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Published: September 7th 2006
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Its always great to get to know the locals, and sometimes it can make life really interesting...
After another long bus ride from Vang Vieng the traveling trio (myself, Taylor and Shane) arrived in Vientiane. After walking around for about an hour looking for a place to stay, we accepted a ride from a man who was gathering people and sending them to his guest house down the road. After checking the place out we decided that it would work and crashed at the latest "home."
We arrived on a Saturday night, and decided to take it easy, especially after all the relaxing we did in Vang Viene. The staff of the guest house were very nice and they had a TV that we crashed out in front of after dinner. Another hard, long day of travel and I was exhausted. The following day I got up early and went to explore the city by myself. I found an enormous morning market which sold everything from pots and pans to refrigorators to cell phones, all under tents and tarps. It was amazing what they fit into such a small space.
That afternoon we visited the large temple,
which was pretty amazing considering its size and age. We all visited the Arc De Trup(of Lao) which looked more like a concreate blob that ar Arc but it was still fun to climb to the top and see the city. We were shutteled around town by a tuk-tuk driver named To (pernouced toe), who also worked nights at the guest house.
That night we met up with a few guys who we met in Vang Vieng and played pool till all hours. It didn't seem like to spectaclur of a city and I wasn't very excited about hanging out for 3 days waiting for my Visa to Vietnam...but I was in for a big surprise.
Taylor and Shane left for Bangkok on Monday afternoon, and I stayed in Vientiane waiting for my Visa. I thought I would have a few days by myself, but To wasn’t about to let me be lonely. That evening To and I went to dinner on the river, and he showed me how to make Hot Pot stew. We sat outside on mats in a park, cooking on an open coal fire. It was really fun and I was happy that it didn’t
start to rain. After dinner, I was putting my sandals back on and the local crazy guy walked up to me. I didn’t notice him approaching and went I looked up he was about 2 inches from my face. I screamed in surprise and the whole restaurants started to laugh. After this encounter, Toe and I were off to the local pool/darts bar, where we met another guy that I knew from Chiang Mai. The three of us spent the night playing darts, which was a nice change from pool. I wasn’t very good, and my aim got worse when the “snooker” rule was introduced. When you play “snooker” you have to take a shot when your score has all the same digits. I only played 2 rounds of this because the shot was Lao Lao, or Lao whiskey. I thought it tasted more like rubbing alcohol, so I bowed out quickly.
The following day To took me to see the Buddha park, which is filled with large Buddhist and Hindu statues. It was located about 27 km outside of the city on very bumpy roads. We took the motor bike, so you could feel every bump and pot
hole but it was a great time. To knew a secret way to get to the top of the statue through the middle and out the top of the mouth, and the tourists at the top were very surprised to see us climb out of a 1 m wide mouth. After the Buddha park we tried to tour the glorious Beer Lao factory. Beer Lao costs 9000 kip or $0.90 for 1.5 liters and is the most amazing beer I have ever tasted. I even have a beer Lao shirt, and I am not one for beer shirts. Unfortunately the factory was closed for tours because they are renovating, but I am determined to put my business degree to use by importing Beer Lao in the USA.
By this point I knew that To wanted to be more than friends because he wanted me to move to Lao and get a job. While I told him this was very sweet, I was not ready to get a job and stay in one place. He didn’t want to believe me, but I continued to tell him we were just friends. That night we went to dinner again at a very cute restaurants on the Mekong river with great live music. The atmosphere was complimented by the ants that desperately wanted some of our dinner.
After dinner, To invited me to his friends house for a party. He explained that one of his friends fathers had just died, so there was a party at there house where they had to eat all the food. I could only image what they were going to say when To showed up with a western girl, but I figured it was part of the adventure. Sure enough, when we reached the house it was a party outside with a funeral and tomb inside. A group of To’s friends were playing Vietnamese cards for money, and the game stopped and everyone broke into hysterics when we arrived. It was very entertaining. For the next few hours I attempted to learn Vietnamese cards, drink Lao coffee(very good), and sample some more Lao Lao. At about 1:30 To and I made our way back to the guest house, but we stayed up until almost 3AM as I attempted to learn all the tricks of the card game(I think it was the coffee). The following day I received my Visa and I was off to Vietnam. It was the first time I was really alone, I didn’t know where I was staying, how to get there, or almost anything about the town. I was terrified. I was able to calm myself down by listening to Enya and meditating on the plane, but the bad turbulence didn’t help calm my anxiety at all. I knew I would be ok but I didn’t know what was going to happen. All I could do was breath.
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