Crossing into lazy Laos!!

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Our next country was sleepy Laos! We were heading for the capital city Vientiane and were facing a 22 hour bus journey, wow – this though was to break all our records so far and to say we were dreading it was an understatement! We set off from Hanoi along with Claire and James on another sleeper bus wondering how we would cope with what lay ahead. It didn’t take long for a crisis of sorts to happen, we had all been allocated seats by the bus company – Vietnam insist on their passengers sitting in the seats they allocate you. The problem was the whole bus had sat in any seat they wanted to. Once this was brought to one Vietnamese chap’s attention chaos kicked off! The bus driver started shouting and spluttering in Tina’s face that she must move from the seat she was in and into the correct seat she was allocated. Everyone on the bus tried to explain that the entire bus would have to move if one person moved. After half an hour the bus driver finally gave in and we got going! Another thing we noticed about the sleeper buses is that the locals get the raw deal they usually end up sleeping in-between the isles on the cold hard floor.

After another bumpy journey we finally arrived at the Laos border around 5am and slept until the border opened at 7am. When we got to the hilly border it was eerily half hidden in the rain and mist. Shortly after reaching the desk to arrange our entry visa’s there was a power cut which left us all in darkness. The solution – the border officials tried to light up the desks with lots of small birthday candles! This happened 4 or 5 times and at some point the officials started handing out the candles for us to hold. The next problem we had was the border officials would not accept the US Dollar bills we were trying to pay with as they had tiny rips in them - this would be fair enough except that it was their own exchange office which was handing out the dollars we were trying to use!! Eventually in the candle light we somehow managed to cross into Laos!

The journey from the border to the capital is through some very picturesque scenery, you drive through small villages of wooden buildings with the villagers busily working away, and behind them are a dramatic line of mountains in the background. Talk about scenic!

In Vientiane we were unsure what to expect, but it is almost town-like for a capital city and also quite quiet. The streets show the past French influence and you are never too far from a reminder that you are in another communist country. But the impression we got was a quiet friendly city where it was easy to relax.

In Vientiane we were also meeting up with Kate and her friend Laura to bring our travelling crew to 6. While Tina was having a relaxing drink and catch-up with Kate, Paul headed to the National Museum to get his dose of history! However, he got a bit carried away and ended up exploring pretty much the whole city. After the museum, he visited the National Stadium (walked in for free but not sure if was supposed to have paid!!) and watched a rugby tournament which was under-way. This was followed by taking in a couple of temples, the Presidential Palace, and the views of the Mekong River from the riverside! All for the cost of one quid, a good day all round!

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