to the trip. What Disney has provided is their expertise in logistics (moving crowds around efficiently) and their ability to predict and anticipate people's needs and wants. Everything is pre arranged and paid for already, and the activities cater for both adults and children. For example, at the Ethnic museum, we all explored the first floor and then Drew took all the kids outside to play on the bamboo equipment while the adults carried on with Tony in the upstairs part of the museum. Ok - advertising plug over, but I highly recommend these tours - I think we will definitely be back for more!

Luang Prabang is the second largest city in Laos, but it is only a small village, with narrow dusty roads, lots of greenery and only a few cars. A tour bus will not fit on the streets so we have little mini vans to take our group around. It is hard to describe the feel of the town - it looks like photos I have seen of Nepal. We are surrounded by hills and it feels quite rural. The Lao writing is curly and interesting and there are few English signs. We had lunch and then were taken on a guided tour of the national museum, which is actually the palace of the former kings. The last king and his family disappeared 50 years ago but the palace is furnished, ready for him to come back. The throne room was amazing - red walls and ceiling with detailed mosaics everywhere and a gilded throne. Sadly no photos were allowed inside. We continued on to a temple next door where our local guide, who spent 8 years as a monk, explained the opportunities for boys to be monks. 

Our hotel is beautiful and we settled in for a relaxing afternoon. The boys met up with the guides for some fishing (success was had by all) and then headed off with them for another junior adventurers night. The adults had Lao beer tasting and dinner in the hotel restaurant. Most of us sat together and there was a lot of laughing and trying each other's food.

We had an early night - tomorrow we meet at 5am for our next adventure....