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Published: January 9th 2014
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This morning I arrived at Lang Prabang International airport (a 15 minutes dusty journey by tuk yuk from my Merry Guesthouse.) It was very small, took me 5 minutes to check in, 5 minutes to go through security and most importantly 5 minutes to find something to spend my last few kip notes as they are useless once they leave Laos. The airport was similar to how Leeds Bradford was twenty years ago where there is one runway and you just walk straight up to and on to the plane. I took a picture of it with the mountains in the background, it reminds me of a Swiss or French village in the Alps.
The flight itself took 1 hour and we were served two snacks and drinks in that time, very polite service and made for an easy day. I was sitting next to a man who recognised me from the town in Lang Praban. He was from Israel, and was flying to Bangkok via Chiang Mai in order to fly to India and spend three weeks travelling there. Wow!
I think I've been really lucky so far. In the whole month I've only had a cough and
my flight didn't crash into the Mekong river. I have an insatiable desire to learn more about this country and questions upon questions about a culture so different to my own. I'm lost in a state of emotional exhaustion, yet at the same time amazed that human beings can live in such a different way. I'm in a state of Lao confusion, lost somewhere between Lao beer, Lao Lao (the national shot) Lao larb (the national dish) and Lao airlines flight number QV0635.
Once I'd arrived at my nice room in the hostel (again 15 minutes away by taxi from Chiang Mai airport,) I left my baggage and went exploring the local cuisine. There wasn't much open but I found a German restaurant which had just opened up three weeks ago and was run by a German man and his Thai wife. He came here for a holiday, met a woman, fell in love with Thailand and just never went home (like so many Europeans do.) I had a refreshing ginger ale and western style spaghetti Bolognese (with good quality meat.)
I came back to my hostel, fell asleep and enjoyed my favourite event of the day - talking to my dad on Skype. He is the only family member I've been able to contact within the last month and if we are lucky we speak every week. This is something I really look forward to. For the rest of the evening I counted and budgeted my money for my next leg of the journey in Hong Kong. 've spent more than I thought I had and I've discovered the hostels in Hong Kong are dirty and expensive. I've decided to dedicate the next day or so to planning my accommodation, my food and my itinerary in both Japan and Hong Kong. I don't think I'm going to be able to save money and keep following this leisurely pace I've kept through Laos and Thailand.
In the evening I found a nice romantically lit restaurant with British football on the TV, and a singer on stage playing a guitar and singing Thai pop. I ordered a tea and some dish with ginger. The whole menu was in Thai so I just picked anything that didn't look like it would be spicy enough to blow me into another galaxy. I found dancehall, karaoke bars (very popular here) and lots of people still celebrating new year 2014. I ordered a Thai tea in a cyber café and then went home to have a nice hot shower and rest before tomorrow.
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