Vientiane

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We got up early again, 6.30am, (I know, we’re not really taking advantage of this ‘no work to get up for so sleep in until whatever time you want’ malarkey) and took our arranged tuk tuk to the bus station where we waited around for a while then got onto our “VIP” bus. Now, by “VIP” they mean a bus that has slightly reclining seats, a toilet on board and air conditioning. Except that the air conditioning must not have been working as there was no air on the bus and I therefore had to sit next to a very smelly Matty for 10 whole hours! Lucky me. I hasten to add that I was only that smelly due to being unable to shower that morning because of my bandages! The roads once again had many corners and this time the route took us up into the mountains. I decided to listen to my audio book - something that I do on most journeys and sometimes at night if I get the chance. (Thanks Shuv - they are really useful and enjoyable too!) It seems that each time I listen to the audio books on my I-pod, I always fall asleep (not because they are boring) and on the way to Laos from Pai, I managed to find out what was happening about two thirds of the way through the book without knowing what had happened before it. I have had to rewind through this one particular book about 3 times! I didn’t like to see the steep drops on one side of the road so I put my eye mask on and tried to ignore the fact that if the driver took a slightly too wide or shallow turn, we would probably hurtle down the side of the mountain.

But after ten fun-packed hours on a hot bus driving on the bumpiest road we’ve yet encountered, we arrived safe and sound in Vientiane bus station. Upon disembarking from the bus there was a mad scramble for bags that was seemingly prompted by the group of 12 or so Vietnamese tourists barging their way through everyone desperately trying to find their bags (despite the fact that they’d clearly not been unloaded yet. One particular woman knocked into me heavily twice trying to get through to bus undercarriage doors (and she’d spent a large proportion of the journey banging into Cate’s seat too). I hate to admit it but when she eventually started making her way out of the throng I decided that was my moment to enter into the fray, ensuring that I gave her a quick bash on the way past. Spiteful Matthew. I did tell Matt that it was uncalled for afterwards, that he shouldn’t stoop to their level! Anyway, we got our bags, got ourselves onto a tuk-tuk and headed to town to try and see what guesthouses we could find.

What we didn’t know about Vientiane was that our arrival coincided with the opening ceremony of the South East Asia Games - kind of like the Commonwealth Games, but with shorter athletes  - and as such we were really struggling to find a guesthouse that wasn’t completely full, this was obviously the most busy the place had ever been. After walking around for a good half an hour in the searing heat (at 7pm in the evening) we were starting to get a little nervous about finding somewhere, especially after seeing a few guys from our tuk-tuk wondering around looking equally concerned. Eventually we got lucky and found somewhere, a lot more than we had wanted to pay but given that the SEA Games were on, we were really going to struggle to find anything at all within our usual price range. Dragon Lodge, our new guesthouse was okay - it was clean enough although it was certainly not a room with a view (apart from a brick wall that is). Strangely, on the notice boards, there were loads of cards from people saying thankyou to the staff who were so helpful and friendly etc. It wasn’t that we found them unhelpful and unfriendly, it was just that they didn’t really take any notice of us. The only thing that they did, was sat around in the lobby, watching the SEA games all day and all night. Literally! Every morning we would rise to SEA games or cartoons and when came back a little late one night and they were under mosquito nets on the floor watching TV again. Goggle eyes for sure.

The next morning I awoke with one task on my mind, to go and find an English-speaking doctor in the hope that they’d be able to tell me one way or another how long it’d take before my wounds would be healed well enough to venture into the water (with tubing still very much in mind, and only a 3 hour bus journey away from Vientiane). After a false start (45 minutes trudging through the streets in scorching heat struggling to find the French doctors surgery, only to be told that the doctor had left early) I eventually got a consultation with a lovely French doctor that afternoon. I went the first time with Matt to the surgery but thought I would go to a cafe in the afternoon to do some blogging while Matt trudged around. It was the first time that we had parted ways in about 3 weeks and was very strange indeed. This trip is possibly making us even closer that we were before strangely enough! My arm was healing well and had started to scab up nicely (if that’s not too much of an oxymoron) but the popped blister was still red raw and she said (in a somewhat delightful French accent) that it was still going to be at least 10 days until it would be ok to go into the water, and hence ruling out tubing (for the time being at least). Bit of a blow.

The next morning we had another early start as we scooted off to the Vietnamese embassy to get visas for the next country. No prizes for guessing which country we were heading to next. We’d been told by a travel agent in town that if you get your visa through an agency it costs around$55 for a same day visa, whereas you should be able to go to the Embassy yourself and get one much cheaper. “Should” being the operative word. Upon arrival in the consular section the rather grumpy man behind the counter informed us that he would only be able to get us a visa for Tuesday (it was Friday) and that it would be just as expensive as in town. Despite our protestations that he should be able to get us a same-day visa he was having none of it.

Now we are well aware that Embassies are definitely able to grant you same-day visas, and that the majority of the time it should be a fair bit cheaper than going through a third party ... but when the man whose job it is to issue them says otherwise, what can you do? I tell you what you can do, you can storm out in an angry manner, cursing the man behind the counter who probably gets a kick-back from every visa arranged through a third party. This is unfortunately often the way things work in South East Asia, and while I was annoyed by the whole situation (mainly the fact we’d got up early and dragged ourselves across town for no-reason), Cate was rather more angry about the situation (part of the reason why we’re typing this blog from Cambodia rather than Vietnam). The whole thing was a bit of a drama and I was fuming. I hate how corrupt people are out here...obviously not everyone, but nothing is ever straight forward due to the way that people are.

After a bit of a melt down with homesickness at a high and a raging migraine establishing itself, I sloped off to bed again and Matt scurried off to a local internet cafe to research what we should do next. We decided to sack off Vietnam for a while (til I’d calmed down) and booked flights to Siem Reap in Cambodia instead. In the afternoon we thought we’d treat ourselves to a look around the National History Museum which was practically next to the place we were staying. Oh and what a treat it was. I have never seen a museum that mainly consists of pictures and short statements underneath that comment arbitrarily on the picture’s contents. We didn’t learn anything from the museum, apart from realising that the pictures and comments could be propaganda and that recent business meetings of diplomats etc in Laos look like they are set in the 1980s. But it was an experience and was interesting to see just how behind the West Laos actually is.

We thought that the next day we would be brave and try to go to the SEA games. We’d heard that there were buses that could take us there and made our way to one of the bus stations the following morning. Luckily, we met a bolshie Russian guy from Cambodia who was on his way to the games to see his son compete in the swimming, and he bossed the bus attendant around a bit to push him towards letting the bus set off as, in typical Laos style, he had said it would leave in ten minutes and everyone knows that on Laos time, after ten minutes, it would be another five minutes, and then another and so on. There were five of us who were waiting for this bus and eventually the attendant relented so we all got on the shabby bus. As soon as the engine was turned on, nearly all of the remaining seats were filled with Laotians who weren’t actually going to the stadium, but were ‘mates’ and were being dropped off in random places on the way.

It was the National Stadium (National Sports Complex) that we were heading to as we had a programme of what was happening in which location and thought we would aim to watch a tennis match. It didn’t take too long to get there although it was a fair way out of the centre of Vientiane and the roads were pretty good too - even if the middle sections of the carriageways weren’t quite complete. The bus dropped us off on a road (no bus stop or anything) and we skipped along into the extremely quiet stadium grounds. The stadium was the most impressive and modern manmade thing I had seen in all of Laos!

After dealing with the usual barrage of stares from the assorted people within the complex (security guards, bus drivers, school children and spectators) we nipped in to the swimming pool to see the end of the mornings swimming programme in which the Cambodian swimmer finished the four length race a mighty 15 seconds behind the rest of the field (let’s hope that wasn’t the Russian’s kid), before making our way towards the tennis courts to try to get a seat in some of the sparse patches of shade (it was already roasting hot at 10am in the morning!) for the upcoming Thailand vs Indonesia match (women’s singles tennis).

It was the first international standard tennis match that either of us had ever seen, and I was absolutely blown away by how good these players were - hitting it with such pace and accuracy (you’ve got a lot of practising to do Matty T!) The stadium was only half full but the atmosphere was really good in the stadium with some clown dressed up in lots of Thailand gear leading a chant while his mate banged on a drum. He was getting lots of attention from the crowd, shouting out chants and waving his big Thai flag. He started on the other side of the stadium, before heading over close to us on the busy side of the court (as there was more shade), and finally making his way over to the obvious targets in the crowd - the two pale, sweaty Westerners. So while the players had some water (and with the first set delicately poised at 4-3 to Thailand) the crazy character came over to us and beckoned for me to wave his flag while he went about his chanting business. It would’ve been rude not to oblige really. So after entertaining the crowd with my pale skin and mediocre flag-waving skills the players came back onto court and my new mate danced off back to his seat. It’s a fair bet that we’ve now been on tv in South East Asia as there were tv cameras broadcasting all events for the SEA Games ... if you ask nicely we’ll send you some autographs.

As the first set of the match reached its climax the heat became all too much for us so we headed for the swimming pool to watch some diving in cooler conditions. The divers were fantastic, apart from one little kid that was really terrible in comparison, bless him. We saw a range of dives and synchronised diving from a range of boards. It was wicked.

Next we decided to go in search of food (unsuccessfully) but we looked around the few stores that were selling sports gear, then headed into a different stadium where badminton matches were being held. Now, I have never seen anything like this. I didn’t realise just how flexible you have to be to be a successful player. These girls were practically doing the splits as parts of their moves to reach the shuttlecock. And the rallies were really intense. This was my highlight of all the sports for sure. I still think I could’ve given a couple of them quite a close game though, they weren’t THAT good. Can you believe Matt’s audacity? He actually believes that he, (having played a few badminton matches in his youth whilst at his fittest) thinks that he can take on an international standards badminton player and win? Deluded. See what I have to put up with?!

After the swimming, tennis, diving and badminton we’d had our fill of sports for the day and decided to try to head back into town for lunch. This was easier said than done. Whilst the transport links to get to the games were (by Asian standards) relatively good, the people in charge of planning the games seem to have completely forgotten that people who’d arrived at the games would at some point want to leave! There were no (obvious) buses from the stadium back into town, so after waiting for 20 minutes or so by the side of the road in the searing heat we were starting to get a bit concerned. We’d been keeping our eye out for a tuk-tuk in the meantime as a backup plan, but in those 20 minutes not a single one had gone past (probably the longest it’s possible to be by a road in Asia without seeing one!)

Just as it was starting to look as if we might be spending a very long time at the side of the road, a tuk-tuk came by although upon closer inspection it appeared to be full upon arrival (and then two people got on before us.) However, we’re quickly learning never to underestimate the Asian propensity to cram more and more people into small vehicles so after a quick bit of re-arranging (i.e. people’s bags going on the roof and everybody squeezing together a bit more) room was made for the both of us. The Thai couple who’d got on before us took it upon themselves to make sure that we got let out at the right destination and even tried to pay our fare for us too, bless them!

With the South East Games under our belts we felt contented with another good day’s travelling, and treated ourselves to a second consecutive night at a (relatively) posh French restaurant by the fountain - Cate’s definitely off the Thai food at the moment, if it’s not pizza or steak then she’s not interested! After cramming down the pizza we went to visit the Lao Bowling Center to teach them a thing or two about bowling (bad bowling). We started awfully and didn’t get much better, but it was good fun (and felt like being in SuperBowl circa 1990.) Purely for the record, I won. Probably something to do with your unique “dropping to your knees” bowling technique. You looked so cool. Oh and Matty, I do love you. Especially your humble and modest nature.

Love Cate & Matt x

Tallies so far (All of Laos)

Arguments: 0

Number of bites:
Matt - 0
Cate - 6

Journeys made: 14

Injuries:
Cate - banged head, cold/cough
Matt - bleeding arm (fell off bike), banged head, popped blister

Guesthouses: 4

Ice-creams:
Cate - 5
Matt - 4

Things lost/stolen/broken:
Cate - Ripped combats, sunglasses warped from heat/cold and cheapo nature from Khao San Road
Matt - Ripped I love NY t-shirt. (His arm and shoulder muscles are bulging.)

Massages:
Cate 0
Matt 0

Transport used:
Slow boat - 2
Mountain bike - 1
Kayak - 1
Tuktuk pick up truck - 4
Tuktuk - motorbike - 3
Local bus - 1
“VIP” bus - 1
Aeroplane - 1

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Photos

Ice cream fiend.
She had one for breakfast one day.

Bowling shoes
Good looking

P1010792
Heading for the gutter probably

Laos time!
The clocks were ALL wrong

P1010805
The state of Laos electricity lines

... and after
Despite Cate's face, she enjoyed the fish

Steak and pizza
A winning combo

Comments

[Grandma Oldfield]

An amazing couple
Another great tale. I am full of pride at all you are doing and as an old lady I think you are very brave to cope with so many "hairy" situations!!!!! You two ought to be journalists. You paint such good pictures with words. The pictures are good too. Keep safe and well. Luvya to bits. x x x x x