Sada Hotel in Luang Prabang

The moment I received the hotel list, I sussed out TripAdvisor.

Professional photographers are great in making small, uninspiring hotel rooms look cozy and inviting, but I'd like to preview what other travellers see when they stepped into the rooms.

It was with a not-so-slight horror from the reviews on TripAdvisor I read that Sada Hotel would likely be the best hotel in the hotel list, and Sada Hotel was the only hotel in that list that had no bad reviews.

As the reviewers had advised, I requested for a courtyard room upon arrival, but unfortunately was assigned a room overlooking Phouvao Road, which surprisingly, had a plus point.

Luang Prabang is cold in December, and colder in the morning than at night - something I couldn't figure out why.  So I felt comfortable eating al fresco in Luang Prabang in a pullover and jeans while I was chilly sitting in the restaurant of Sada Hotel eating my breakfast.

The deluxe room in Sada Hotel is about 28 square meters, a decent size and cozy-looking wooden furniture.  The room itself was higher than the corridor, so entering and leaving the room always meant a tripping experience. 

There were double doors for the balcony, which were troublesome to open and close.

The bathroom was odd - I'd like to think that whoever designed hotel bathrooms probably never used the bathrooms they designed.  The bathtub was a odd quarter-of-a-circle shape with what seems like a small area for sitting in the tub.  There was no shower curtain, which meant that standing showers were out, unless I could put up with wet clothes and a flooded bathroom floor.

There were insufficient racks for towels and clothes, so a chair was dragged into the bathroom each night and out again each morning.

Breakfast was a curious affair of collecting the cooked food outside the restaurant and bread/cakes/fruits and drinks in the restaurant.  Choices of eggs-to-order came with the best bacon that I had ever eaten, and of course I had to ask for extra helpings for the bacon - crispy the way I like them without the usual greasiness.  I didn't like the bread in Laos - there was a strange taste of milk powder.

Turning right outside Sada Hotel and walking straight led to the Kaysone Phomvihane Monument.