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Published: April 4th 2008
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Mekong sunset
The Mekong from Vientiane. First time i saw the river flowing the wrong way, after seeing it for so long from the other side in Thailand. I think the river flowing the wrong way, and cycling on the wrong side of the road was what caused my early disorientation. Once again a week has flown by, so much has happened, more than there is time for in this post, but here goes a snapshot!
Quick picture:
sun. Cross to Laos
mon. Veintiane explore
tues. 98km to Ban Na Keun (or at least i think that was the village name)
wed. 110km to Vang Vieng. And Claire's birthday - hope you got my txt sis!
thursay. walking/caving/tubing
firday. Climbing
Crossed into Laos successfully. Northern Thailand had been so relaxed, and indeed so is Laos, but this had rubbed off on me to and i wasn't really prepared for the crossing. Arriving at the Thai side checkpoint i had no idea if i should be getting my Laos visa here or what the procedure was. I opted to cycle as far as i could until i was stopped. This worked a treat as i was quickly directed to the right queue! Gaining a stamp in the passport i crossed into no-mans land on the bridge hoping i would be able to get the Lao visa on the other side. I have not done to much of these visa border crossings before - a uk passport gets you so far
Vientaine's Arch de Triomphe
Nice from a far but up close the concrete is pretty dire normally! On the way over i was surprised to see the bridge was a gift from the Australian people back in 1994. They are currently laying a train track in the middle of it. Presumably this was not part of the original gift (or else it is running seriously behind track) but i hope you guys designed for it! Getting the visa wasn't a problem but other things i should have looked up before arriving was what the exchange rate was (the Lao Kip is not traded outside Laos, but US Dollars and Thai Baht are widely excepted) and what side of the road they drove on! A sign informed me of the latter. I supose the change to the right had to happen sooner or later - I had previously been under the impression that it was only the UK and OZ that drove on the left.
Leaving the customs area there was no sign indicating which way to Vientiane, or any other place for that matter. I took a punt, based on the direction both the last cars had headed off in and set off in what felt like was completely the wrong direction. It turned out
Their Champs-Elysees too
Couldn't have one without the other! to be the right direction, although without seeing a single sign (this was to become a reoccurring them) it was only until i saw a shop sign 'Vientiane school of music' that i was reassured, despite asking several locals along the way. The reason i wasn't trusting of the locals is because i had no idea if they were understanding anything i was saying. Although meant to be similar to the Thai language, i was depressingly having no success in communicating... (also still a reoccurring theme)
The ride to Vientiane, the capital of Laos, was only 25km or so. It was great to arrive in an international city (well big town really). There was a Mekong River Basin conference going and I was passed by 2 convoys of 20+ cars & buses. Very exciting. It didn't take me long to fall for Vientiane - it must have been the french influence with every street a 'rue' or 'quai' and i came across pain au chocolate (quite possibly my favourite food ever) and a imitation Arch de Triomphe. I spent 2 nights there and bumped into several people i had met across the river in Thailand - an even smaller
'city' than Adelaide!
Heading North out of Vientiane and i quickly lost the international influence. I was heading up route 13 the main (infact only) road heading north up the country and then to china. It is the equivalent of the M1 in the UK and initially it was quite busy. Later the buses and trucks would be replaced by packs of school kids and roaming animals (dogs, cows, water buffalo, chicken and geese so far). It is a road i will be following for a while and it was nice to see km markers indicating distances to some far off places i would eventually reach. However to avoid too much on the same road I had decided to take a slight detour and towards a big lake (not natural, used for hydro power). There was a sign indicating the turning for the road, but not with towns that i recognised from my map. This was to be the last sign, and the first of many questionable town names and road locations suggested by my map - and i'm not in the remote bit yet!
Anyway the route was calm and the villages rolled by. I eventually made
Pizza!
A great pizza (my first real western food in a month!). Best of all, i had a knife to eat it with!! The swedish bakery in Vientiane comes highly recommened it to the lake. Not quite a picturesque as i had hoped, the village (which fortunately had one guest house) looked to have been pushed up the side of the hill when the valley was flooded..
The next day saw me ride 110km after meeting a frenchman who said the last 50km to Vang Vieng was 'OK'. Of course, OK for a person coming the other way means hard work for a me. Still it was nice to talk to him, as otherwise i would have given up at the next town. However, my bum disagreed and ruled out going Kayaking the next day - it did not want a hard seat!
Vang Vieng (where i am now) has a reputation as a party town and after my rather nomadic existence i wasn't sure i would like it. However the settings are spectacular and the reason it became so popular is because of adventurous/fun things to do around the place. I have been on a walking/caving/tubing trip yesterday and climbing today. The end of the climbing also involved what most people seem to spend most days doing... An activity known as 'tubing' This involves sitting in a inflated
That Luang
Vientiane's most impressive and important religious symbol truck inner tube and floating down the river, stopping (frequently) at the many bars, having a drink and doing rope swings into the river. I didn't have a tube, but was able to get a grasp on the atmosphere none the less!
So VV has converted me and it will be a shame to leave it behind. My climbing instructor taught me some essential Lao phrases and i look forward to using them to get food and lodgings! Tomorrow i continue north (up route 13) and by all accounts it is going to get very hilly. After a day or so I'll leave route 13 to do a loop around the north east into wilder Laos. Will keep you posted when possible.
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agnes
non-member comment
I am glad you felt quite "at home" in Vientiane with its French influence and pain au chocolat ( you remember the gouter at home ) and a replica ( bad copy in fact!) of l'Arc de Triomphe in Paris. We saw one in Delhi near the presidential palace and a mini tour Eiffel in Prague. Good continuation. Take care and thank for all those blogs, a great read...