Day 5: What a Luang Prabang trip it's been

We woke up, grabbed a Tuk-Tuk to Apsara, and were able to check in promptly. Apsara was a big step up and right in the heart of town, making it easy to stroll around.

French bakery: We read rave reviews about a local French bakery called La Benneton that we decided was a must try. We shared a chocolate croissant, their signature dish and a salted Carmel crepe...and Travis also had an omelette to fuel us up for the day. It was delectable!  

Booking the week: Since plane travel isn't easy and buses are slow & bumpy, it was a challenge to get travel to work out perfectly. We'd originally planned for an extra half-day but flights are hard to come by here, so we needed to pack a lot in (a challenge in a place we'd been told goes so slowly that time can turn backwards). We wanted to see the waterfalls, some native villages, the buddha caves and the whiskey town, while getting in a ride on a slow boat and maybe an elephant.  Oh, and a cooking class too!  Well, we were able to schedule it all but the cooking class came with some hurdles. We couldn't get into the Tamarind (best resto in town--apparently booked far in advance) but we got in today for an afternoon class at Tamnak Lao restaurant, which had been featured on some travel channel show or something. After gladly making our bookings we walked around for lunch and a little tour of the city. 

Cooking class: When we arrived at the cooking class, we met our classmates. One couple was originally from Seattle now living in San Fran. The other couple was from Chicago/Argentina. It was great to hear about their travels through SE Asia and get their trip tips. It was also fun chatting about some ironic similarities including one girl who worked in Audit at KPMG and the other who was in advisory at Accenture. We learned how to make 5 Loatian dishes and then selected 3 to make ourselves. We had quite the learning curve until we discovered that we should prep everything in advance instead of thinking we could chop on the fly like the pros.  There was a lot of eggplant, a fair bit of fish sauce and oyster sauce, some local mushrooms, and your typical garlic, shallots and proteins (primarily minced pork). We also learned the secret to chili sauce and sticky rice. The food turned out great, and we are now officially Loatian chefs.

Climbing Phousi Mountain: A must-see in Luang Prabang, Nicole and Travis summited Phousi in about 15 minutes. The view was pretty remarkable to Travis but Nicole remained unimpressed by the brown rivers. ;) 

Dinner: After the class it was almost dinner time so we go back to the hotel, where Nicole takes a nap (it was chilly but our room cozy) and Travis goes to find a place to have a big BeerLao all by himself. After a lap around town Travis ends up at the Apsara bar, chatting up the staff. Kat is from Montreal and is married to Luke, an Australian executive chef out here for a 1-yr contract.

Carrot, ginger lemongrass cilantro soup

When Nicole rises we deside to try one of their appetizers, and they give us a little amuse Bouche that was off he charts...as was the soup.  We adapt the philosophy "why go anywhere besides our hotel?" Haha. A big group of 60-something's from Seattle, London (and who knows where else) were singing and laughing and having a great time behind us. Maybe we'll be back someday in a few decades?After the meal we decide to do what most people do in Luang Prabang: call it a night around 9-9:30 and get ready for a big day tomorrow (trekking and visiting Tad SE waterfall).