http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Laos , West , Vientiane en-us Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:17:48 UTC Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:17:48 UTC so I finally decided it was time to leave Bangkok and as i write from my room in vientien in laosit seems that it was the right time given the political unrest in bangkok at the moment although you cant tell from the tourist areas of the city.Now for those who want to go to laos for a visa run I would not recommend it after the struggle today has been.The trip started well with the cab ride to http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-349478.html p tokmas.svettas.nu fr den som r intresserad. P tokmas.svettas.nucamping.avi finns ven en liten film frn campingen fr den som r intresserad.blablibloT http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-348914.html it's really funny how there is a certain someone that keeps reading my blogs and continues to harrass me on my views. as well as make me feel threatened as well as the safety of...me and my family. this is by no means letting this person win by taking down my PUBLIC blog but because i am simply not in the mood to argue with ignorance.sorry about the posts guys...we'll just have to do this pri http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-348675.html Nu jklar var det lnge sedan jag skrev nt hr. Tiden gr fort och visst har det hnt en del sen sist. Idag r det mindre n tre veckor kvar tills jag mter Sofie p flygplatsen i Bangkok. Ja lngtan r helt makals men med tanke p att det gtt ver 45 av tiden hr nu s knns det riktigt nra.Vad har hnt under de senaste veckorna d Jag har ntligen den 45 nov kunnat gra det andra och http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-348355.html I landed and DE planed...they immediately scurried us to immigrationvisas...THEY all spoke Lao to me.they took one look my passport asked reason for visit saw that i was born in thailand and said that i have a 30 day limit in laos because i was born in thailand. WTF does that matter I am an american citizen. you charged my ass 35 for a stupid visa. same as my mother whom is an american c http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-348033.html i was really pissed. i posted an entry in Laos from that stupid internet cafe several hours before i headed out. it was REALLY long since my mom and her cousin dumped us off there for about 2.5hours.gosh i saved it...then i was trying to publish it and then the millenium grade cafe computer crashed...wtfi was talking about the experience i had in the local washroom.a squat toilet. i will http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-347996.html Well the 3 hour bus ride turned out to be 5 hours. We walked around town looking for a place to stay but all were either full or way to expensive. We finally managed to find a place with hot water and TVToday we decided to go see Xieng Khuan otherwise known as Buddha Park. It is a garden full of Buddhist and Hindu sculptures of Vishnu Buddha Siva and other deities. It is pretty amazing at how http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-347648.html i made it into the city a few times. spent the last week in ban keun with my grandparents. no real running water and electricity in the farm or countryside. so tranquil and quiet. i bathed with well water and ate from the land. very simple and peaceful but medicineis scarce and travel to anywhere is difficult.but now i'm here in the city....it did really make my blood pressure go up that on t http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-347423.html We flew from Hanoi to Vientiane Laos on the 16th. We'd struggled to find a hostel to book online so we opted for an ecolodge about 30km outside and crossed our fingers that it would be ok.....we were not disappointed After a very bumpy taxi ride from the airport roads are not very even here wew arrived in what I can only describe as a little slice of paradise A beautiful resort rig http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-346731.html Arrived in Vientiane around 6pm and were taken too our resort. We had booked a bungalow at 'Rivertime Eco resort'. Was quite far out of the city centre 30km but the resort was fantastic. Has a nice meal on the floating restaurant yes they make maximum use of rivers over here. Two girls Laura and Kat arrived shortly after both 24 from Maidenhead. Really lovely. We arranged to go kayaking down http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-346725.html SabaideeLuang Prabang is een geweldig mooi stadje Prachtig gelegen aan de Mekong met veel tempels en monniken in oranje gewaden op straat. Na wat sightseeing de zonsondergang bewonderd vanaf een tempel op een heuvel in het midden van de stad. De volgende dag naar een waterval ten zuiden van de stad geweest. Na deze relaxte bezigheden was het weer tijd voor wat meer activiteit. We hebben een 3da http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-345246.html Well guys. I arrived in Vientiane Laos on Saturday 8th November and have loved my time here. I've been sharing a room with Robin German guy from Intrepid group last few days but he's headed back to Bangkok now so hanging around with Raynorthern Ireland and James American. On SAturday we headed out and happened to meet some locals who were really friendly and we headed out with them. They http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-344323.html Vientiane moet de meest stille hoofdstad van de wereld zijn. Zeker van ZuidOost Azi. Het hectische verkeer dat zo kenmerkend is voor steden in deze contreien is hier volledig afwezig. De brommer het transportmiddel nummer 1 in ZuidOost Azi is hier nauwelijks te zien in het straatbeeld. In het centrum zien we alleen maar dikke 4x4rsquos met blanke bestuurders. Eigenlijk merken we nauwelij http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-344037.html When we arrived in Vientiane the capital and largest city in Laos still only 300000 people in the early evening we found that every hotel and guesthouse around was booked solid. As it got dark we got a little nervous because the only place we had found was a windowless cell of a room that stank of urine and was absolutely filthy. Finally we stumbled upon a very nice guesthouse for about 24 http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-343945.html Relaxed Vientiane what a change from other bigger cities in Asia for instance crazy Hanoi The capital of Laos greeted me with everything it had to offer The people here are friendly and extremely laidback and the downtown area by the Mekong river is very pleasant. The streets are also pretty calm with very few cars and motorbikes on them making the crossing a lot less treacherous than in m http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-343878.html As September came to an end so did my time at the Tiger Temple. I wanted to stay long enough to witness one of the female tigers give birth but my Thai visa had run out and I was racking up the fines for each day I overstayed. Just my luck she ended up giving birth two days after I left but I would be back to visit. I had about 3 weeks to travel until I had to be in Singapore so I decided t http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-342418.html Nu har det ju drjt sjukt lnge sedan jag skrev sist. Det har hnt en del men mest har det varit vardag.Nr jag kom tillbaks frn semestern s var det 'boat racing festival' hr. Hjdpunkten p detta r d ett tjugotal btar liknande drakbtar med ca 50 pers i varje tvlar p floden. Det var ett sjukt stort jippo och fruktansvrt mycket folk p gatorna lngs floden. Rtt skoj att se eftersom de http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-339881.html And so we left Vang Vieng in a tuktuk over a very bumpy road at great speeds. We arrived an hour later by the river where we met up with our guides and began our paddle downstream. It wasn't so hard the kayak which both Mike I were in together was light and the flow of the water did alot of the work. The weather was good the scenery was nice all in all very enjoyable. We went over a co http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-339533.html A note from the author For those of you who live in the west and complain about bad drivers hogging the road and cutting you off on your way to work. PLEASE COME TO ASIA. For though I and I am sure many of you have seen some accidents and close calls on our highways they pale in comparison to the roads of asia. For here is where the adrenaline junkies of the world have congregated to tes http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-339269.html Oh joyous food Well oh my God did it take forever to get here from Halong bay. 4 Hours on a bus to Hanoi just enough time to scoff some food then another 22 hours to Vientiene. All on a standard coach I might add...no sleeper bus on this voyage. And the indignity of indignities...a midnight stop at the side of the road by a field for a bathroom break with no civilisation is site. Makes you ap http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-338259.html So just a quick note before we leave for Thailand.Yesterday we did not a lot. Uploaded some photobox from Chiang Mai Tigers elephants.We had a lovely lunch Tuna and then had some drinks overlooking the Mekong. Last night we went for dinner with Jazz and Donna who arrived at our guest house from Viang Vieng which was nice.Today we are chilling until 1500 then the bus takes us to Thailand N http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-337190.html So yesterday we went to the oldest temple in Laos which has over 2000 Buddas coolwe stopped for some air con and a drink and Chris bumped into 2 guys he used to go to uni with there was 3 of them in total so we ended up spending the afternoon with them playing pool.not much else to report. we have uploaded some Tiger Kingdon and Elephant trekking pics this morning too Love Astrid x http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-336777.html So aside from getting from Canada to Asia we took our first flight of the trip on Oct 20th. We have taken many boats buses taxis trains night trains and so on...but thankfully Dave and Laverne chose to fly from Hanoi Vietnam to Luang Probang Laos. The flight was only an hour or so. It was so nice to not feel like I had ran a marathon hiked the Westcoast Trail and gone Chirstmas shopping http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-336528.html httpwww.photobox.co.ukalbum74509660 photo link http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-336391.html ok so we have managed to upload some photos of Bangkok Ayutthaya and the train they are on a website called www.photobox.comi think youmay have to register to be able to see them but let us know whether you canplus the website is good anyway ciao xxxx http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-336375.html Ok so thanks for all the comments in the main Mum and Dad I see you have been keeping yourselves busy since I left also say hi to Bertie for me he's obviously missing me.So yesterday we got up at 530 am to get ready for our 6 am pick up from the guest house. 0630 came and went and then we started to ask where the tuk tuk was So finally at 0830 the tuk tuk finally arrived and we made http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-336361.html The vast majority of the group 12 were moving on from Vietnam to Laos with just 4 going elsewhere or going home so that meant 4 new members. Two from Oz and two from Germany. As the male members of the original group was largely made up of English football fans we had already discussed at what point do we bring up the 51 drubbing of the German side in Munich from 2001. To Gary's amazement the http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-335701.html A mostly free morning to explore the town and one of the few really famous and highly recommended bakeries around.. a savoury croissant and a chocolate muffin sorted us out for the day as we went about our business We had a little walking tour first with a Lao guide who took us to the parliament houses a really pretty temple and the big monument in Laos where i sent Matt to the top to take photo http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-335658.html If anything will teach me to do a bit of research before going somewhere Laos would be it.Getting to LaosBefore coming to South East Asia I had images of myself lying in a hammock strung up on a boat slowly flowing down the Mekong with nothing to do but enjoy the passing scenery and a good book maybe occassionally slapping the odd mosquito away so when we saw a tour that said Chiang Mai to http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-334602.html Igr morse kom jag tillbaka till Vientiane efter ca 10 helt underbara dagar i sdra Lao. Nr nattbussen kom till stationen vid 6tiden var jag lagom sugen p att skynda mig hem duscha och ka till kontoret. Det dr med att brka med trafik kndes inte s lockande efter 5 dagar i en hngmatta p sanslst stillsamma Don Det.Jaja vi tar det vl frn brjan.Nattbuss till Pakse ca 1011 timmar sder http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-334004.html