Krabi to Vientiane

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Krabi to Vientiane, 2nd to 7th May

We arrived back in Krabi at about 3.30pm and were all piled onto the back of a pick-up bus thing. I'm sure there were far too many people on there to make it safe with people literally sitting on each others knee but we got to our hotel in one piece. That afternoon was spent wandering around the Sunday market, it was nice as it wasn't really aimed at tourists so we were able to mingle with the locals. We ate dinner down by the river at one of the hawker stalls like we had done the first time in Krabi, then went to a bar as Doddy had spotted Liverpool were playing. It was a nice bar but Doddy left disappointed as Liverpool lost to Chelsea 3-0.

The following day was spent doing odd jobs that needed to get done, washing clothes, typing up blog and buying supplies for our journey. The day soon passed and at 5.45pm we boarded our 'VIP' bus. The buses in South East Asia do not compare to the luxury ones in South America, they were actually pretty poor in comparison but it was a comfy seat all the same. We settled into the journey, stopping briefly to pick up some more passengers in Surat Thani.

The raods were quite bumpy but nothing that we didn't think the bus could handle but we were wrong. Just as we were dropping off to sleep there was a really loud bang and the bus started sllowing down to pull over. The driver hoppped off the bus to see what had happened and after having a good poke around under the bus for half an hour he declared that the suspension had gone and it wasn't fixable so he'd have to call for another bus that would have to come from Surat Thani, 3 hours away. He knew of a service station about a mile away so we crawled along the hard shoulder so we could stretch our legs a bit more and use a proper toilet instead of waiting by the side of gthe road to which we were very grateful.

The first hour of waiting everyone was in good spirits playing football and swapping travelling stories but that soon wore off as people began to get tired. Doddy and I played numerous games of backgammon and then spent an hour watching an army of ants carry scraps of food up a 3 metre high pillar, then for a waiting gecko at the top to try and eat the scraps but more often than not he would miss causing the ants to drop it and it would fall all the way back down onto the floor again where more ants would pick it up and begin the whole process again. It's amazing what you find amusing at 2 in the morning!

3.5 hours of waiting and still no replacement bus, people were starting to get a little restless but the bus driver kept reassuring us that it was only 2 or 3 minutes away so we carried on waiting patiently. Eventually, after another half an hour the bus rolled in and we all got on and fell straight to sleep. We both slept fairly well considering the circumstances. Due to the delay overnight and traffic on our approach to Bangkok we arrived in at midday as opposed to the 6am that we had been scheduled. We had been keen to avoid Bangkok due to the Red Shirt protesters however, we were not able to get anywhere that we wanted to go without passing through. We had also spoken to some other backpackers who had come down through Bangkok and had said that the Koh San Road area appeared safe and unaffected by the protests.

The bus took us to the top of Koh San Road and we were glad to say the least to finally be there. Food was the first thing that came to mind and the first restaurant that we came across was an Italian and we enjoyed our firt western meal since arriving in Asia and boy it tasted good! We then called into a travel agents and booked our train to the Thai/Laos border for that eve. We then had a few hours to kill so we wandered around the markets of Koh San Road deciding what we'd want to pourchase on our return.

It was soon time to eat again so we found a Thai restaurant to fill us with some good food before the night train. We then caught a cab to the train station passing quite a few riot police stationed at different areas but none of the actual demonstration areas. We arrived at the staion about 45 minutes before our due departure time. The platform was easy to find and the train was already there so we climbed aboard and settled into out 2nd class, fan-cooled sleeper (600 Baht). Trains are a great way to travel as you see much more than you would by air. We passed through some beautiful counrty side and saw people and animals going about their daily life in the towns and fields alongside the tracks. It soon became dark and the train conductor came to make the seats into beds. That's the other great thing about sleeper trains, the seats got made into beds and with the gentle chugging motion of the train we got lulled into a nice deep sleep.

At around 10am (only an hour late) we arrived into Nong Khai. We teamed up with another girl fom our train and caught a tuk-tuk with her to the Thai border. The driver tried to take us to an office to get our Laos visa but we knew we ould get one on arrival so we put him straight. Sure enough on arrival at the border we filled out our visa form, paid the money and went straight through and were then happily in Laos. From the border we were able to catch a local bus to the Laos capital Vientiane about 20km away.

Upon arrival in the bus station we were again hounded by the tuk tuk drivers wanting to take us to our desired location but luckily we’d made friends with a Spanish lady who used to live in Laos and said all the guest houses were in walking distance and as she was going to meet her friends in the same direction she would walk with us. It’s great when you get that little bit of insider information, especially after two days of travelling. 20 minutes later and after a refreshing fruit shake we were checked into a nice hotel room with a balcony that offered good views of the street below. We the indulged in the simple pleasure of taking a shower. It had been two days since we’d showered and we’d been on hot and sticky public transport so it felt great to be clean again.

After lunch we had a little wander around our local surroundings. Vientiane is the capital of Laos and with a population of 300,000 is its largest city. We took in the morning market that was just closing as we got there and wandered round some of the cities back streets. We sat at a make shift bar down by the edge of the Mekong River and had a drink whilst watching the sun go down. Dinner was at a nice Lebonese restaurant and then we wandered back via the night market to our hotel taking in a few more of the sights, sounds and smells. That night we both slept a dream, it was brialliant to be back in a proper bed again.

The next day we moved hotels to a slightly cheaper one around the corner. We then hired bikes and set off pedalling around the city. One of our first stops was Wat Si Saket a temple containing 10,136 minature Buddah statues in different degreees of condition. It was intresting to see so many different statues and learn a bit about Budhism too. We then decided to cycle back to the hostel and get out of the sun for a bit as it was so hot. (We later found out it had been 42 degrees!) On arrival back at the room I opened the door just in time to see a thin black tail run out of my bag and underneath Doddy's. I told Doddy we had a little gecko in the room and asked him to do the manly thing and remove it. So, like a good boy he did, lifting up his bag to chase it out only to find a large lizard staring back at him. It made us both jump and as we tried to shoo it out the door it ran back into my backpack amongst my clothes. So we then took on a new approach, lifting my bag outside and tilting it until the lizard crawled out.

Once the sun had gone down a bit we set out on the bikes once more. This time we went out of the main city centre getting lost down lots of street and alleyways. It was great, riding past we got a little snap-shot of everyone going about their daily life. There were people fixing engines, making tools, selling fruit and selling food, all oblivious to the likes of us cycling past. It was a great way to see some more of the city and some of the Laos culture. From there we went to Patuxai which is Vientianes Arc de Triumph replica, next to the palace and some water fountains. It was a nice area to spend some time in amd Doddy managed to get a photo of all the oficial photographers who normally take the tourists photos!

After taking the bikes back we ate dinner, picked up some croissants from a yummy bakery for breafast the following day and went to an internet cafe to make some sykpe calls home. We then went to bed but not before checking the room very carefully for lizards!

We were up early the following morning to catch our 7.30am bus to Van Vieng, a small town further north of Vientiane.

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Photos

Inside the temple
1000's of mini Buddhas