Originally written on October 22, 2004

Today we decided to run some errands in town in the morning, and visit some of the many wats (Buddhist temples) in the afternoon. Errands, it turns out takes a long time in sleepy Luang Prabang. There are at least three banks, which we found along the main street. Each have different hours of operation, some cash US traveller�’s cheques (usually only to Kip (Lao currency), while others will only exchange US currency for Kip. We had seen many lovely items in the evening market and wanted to make sure we had enough money to make some purchases, and still be able to leave the country. I.e. have enough money also for food, bus rides, tuk-tuk rides etc. We had less than 110 000 Kip (11 US), hence the need to change traveller�’s cheques.

After walking up and down the main street a couple times, checking with each bank, we found out that the best method it turned out was to exchange our traveller�’s cheque at the travel agency where we were booking our flight to Hanoi. They were able to give us US dollars (less 3.5% commission of course-same as the bank) and all we had to do was go back to a bank and convert some of the US dollars to Kip (better bang for your dollar). This proved to be a more difficult task�.

We started our day at the travel agency; we hoped to get on a flight from Vientaine to Hanoi on Monday (the first day of our visa). Booking three days in advance for a flight that happens only once a day proved to be a difficult task. Luckily, our travel agent spoke perfect English and she knew about co-chaired flights.

There are two airlines that fly to Laos, one is Laos Air, the other Vietnam Air. The first airline, Lao air, has a poor safety record, so poor that the US government advises against flying the airline, and only to do so in emergency to leave the country. So, Kirk and I had to make sure that we booked tickets on Vietnam Airways, and that is not an easy task.

We read on Vietnam Airways website that they had two flights, morning and early evening, on Monday and Thursday. We thought of taking the morning flight, but as it turns out it is a co-chair flight. Vietnam Air sells tickets for a Lao Air operated flight! It took an hour or two to book our flight, as the agent had to call Vientaine (the city with the reservation system) to see if seats were available and to find out which plane was flying for which time and date. After many phone calls and conversations with our agent it appeared that there were no tickets available until October 30th. Yikes, what were we going to do for another week in Laos. Luckily, our agent figured out that Lao airlines also sells tickets for Vietnam Air flights, and she was able to book us on a Vietnam Airways flight for Monday October 25th, in the evening.

By the time we got out of the travel agent’s it was lunch time (late lunch!) so we grabbed a bite to eat before heading for the bank. The banks each have bizarre hours, opening and closing periodically throughout the day. Apparently this is normal Friday bank activity (according to other tourists and the travel agent). One bank teller told me closed now, then the words 4pm, but we weren�’t too sure if she meant open again at 4pm or closed for the weekend at 4pm, so Kirk went by at 3:30pm to see if we could exchange our Kip, and returned successful. Internet was last on our errands then back to our hostel to wait for our friends Nick and Katie and Tien.

We were off to see Tien�’s temple (he was a monk for a year) and at 5pm the evening chants begin. The temple was beautiful inside, Kirk took a few pictures and the chanting was cool. After the temple we went to the room to cool down then out to dinner with Katie and Nick. We hoped to go to the evening market to buy some textiles etc, however we enjoyed our time of eating and drinking with our friends and saved the market for another day. After dinner we went looking for the foreigners after hours bar, down a quiet partly lit street but did not see it and decided it was best to head back to the hostel and call it a night.