Lanjia Lodge

Four of us stayed here for one night after a Luang Say boat trip upriver from Luang Prabang. I wish we had stayed longer here rather than going on to Chiang Rai (which holds few attractions). It was all a bit confusing at first when we arrived because most staff speak very little English. A man came and grabbed one of our bags and dashed off. We were told to follow him - which we did, carrying the rest of our suitcases, running down a long flight of steps and into a building which we assumed was the hotel reception but actually it was our own bamboo lodge. We didn't realise that the staff member was expecting to run back up the steps and fetch the rest of our bags! He pointed out two bedrooms. We were greeted by a young lady as well. We helped ourselves to the bedrooms. Fairly shortly after this the man in charge of the Lodge, who speaks excellent English, arrived and explained that this was our private residence and the young local man and woman were our own staff for our stay. They would serve our meals, get us drinks etc. The whole arrangement was really charming. Our dinner was served by them pretty soon afterwards, unfortunately rather cold by the time it had been carried down from the kitchen but very good quality. A group of Hmong and Lahu tribespeople performed a brief dance for us on our dining terrace also. The next morning after breakfast a local guide arrived to take us for a walk around the Lahu and Hmong villages nearby, including the local school, and for an introduction to Batik. This was a really genuine experience - not a model village. According to the programme given on the Luang Say website, we were expecting to be transferred to Chiang Rai at 3.30 but our car arrived at 1.30 so we left fairly soon after a very good lunch, again served by our house staff on our veranda. Shame. We would rather have stayed. So, we could have done with a bit more information about what has happening when but we really enjoyed our brief stay. The bamboo lodges were surprisingly comfortable and peaceful and food was amazingly good, given the village location. Beware that this place is not for the unfit - steep slopes and multiple steps inevitable.