SE Asia ABD - 1/18-1/31 2025

[Dennis Jay]

Thanks for sharing your experience so far! It sounds like an exciting trip despite the luggage hiccup and schedule changes due to Tết.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Patiently waiting for more This trip has always been on my list, and I am thrilled to see (I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet) that they are now going to Ha Long Bay in 2026! That was one of the reasons I had lowered this on my mental list Wonder if the guides mentioned anything about the change?

 

[AquaDame]

Patiently waiting for more This trip has always been on my list, and I am thrilled to see (I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet) that they are now going to Ha Long Bay in 2026! That was one of the reasons I had lowered this on my mental list Wonder if the guides mentioned anything about the change?

I *just* noticed this myself last Friday. That is a big change! Had I not gone on the old trip I would have probably pushed it out tbh, but I feel like I loved the trip I went on so much as is...! I'm glad it worked out this way. I'm worried we would have skipped some things that are now marked as 'optional' and not had the time to have some of the free time and meals we did which I very much enjoyed. I'm conflicted... and hope if no one makes it on one before you that you come back and spill the tea!

 

[Donalyn]

I’m excited by this change. Not sure when we will able to go on it, but now higher on my list.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I *just* noticed this myself last Friday. That is a big change! Had I not gone on the old trip I would have probably pushed it out tbh, but I feel like I loved the trip I went on so much as is...! I'm glad it worked out this way. I'm worried we would have skipped some things that are now marked as 'optional' and not had the time to have some of the free time and meals we did which I very much enjoyed. I'm conflicted... and hope if no one makes it on one before you that you come back and spill the tea!

LOL, I will indeed, but with life changes travel still seems pretty far away. It's very weird that no one has mentioned it--I wonder if they are trying to keep it on the low down to not discourage people from booking 2025? Who knows, but weird that it wasn't called out. I noticed a pretty significant change in the Switzerland/italy trip as well--they no longer go to Lake Lucerne. Strange change to make. Anyway, looking forward to more of your report.

 

[AquaDame]

For the first time in forever... I'm back with

Day 8 - Leap To Laos

I was really getting excited now. The trip had already been fun, educational, and even a little dour, but I am a bit of a rice fiend and so I was really looking forward to this part of our journey! The hotel seemed like the best of the bunch, and that definitely held true for us. We really loved the Belmond la Residence Phou Vao!

The original itinerary had us visiting the prison this day, but we had done it the day prior. We still had an early-ish start though with bags out by 7 and 8:15 departure for our coffee tasting which left us plenty of time to hit the breakfast buffet one last time.

Along the way we passed sections of Pung Hung Mural Street and saw even more folk purchasing flowers and small trees for the new year.




Just before 9 we arrived where the coffee tasting was held, a seven story mall of sorts named MỸ NGHỆ ĐẠI VIỆT.



Every floor had different wares on it. On the ground floor we first had an introduction to their silk paintings which take thousands of hours to do (and were very expensive). I had wanted to buy a small one until I realized how high they were.. most folk did buy them, as they had with the marble shop. I aspire to be that kind of high roller still, though I am running out of decades to make that happen!

I was tempted by some lacquer paintings they had but hemmed and hawed as they were also pricey and bulky, and eventually ran out of time. Before we got to that point though we headed up to the sixth floor for the demonstration. The view from up there was very nice!



Without much fanfare the staff began mixing the eggs - I dug the purpose built box to just use a handmixer instead of something more expensive and we all chuckled at just doing it in a thin plastic to go container. I would have thought they made so many of these they'd have a better vessel, but what works, works!





I usually don't drink coffee and meant not to drink much here either, but it was darn tasty and I couldn't help myself. Kyle eventually had to rip it out of my hands so I wouldn't finish the whole thing. If anyone wants the recipe Kyle followed their movements and wrote it down, which I was grateful for after. I haven;t made it at home yet, but plan to with decaf soon, and possibly often once I'm healthy again.

Afterwards we all had free time until 10 to wander around making purchases. I get why we made this stop and the marble one, but admit this made it feel more like the cookie cutter tours that have agreements in place with these types of vendors. I don't like feeling hostage, and the high prices didn't leave me feeling confident Disney chose places that didn't up the price for tourists. That may be entirely because of the haggling folk were doing which suggests the printed price simply isn't the price. I'm not a haggler, I don't know what things "should" cost, and I don't like playing mind games. That said, later on some folks were actually complaining that we hadn't had enough time to shop, and that helps me put it in perspective of how hard it is to keep everyone happy.

From here we went to the airport for our flight. Doug had told us they used to do other things for lunch, but none of the options were very good, so they ultimately pivoted to "treating" us all to lounge access at the airport. This worked out well for us as after we arrived we found out our 12:50 flight was delayed to 1:15, then again to 1:40. Not a huge push, but being able to stay sitting somewhere comfy with unlimited drinks and food was nice!



Unfortunately my bad decision earlier paid its toll, and I did start having a migraine again. >_< I was glad we popped into a pharmacy on a previous night and got another dose of my medicine I had forgotten, but wanted to hold off if possible. Thankfully some rich salty pho and a lot of water fixed me, for now.

It was only an hour flight before we found ourselves in Laos.

 

[AquaDame]

Day 8 continued

Upon landing we had to go through customs which Tony helped us all with as much as possible. We then went right to the hotel which was only a 10 minute ride away. While at the hotel we ran into a woman who had been on this trip a few years ago and had actually quit her job and moved to Laos! She loved it here that much. If that isn't high praise I don't know what is...



The hotel gave us flowers and a welcome drink while our rooms were distributed, after which we had free time until 5:30. Our room was even better than I'd thought. I'm still in love with it thousands of miles away. The only downside is that yes, mosquitos did get into the room, so the net was utilitarian.



Whats that you ask? Why yes, apparently it IS still my birthday! Tony insisted this was not his doing - they must have seen my birthday on my documentation and chose to honor it even though it was a little late..!



Oh and would you look at that... birthday cake #5. (It was VERY good, but they kept giving us daily treats as well so we simply couldn't finish it. We kept expecting them to take it but it lingered until we checked out, mocking me...



Cutest sign about towels I have seen to date!



The bathroom was also large and had an impressive stone (at least I think it was) tub.

And then the view from our windows... we had big huge windows by the bathroom and bedroom plus a balcony that I apparently did not take a picture of with some loungers:





You can get a sense of how small and intimate the property is here, 32 rooms and two suites. It was always very quiet (which maybe contributed to Disney staying elsewhere in '26).



Alongside the pool where they serve breakfast in the morning are some ruins. The hill the hotel is on used to be owned by the royal family, and I believe they said the ruins were from back then. Of course now I can't find any evidence of that being true, but I don't know why they fibbed so I believe it. They look rather Disney-fied here, but really did seem well worn and crumbly in person.



We wandered around taking pictures but first got a couple of drinks at the bar (they had nonalcoholic cocktails to my absolute delight, and it was very good to boot). The manager himself used to be bartender and on a whim decided he himself would make Kyle's drink.

 

[AquaDame]

Day 8 continued

Pics from our wanderings... the grounds were very much a tranquil retreat. We rarely ran into anyone other than our group except at breakfast. It was definitely a bit too cold for swimming, or at least by the time we returned in the evening it was.









A little pool area to soak your feet; they also had a sauna and spa treatment area that I did not take pics of.











We ended our loop back at the pool near the bar. It also has a fabulous view out into the hills.

 

[AquaDame]

Day 8 continued

We met back up in the lobby at 5:30 and piled into tuktuks to get down to the night market. The distance may be another reason Disney changed gears with hotels in Laos - it was a bit too far to walk (30 min vs. 5) and once at the hotel there wasn't much else close by. Our goal was to eat OYO and also use the 20000 kip to buy a white elephant gift, which the 'game' part being to see who haggled the best. It was not us, lol.





We never get sick of seeing the tangle of wires on these poles in other countries - I can imagine how hard it is to do work on them!



My migraine had come back, so I used my second to last sumatriptan before we headed out. I assumed based on internet searches I would be able to find it in Laos as I had Vietnam but... it was not meant to be. We went into three different pharmacies and no one had it, but offered other medicines. We googled some more, and I finally bought some just in case I needed it, but I admit I was kind of wary as I hadn't tried any of them before. Having wasted much of our time on this, we hustled back to the crafts area and made our purchases as quickly as we could. We had made dinner reservations before arrival based on recommendations I've seen in other trip reports at 7pm for Manda de Laos and were in danger of being late! I was so distracted by our tardiness and shopping that this is literally the only picture I have of the market. It was very crowded and there were dozens and dozens of stalls, many selling the same thing, but some unique like this one. They mostly had their wares on cloths on the ground, and some displayed on the walls of the stalls where they could.



Treasures purchased, we decided to grab a tuktuk even though it was a 13 minute walk to make sure we were on time.



The grounds here are also serene and calm, with a big pond and tables set around it.



Pricy though it was for Laos everything tasted amazing and we were very glad for the splurge. We sadly weren't very hungry after all the eating we had been doing up until now, so we did not try a tasting menu. We had a nice do it yourself salad roll appetizer followed by two of the smaller entrees, buffalo for Kyle and fresh steamed fish for myself.





After that we were tapped out, not even room for desert and we had that cake waiting for us besides... we waddled ourselves out and walked back to the market to catch a tuktuk to the hotel. There were many around, but they all wanted more money than Tony had told us to pay. He had said 3 or 4, at most 5. Kyle was going to pay 8 anyway because what do we care about a couple of bucks, but for one of the very rare moments in my life I stood my ground and walked away. See, I CAN haggle when I know what things cost! And, lo and behold, it worked. We paid 5, but at least I didn't feel totally taken for a song! It helped of course knowing worse case we'd just walk back. Heaven knows after all that tasty food I could use the exercise...

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Yay, so glad you are back. Enjoying the report and looking forward to the rest!