Lak Xao & Vientiane

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7th March

we were supposed to meet at 6 a.m. to leave for Laos, but an alarm clock malfunction meant we were woken at 6:30 by the hotel reception speaking what sounded like half English and half mouse. It was a 7 hour drive to Laos and we were going along nicely until a puncture saw us stranded in the rain at the side of some unknown Vietnamese highway, it took all of 20 seconds for local children to crowd around and stare. I seemed to attract alot of the attention, the guide explained that it was because i was being compared to a movie star, who was overweight, like me, and excellent at kung fu, not like me. We soon figured out that our bus driver had not a clue about changing tyres but we kept out of it as the Vietnamese get very grumpy when you tell them they're doing something wrong. So over an hour later we were back on track waving goodbye to about 40 local kids.
We just made the border before it closed at 4:30, and as we were crossing we saw lorry's full of dogs (not to be used as pets) $32 got us into Laos and on our way to our hotel.
Lak Xao is a small town 45 mins inside the border, it has 3 hotels and 1 restaurant. Guess where we were eating that night?
The food was ok and it all went well, except they forgot my order and i was sat waiting whilst everyone else had finished. Nevertheless it was my first taste of the much anticipated Beer Laos. It didn't quite live up to expectations, mind i'm not sure what i was expecting.

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8th March

Our included breakfast was being served in the hotel next door and it was raining. The weather had been shit since we left hue, much to Kims disappointment as her hard earned tan was fading 😞
We set off to Vientiane, Laos' capital, after breakfast and arrived in much better weather, hurrah! but still no sun, boo! Our guide took us to a local place for lunch and we had noodle soup, the portions were huge! and so tasty. We were both stuffed.
We went out sightseeing and found the city to be absolutely tiny. You could probably walk from one side to the other in 20 minutes. Our first stop was the Victory arch, it's modelled on the Arc di triumph in Paris but it has never been completed, for 5,000 kip (50p) you can go to the top and look out over the city. unfortunately inside the arch it's full of souvenir stalls selling the usual crap.
Tea was chased down with several beers and i have to admit i was beginning to like Beer Laos, well i was enjoying it after the 3rd pint.

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9th March

We had a free morning in the capital so decided to visit some of the attractions that were closed the day before. We visited 2 temples, the first - Wat Sisaket had the distinction of being the only thing that the Thai army left standing when they invaded many years ago. There really wasn't much to see so we crossed the road and went to Wat Ho Phra Keo, this temple was a little bit better but again it was small and only provided a half hours entertainment, we ate at the same place as yesterday and then went to a market. It was more of a local market than a tourist one, selling fridges and t.v.'s although some of our group still found something to buy, dunno how though.
At 1p.m. we caught the bus to Vang Vieng.

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