We stayed at the Phou Vao Hotel, which as far as I can tell has changed beyond all recognition. It was a large, modern hotel built outside of town on a mountain slope. It was about a ten minute walk into town, which for Luang Prabang is about as long a walk as it's possible to take before falling into the river. It has since been taken over by the Pansea chain, which is a small chain of boutique hotels in out of the way Asian locations. From the photos of the place, it looks like they've completely gutted it and made it much more high end, so I won't be rating the old Phou Vao.

On our first morning in Luang Prabang, as we were walking into town, we came across a huge Songkran market/festival pictured here. Luang Prabang is the focus of Songkran celebrating in Laos, so the town was swollen with visitors and very festive. Somchai is standing next to a selection of tungs for sale, which all the kids carried around with them during the holiday, as Somchai did when he was a toddler in Baan Mae. Tungs should have your astrological animal on them depending on the year you're born (he's a rabbit) and represent a ladder to heaven. They also have some Buddhist moral lessons for kids to help them on their way. Kids seem to enjoy them, much more than I would if someone gave me a flag full of biblical quotes to play with for Christmas.