Travels in Lao in October 2011

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Arrived Bangkok from my (Greg's) European tour, and met up with Catherine. The airport was full of thousands of what appeared to be religious pilgrims. Sitting on the floors and sharing light meals. Sounded like a gaggle of geese. Onto the Lao Airlines Dash 8-equivalent (ATV). Much different from the A380 I arrived in. The flight went quickly into complete darkness. In flight reading highlighted the quaintness and old worldliness of the country we were about to visit. Landed in Vientiane, past the authorities and to our Balinese hut-like accommodations. Doof doof music permeated the place. Turns out to be night one of the festival to celebrate the end of Buddhist Lent. Dragon boat racing on the Mekong is part of it all (Buon Suang Hua). People come from all around the country to be there. Stalls right along the water front of the Mekong, each competing with the other for maximum aural impact and marketing reach. Quite steamy hot. We ate BBQ’ed beef kebabs at a roadside stall, drinking BeerLao. The stall owner was drunk and shouted us Wine Cocktails while the matriarch of the establishment made sure the business continued. Back to our hut which thankfully was air conditioned. Quiet by midnight due to the Loa curfew.

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