Burn The Plastic

Things being a pain as their have been recently, we decided that we needed to get away from the office. We needed space, and not to be sleeping at opposite ends of the room with a partician wall between us, as we have been for the past month.

So we decided to spend last night in a hotel, hence the 'burn the plastic' of the title. You've got to do these things every now and then, just to keep your sanity. And maintain your relationship.

So we looked in Lonely Planet and noticed that THE place to stay in Vientiane was the Settha Palace Hotel, which we pass quite often as we travel around the city. In fact its only 10 minutes wal away from us. An old colonial building with only 29 rooms, its been beautifully restored, this was the place for us. Cheaper than the bigger hotels, and with more character. So we booked in and spent the night pottering around the hote and our room. We even got to have a bath, something we've not done for months. Watched movies on the TV and eat in the al la carte restuarant. Great stuff.

It was still a bit weird though. We put the bill on the visa card, so it didn't dent our budget. However think about it is a bit of a mind twister. We spent the equivilent of 2 weeks budget on 1 night. Each meal cost as much as we'd pay here in 1 night out, however wouldn't have even bought a couple of beers in the UK. At around $10-$15 a meal (5-7 quid), we were really splashing out. In total with taxes, services charges and wine I think the food bill came to about $50 (25 quid). A couple of drinks down the pub in the UK, and the same standard of meal and service in a posh UK hotel would have probably set us back way over a 100 quid, if not nearer 200. In fact the whole experience was less than what we'd pay for an al la carte meal in the UK, never mind the beautiful room, afternoon drinks, all the freebies we loaded into our bag, etc...

One thing we did decide, is not to tell the CDEA staff what we did. They wouldn't understand. Considering what we spent is double a Project Managers monthly salary, and in Lao terms more than many peoples annual income. We blew in 1 night the average of 6 months income for the average Laos family. Now that's a mind twister.

Anyway, we feel a lot better. Sleeping in a decent bed was amazing. With air-con and everything. You forget how harsh our conditions are here, compared to what we are used to normally.

It's Sunday now. And we have just come home to dump our over-night bag. Next we are heading into town for breakfast, or more brunch by the time we get there. We've got to take back some movies we rented, and will probably pick-up some more. Watching VCDs is a cheap night in, and after the splurge we'll need some cheap nights in.

Check out the hotel we stayed at... http://www.setthapalace.com/