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Published: October 6th 2009
This was truly a quiet town and if this was the hub of Southern Laos then I can only imagine what the rest of the region is like. You can see French influence all throughout the town in the set up, the buildings, and the food. It wasn't a bad thing but I was expecting to maybe see a few more foreigners. I saw none the first day. By the time I left I made it up to 11 I think.
My time here was basically spent wandering the town and trying to get out of town. There is a casino a few miles from town but I did not check it out. I was told that it was really nice, of course nothing like Vegas or AC. Most towns along the Mekong are preparing for the boat races that happen at the end of Buddhist Lent, so the road along the river has a lot of shops set up selling all kinds of stuff and as well as snacks.
I had one of the best massagges so far, at a place called Style Massage. I did an hour full body massage and it was well worth the kipse!
I also stayed in one of the heritage building guesthouses on the edge of the French Quarter.
I planned on leaving Friday morning to head to Vietnam but when I went to the bus station the morning before the check the status of buses I was told, "No buses until Monday"....MONDAY!!! What can I possibly do in this town until Monday?? NOTHING. Could Typhoon Ketsana have been that bad?? I hope not! A bus driver mentioned to me that there are buses to Vietnam from Thakeak, which is three hours north. The buses would take me within a couple hours of where I wanted to actually be, but I wouldn't be stuck any longer. So my plan became getting to the bus station in the morning to go North and then East.
I arrived at the bus station to happily find out that there is a night, local bus, to Da Nang that leaves at 10pm. Fine by me!! So I went back and the lady at the guesthouse allowed me to keep my stuff in one of the rooms until I left for the bus station again. In the end, it all worked out. I made it
to the bus, which got to the border at about 4:00am, where we got off so the driver and his lil crew could load who knows what onto the bus in the extra spaces. Finally at 7am the border openned and I headed into 'Nam.!
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