Vientiane, Laos

---

Hi Everybody!
We flew to Vientiane yesterday on a propeller type airplane that held about 60 passengers. While we were waiting for our flight, we met a nice couple from Germany that were natives of Prague. He had a PhD in zoology with a specialty in fresh water dolphins. He was coming to Laos for a conference.
We are staying in a nice hotel for $20 a night and that includes breakfast. It has white marble floors, a huge bath, and nice furniture. They provide free transportation to and from the airport. We didn't realize that when we hired a taxi. We also hired the driver to drive us around this morning. He told us that it takes him $300 a month to pay all of his living expenses. He has to pay $10 tuition for his daughter's schooling. He pays $5 to rent his taxi.
Today, we visited the Morning Market, several temples, the Mekong River, Arch of Triumph, the Friendship Bridge between Thailand and Laos, and Patuxay Park. Last night, we walked to a nearby nice restaurant and had a tasty meal for $8. The meal included a giant beer for 2, J.Walker Red Scotch for Walt, coffee, fried rice, crab balls, wontons stuffed with shrimp, and vegetables. We used the internet for one hour for 60 cents. All of the different types of money can be confusing. I figured out that I had to make myself a little chart showing $1=9850 Laos Kip, $2=19,700 kip, etc. When they name their price, I look at my chart. I have done this in several countries, and it has been very helpful.
This morning, it was a little cooler here - 60's when we got up. It has warmed up into the 80's. The main roads are paved in the city. As you go out of town, only the highway is paved. From the air, it looked like all of the rural roads were dirt. Many of the city sidewalks are dirt. It is dry and very dusty here. There are many police checkpoints, but we haven't been stopped. There are lots of scooters here and many drivers wear helmets. Our driver told us that you can buy a nice scooter for $500 U.S. We haven't seen any Americans, but there are lots of Europeans here.
The people are friendly and very grateful when you tip them. There are lots of temples and monks. The Buddhist monks wear dark orange robes with blue scarves. I may have mentioned before that the middle son is suppose to become a monk if a family has 3 sons. Vientiane has a university for monks. We have been told that 40% of the people are poor, 40% are average, and 20% are wealthy. Laos has strict laws against drugs.
I am glad that we came here. Tourism is just catching on here.
Take care,
Everette

---