Fast forward six months and we are heading to the Villa Santi Resort. Half a dozen bungalows and 8 attractive colonial 2 storey blocks set in paddy fields with a network of rivers and ponds and a view of the mountains and a small meandering river. Comments on the internet related to how tired and in need of new ownership it was but what we saw was clean, had been recently painted and the gardens were well maintained.

As we checked in we also saw the preparations for the mandatory meal - they were doing christmas to the full. Tables were set up outside for 150 people.






To keep warm about 20 open bucket braziers were placed around the tables. These chucked out a lot of warmth but with no fireguards they were more a hazard from spitting hot coals to potentially being tripped over.

The food was a mix of western and Laotian. Notable dishes were deep fried bamboo shoots, pumpkin soup, stuffed pork curry and even a turkey which had been barbecued and was "carved" by being attacked with a machete so that small chunks of meat and bone were lopped onto the plate. Once dinner was winding down, the games and entertainment began. We had successive traditional Laos dancers (good) and dances to Loas pop songs by guests (less good) to kareoke (truly bad) . Laos dancing is a bit like old time dancing where you sway with your partners while performing fluid movements with your hands (similar to hawaiian dance) while never having both palms facing the same way.
Games involved musical chairs, blindfolded banana eating and beer drinking. The guests were from all over the world, the star of the night being an elderly lady from eastern europe the MC called Madame Elizabeth and who, once she found out that scarves were being given away as prizes to the winners of the games, could not be stopped. The only problem is that the rules were not explained before the games and she was not familiar with any of them but this did not hold her back. She won several scarves, a bottle of wine and t shirts all presented by "our beloved manager, Mr Santi" who was often so beloved that he couldn't be found to come to the stage.
All in all a memorable night and we had a dinner that we weren't expecting. Being in a real hotel with a basic standard of service is so foreign to the backpacker experience that we soaked up being somewhere adult. We used the pool (thankfully we had one day of dry and warmth - horrors if we weren't able to use the pool!),

the spa

We also lucked out at the breakfast buffet which covered fantastic Lao brekky items such as rice noodles with pork and yummy western fayre as such as fruit salad, bacon, ham, frankfurters, croissants, swiss roll and omelettes. Yum.
1 comment:
love a buffet
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