LUANG PRABANG: We stayed at a boutique hotel called Villa Santi on Luang Prabang's main road, Thanon Xieng Thong or Sakkarine Road. This is a charming hotel that is supposedly owned by the royal family. We were told that it was the former house of royalty, ie, Princess Manilai.

The building is typical of what we would come to expect throughout Laos: a two storey architecture, with a sit out area at the bottom, and the restaurant area on top. Our room was one omong several that were strategically placed around an inner courtyard, which was lush with greenery and had a small bar and numerous tables to sit at and wind down after a hot day.

Rooms are done up in an exotic local-cum-colonial flavour using various bric-a-brac available in Laos, including textile wall hangings, typical red paintings and mosquito netting. There is not a single sign of plastic in the rooms, or indeed, anywhere in Luang Prabang! Most furniture and fixtures are made of either wood or bamboo. Even the offending Aircon and fridge is covered with wood. Soap dish of wood, towel racks of wood, the floor is wooden, and so on. Only rarely are concessions made, and that too, only by replacing wood with porcelain, no plastic. Naturally, there is no TV in the room. The wall hanging, which is a woven silk mat, and the mosquito nets completes the pretty picture and impressions of a colonial, French-Lao style of architecture. Such ambience transports you into a completely different world. Going during off-peak season got us a good USD70 rate per room per night including airport pick up and breakfast.

Villa Santi's first floor restaurant is also a pretty good dining experience, especially at nights. Lanterns made up of locally available handmade paper dot the restaurant and the road outside the villa, beckoning invitingly to passers by to enter. The restaurant balcony serves as a good vantagepoint to feel the cool breeze and watch the scenes on the Sakkarine road below. And of course, the food is great: reportedly, the chef is the daughter of the chef of the erstwhile royal family.

There are other cheaper choices at the various guest houses that are quite popular with back packers. Many of them have been redecorated and look quite inviting. For those adventurous types who do not mind a holiday without advance booking, looking around a couple of guest houses before selecting one may be a good idea.

VIENTIANE: Our hotel, which had sent a car to pick us up at the airport, was the Le Parasol Blanc. The hotel is a bit of a disappointment (even though it had good reviews in the travel books). Either that, or the hospitable charm of Villa Santi had got us too spoilt in the 5 short days that we'd spent there. But the good thing going for this hotel is its location - it was on the same traffic island as Vientiane's most famous monument - The Patuxai!

June 22, 2004