Vientiane - Move to the capital

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Vientiane- Exploring the Lao Capital

We got up in typical Laos style..very slowly, and with a large, dark syrupy coffee. Transport from place to place is either VIP/Tourist (a/c, modern coach or van)and very expensive, or local. We went local, which meant rather than going to a bus terminal and buying tickets, you wait by the road and flag down any vehicle that looks able to drive for the next 100kms, flash the driver a winning smile and hop on.
We were fortunate enough to find a rather rickety bus going straight to Vientiane, and nabbed the last two seats at the back next to a young chatty local student. He told us all about Laos, his friends family, university, and his dreams to one day . Sharing his sticky rice and grilled fish, the journey through the virgin jungles, vine-covered trees and roadside cows, soon faded to more urban scenery as we approached the capital.
Sadly Vientiane, a modern, sprawling city left us rather uninspired (It is a capital with only 700,000 people). The famed riverside night market was boarded off for construction, and all that was available was a smattering of cheap stalls and overpriced western restaurants. We stayed at the Youth Inn 1, not far from the mighty Muddy Mekong. At 60,000 kip ($5.00) it was a real bargain. Being an ex-french colony the fresh baguettes were a real treat and soon made up over half our daily diet. Monsoon in full swing, we experienced the wrath of rain on a daily basis, luckily the event saved itself for late evenings and gave us the days to meander the Mekong, and meet fellow travellers, most like us waiting for their two month Thai visas.

We bravely sought out the biggest temples and monasteries to visit including one that housed a piece of Buddhas breastbone!. Amusingly on one such visit we thought we'd take a shortcut across a lawn, only to find ourselves ankle deep in some of the stickiest, smelliest, flip-flop grabbing mud we've yet encountered. Extracting ourselves from the quagmire took a lot of leg strength and left us covered in this foul brew. Heading for the nearest toilets to try and clean ourselves off proved frustrating....they tried to charge us a dollar (not much for us, but a day's wages for a local), on principal we refused! Luckily the Laos people are a friendly bunch and spotting our distress a local ushered us into his garden and helped us hose ourselves down, wanting nothing more than a smile as thanks. We proceeded on our mission refreshed. Although beautiful, the temples were rather lacking in soul and character, and after a few hours we decided instead to focus on more practical matters.

We spent two days organising visas for re entry to Thailand, booked flight tickets for New Zealand, updated our long overdue blog, even tackled some of our washing, oh and not forgetting a massive Rummy session! Holding 2 passports, Guy seemed to have a problem in the eyes of the Thai authorities and we think it was just luck he managed to get a 2 month visa using his South African one. (they wouldn't let him use his UK passport!) We treated ourselves to dinner in a fabulous french eatery. Though slightly under-dressed (our wardrobe is a little tatty these days), we enjoyed a yummy meal in what was once a favoured haunt of foreign 'spies', journalists and the CIA during the secret war. They were all trying to get intel on the situation in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia...the seventies was a crazy period of war, and unrest. With communism and various regimes all power hungry, and the French and Americans playing a dangerous game in the middle....the vibes and echoes of secret conversations and coded exchanges were almost tangible.
During French occupation they made the statement that "the Vietnamese plant the rice, the Cambodians watch it grow and the Lao's listen to it grow." so far we have found this to be true in all manner of life. Life here is slow and humble, what a great country and friendly people.

We happened to meet up with several engineers working on a Hydro electric project and they explained in detail how they would find UXO (Unexploded bombs from the war- Laos is the most heavily bombed country in the world) only for them to disappear from the excavation site one day and be returned the next. The last, a 500lb cluster bomb, was 'stolen' and returned when the thieves could not defuse the bomb and use the metal as scrap with out blasting themselves to smithereens. We do love SE Asia!

A highlight of our stay was the chance to meet up with our trekking buddy from Nepal...Clare and her new man Walton. We spent a night catching up with her and hearing all about her latest adventures, picking up tips on Laos, and meeting her new man. With Clare due to head back to England in few days to start Uni, we imparted good motherly advice about college life (the joys of baked beans, beer, overdue essays etc) before saying a sad goodbye and heading off to Vang Vieng, undisputed party central in Laos. Clare we hope your first week at Uni is going well and your not missing the 3rd world too much. So, 2 month Thai visas in hand and ready for a few late nights we boarded the mini-bus for the 6 hour journey to Vang Vieng (Only 150km away)........

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Comments

[clare]

Awww guys!!! GREAT blog --- as usual -- you two are really on it with these blogs!! It was the absolute BEST to find you in Laos -- Vientianne would have been preeetty dull without! Yes, I'm at univeristy -- I actually really like it. Decorated my room like an asian groto -- I have a prayer flag explosion, insane number of photos, beer lao labels stuck on the wall - anything! Hahah! But so far, so good -- lovely people here. But miss the traveling like crazy : I just can't settle back properly...itchy feet :) Saw Ed again in BKK and took the train with him -- cool guy. Kepp enjoying, very massively jealous now but your blogs will keep me sane here in england...good work! Lots of love and take care