Laos day 13 – Luang Prabang

So this is Christmas;  just another day in Laos.  Apart from a few token Christmas decorations in the bars and restaurants there is little to suggest that Christmas has arrived.  There have been some sightings of westerners, and some Lao, sporting Santa hats and even a fully suited-and-booted Father Christmas complete with beard… but the atmosphere is missing.  And to cap it all the sun’s gone in! The day starts rather mundanely as we attempt to complete a number of chores in preparation for leaving on Saturday – confirm the flights, get some Thai Baht and check that we don’t  need an onward ticket  in order to enter Thailand.  The possibility of the latter requirement only having surfaced today when I was checking the cost of a Thai visa (which apparently is £0 for British nationals).  This also prompts us to visit a couple of travel agents to try to get some prices for flights from Thailand to New Zealand.  A completely fruitless exercise which we abandon after visiting two offices and hanging around for half-an-hour in each without either being able to provide any information whatsoever.  But at the Laos Airlines office they seem confident that we won’t be denied entry.  The Thai Baht are also proving elusive at the money exchange counters.  Apparently the only place they can be bought is the main bank which closed at 3.30pm.  Having done as much as we can, including swapping some books at one of the handy book exchanges that raise money for local orphanages, we make our way to Dyen Sabai for our ‘Christmas’ dinner.  It is about as far from a traditional Christmas dinner as is possible, but delicious nonetheless and as the light begins to fade we are lounging on the terrace, sipping our cocktails and soaking up a different sort of Christmas atmosphere.