Lovely Laos We’d met quite a few people in Vietnam who’d just come from Laos and said the whole country was flooded. This was potentially a big issue given all the places we’d planned to go are next to rivers. So we had a quick look on the internet to see if there was any news, decided that because there wasn’t, things couldn’t be too bad and booked flights to Vientiane from Hanoi. Lao airlines is a bit hit and miss apparently, with not the best safety record in the world. As you can imagine, this did not go down well [View Full Entry]

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Arriving to Vientiane, Laos http://jetravel.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/vientiane_map.jpg After sleeping in Amsterdam's airport (what a luxury!!!, very comfy chairs for passengers on long trips & a meditation room), i got out the next day and walked a little bit around the city. Amsterdam will always be beautiful and expensive like most developed countries. My mind was already set up in Asia so i went back to the airport to catch my 9pm flight to Bangkok then transfer to Laos. Everything went very well, no problems with transferring, except for the fact that i didn't realiz [View Full Entry]

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Vietianne, 29-03-2008. With the ramblings of an old English drunk trying hard to do serious damage to my eardrums, I write in this travellog. I don't much care, he was here first - here is a stone table outside the shop where I bought my orange juice - and by the amount of empty big Beer Lao on the table I would judge he has been here most of today. The first thing I noticed this morning when I left my room in Vang Vieng for breakfast, was a pair of mating ducks - ducky-fucky - right in front of the [View Full Entry]

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Vietianne, 30-03-2008. I took the local bus nr.14 to Big Buddha Park together with a female anorexia patient from England. The locals call this park Xieng Khuan which apperently means "Sprit City" and its grounds are covered with bizarre concrete statue of about any Asian God I know of, apart off course Allah - no representations of Allah are allowed and Allah belongs more to the Arab world anyway. Plenty of statues of Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, Lord Ganesh, the Buddha himself and I even saw Lord arjuna in stone concrete as well as many other deities. A large pumkin-shaped concrete [View Full Entry]

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Vietianne,31-03-2008. Only hours before my departure by overnight bus back to Thailand/Pattaya. Having a few last beers at the Stone Table where I met that english drunk a couple of days ago. He was here already this morning drunk as a skunk. He's gone now, probably back to his hotel for a quick nap before returning for yet more big Beer Lao bottles. His habitual place at this table has been taken over by a Thai lady from across the border and probably close to my own age, bad make-up, all her belongings in a fake leather bag. Jesus and Lord [View Full Entry]

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We knew the capital of Laos was going to be a lot quieter than Bangkok, the currency was called the Kip for a start, but the first real indication of how different things were was on approach to Vientiane International. The night landing showed only a smattering of lights. It was as if we were over a village. The People's Democratic Republic of Laos liked its red tape. The airport was full of it. Line up here for the visa application form, then line up there for visa acceptance (and to pay the fee). Finally join that queue to get the [View Full Entry]

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Vietianne, 14-03-2008. The inner Sanctum Sanctorum of Wat Si Saket has got nice murals but are, unfortunately, in a serious state of neglect. The Sanctum Sanctorum itself is dank and has this particular smell of bird poop gather over many years in an abandoned church spire. The bird poop smell is mixed with the smell of dirty unwashed socks - take off your shoes before entering - belonging to the members of the many organised, tour-guided groups of farangs that come in a-plenty. Most of them in their mid fifties and hung with heavy and expensive camara equipment. The ohs and [View Full Entry]

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Vietianne, 15-03-2008. Having a big Beer Lao in front of the Mekong river together with a frenchman - I sold him a game so the beer was on his bill - I got approached by a young local lady, Luna, 24 years old, who tried her best to chat me up, trying hard to get me horny enough to take her home. 500 hundert baht for a short time or, preferably, a long time for a mere 100 baht. This is familiar territory for me, I know this world inside out. Maybe not the Lao scene, but isn't this mad scene [View Full Entry]

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Vang Vieng, 16-03-2008. Drinking a couple of big Beer Lao last night, sitting smack in the middle of Vietianne's tourist district I had no lack of local attention. Lady-boys marched up and down the street hassling any foreign male that looked drunk enough to believe that they are actually female. Makes me wonder how many farang males have woken up the next morning after a heavy night's drinking, finding a lady-boy in their bed? They ply their trade with determination and the clickety-clack of their platform shoes - high heels, you know - rings in my ears while I watch them [View Full Entry]

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Vang Vieng, same day. I leave Vietianne around 10.30 h. in the morning by - as a like to call it - a local chicken bus, no more VIP airco busses with built-in toilet and comfortable reclining seats as they are common these days in Thailand. Just an old rusty bus with the locals in ragged but clean clothes and often transporting their animals with them, hence the nickname "chicken bus". Slowly the bus winds it way up into the Lao hills passing small hilltribe villages, lush forests and great views of the plains below. It's only a 153 km. to [View Full Entry]

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