Day 36 - 37: Vientiane

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The trip to Vientiane was a fairly easy one! It's only a 3 hour drive or so, what seemed to take longer was rounding up the passengers just to drop us a few minutes walk from where we started...a laughing point for much of the journey. We even managed to suss out where we were as we arrived...so no need for a tuk tuk we set off in the direction of a guest house we'd read about. After a short walk.....we arrived.....it looked very nice. Asked about the rooms....and they were way beyond our budget. Not phased we set off to another which sounded reasonable.....a sign outside said 'FULL'. In the heat with backpacks....a 5 minute walk seems like 60 minutes. So we gave up with the guidebook and just jumped inside the first guesthouse we saw....it was fine....basic but fine. We only planned a two night stay so would be fine for us.

We headed out to see what Vientiane had to offer....and let me say that my first impressions were right, There really is very little here...and it's not attractive at all really. The main road or what is considered the touristy part only really has a couple of bars, cafes and restaurants. We took a walk to the river....just to find out that the river was a long way from the river bank. So no nice views of the river, with very little to do and in the intense heat....internet cafe it was. We did manage one drink in an overpriced yuppie western bar....which was ok to watch the people go past. in the evening....we went to an Italian restaurant the book recommended....it was hugely popular and we grabbed the last table. The food was great and a welcome relief from rice and noodles for a change.

The next day we only had one plan and that was to see the Buddha park.....we spoke to the staff at the guest house and they said to walk to the bus station and get bus number 13. It all went swimmingly....baring in mind this was probably our hottest day yet. Got a seat on the bus and waited....as it started to fill. The buses aren't big like ours....about a third of the size. Every seat was soon taken....and still more people came. 3 people would sit on two seats....and many had to stand. I was lucky I bagged a window sea at the back, with no leg room but fine apart from that. Heidi however was sandwiched between two or more people....without the water which I was carrying. It seemed like a long journey but we did make it.....but the heat had taken its toll on us both. It was a cheap way to arrive....but not the most comfortable. The buddha park itself was a nice way to spend an hour or so....some very interesting sculptures. We even managed to bump in to our tubing buddies J and E at the top of a large structure, bizarre!

The heat was really too much in the capital...and it was a struggle. The bus ride and he glaring sun had hit Heidi quite hard...not the best timing considering we had an overnight bus booked later. We had an early dinner and bought some supplies....and guess who we bumped in to....YES....Adam the Canadian. He was also planning on getting the overnight bus. We boarded the mini bus and set off for the bus station. Disaster struck when we got there and it turned out me and Heidi had different tickets to everybody else. We weren't going in anice VIP bus rather a cheaper bus geared towards locals. We were like lambs to the slaughter as the mini bus driver took our tickets and loosely pointed towards a nasty white bus. We watched our friends walk away and were left wondering what happened lol. Showed our tickets to the driver/luggage guy and he put our bags on board. Once we got on board the ticket lady turned us away....at which point we felt we'd be scammed or something, not a good feeling. Anyway we were eventually pointed towards another bus and this was as it turned out the correct bus. It wasn't pretty with two to a small bed....which I would have barely been comfortable in on my own. Seeing two other western girls on board was quite reassuring....and more did eventually board. It was a bad night sleep as it expected....but we did make it to Pakse....and our friends were there waiting.

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