Blogs from Laos, Asia - page 506

Huay Xai The border crossing from Thailand into Laos was quite humorous. We casually walked down to the Mekong River, passing through no security checkpoint, and loaded onto a colorful long tail boat which shuttled us for 30 seconds across the river. Upon arrival, I found out that there was no way to get money out so I returned to Thailand, went on a tuk-tuk ride to an ATM, and then ferried back to Laos. To make matters worse, we were then scammed on our visas. They charged us $1,800 baht instead of $1,500. So, after two hours of arguing with "immigration," (many of whom quickly fled on their motorbikes) we were finally given our money back. The next morning we were crammed into a long tail boat with fifty other falangs (Westerners) to begin ... read more

My Dad: "So Kryst, is Laos a country, or a city?" Me: "Are you serious? ....yeah, it's a country..." It's a country alright, but without much of a capital. With 200,000 people, you'd hardly know it was a city at all. In fact, the only pictures I managed to take were mostly of signs. And not that I find that incredibly boring, but there weren't many sites to try out my 'self portraits' on! The bus from Bangkok wasn't that bad...only 13 hours. However I was shocked at the Friendship Bridge (Northern Thai/Lao border) when I learned that Canadians had to pay $42 for a VISA, while most other people only had to pay $30-$35. And we all know how 'thrifty' I've become, so I was upset, to say the least. I thought Canadians were ... read more

Headed from Vang Vieng to Vientiane which is the capital of Laos. I came down on my own, leaving everyone else to join me the following day. Its still a fairly quaint place, although its a capital city it doesn't have the mayhem of Delhi or Bangkok or Kuala Lumpar. First night sat and had a meal on the banks of the Mekong, had a few drinks in a bar then went to bed. Following day did what I usually do in all major cities, which is walk out into the city with cunning use of unscaled map and proceed to get lost! Was well away from where I wanted to be, took a good hour to find my bearings which carring a rucksack and very little water isn't the best idea. Finally found the main ... read more

Hey guys, I'm sorry I still haven't passed on the pics of Ban Koen and world's greatest band! Using the travelbloc gives me the chance to make them available to you and to get some information on my page... Ok, for the ones I haven't talked to in a while: 2 weeks ago, a few lost expats took the chance to go for a little WE trip and have a few reasons to get pissed. ULUVUS had been invited to play on the Tango stage at the boat racing fastival at Ban Khoen! That was our call (within a few hours all the hotel rooms were taken, Kak and I even had to share a room with a Swedish guy we didn't know before--he turned out to be really nice..;) ) We drove there on Saturday ... read more

Vientiane, Laos’ capital, is pretty small by western standards. It’s situated on the bank of the Mekong River, just across from Thailand. The terrain here is pretty flat, so visually it’s not much on what I saw in Northern Laos. It doesn’t have the metropolitan feel of Bangkok or KL, but it’s getting there. After the first evening, we arose bright and early to get to the Vietnamese embassy for our visas, but as I was coming back from the shower, Jen realised that it was Sunday. We headed out to Vientiane’s crazy Buddha park instead, built by an insane monk/priest/scholar bloke who got kicked out of the country shortly afterwards and proceeded to build another just over the river from the first, in Thailand. The minibus left from the central bus station in Vientiane, a ... read more