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Well the first attempt to get into Laos failed comically. We waited outside the travel agent for the bus and then at 7pm, when it was due, a minivan drew up and ushered us on board. We showed our tickets which were briefly glanced at and then took our seats. We travelled about half an hour through Bangkok, assuming that we were headed to a bus terminal on the edge of town where we would change to one of the big intercity coaches which is how most coach transfers work in SE Asia. However, after a while we pulled into the airport and were kicked off. We asked the driver if this was for Vientiane and he nodded and drove off, leaving us to find the bus in an enormous airport. After running around in a confused panic for half an hour we found that the bus didn't actually leave from the airport and we had got on the wrong minivan. We sheepishly got a cab back into town and booked into a hotel for another night.
The next morning we went back to the travel agents to work out what had gone wrong and luckily they were really nice
about it and said that the driver was in the wrong. He assumed we were the people waiting to go to the airport and clearly hadn't bothered to look at our tickets when we showed them to him. They issued us with new tickets at no extra cost but we had to wait two days for the next coach with free seats. Ah well, two extra days in Bangkok is no hardship! We filled our time by eating more bugs and durian (which we have become strangely drawn to on occasion) while wandering Khoa San Road and buying ourselves a couple more t shirts and nik naks.
Two days later we tried to get to Vientiane and actually managed it this time. The coach journey was not one of our best so far and took 15 hours in total, including time spent checking out of Thailand and into Laos. The yellow bible had warned us that life in Laos is conducted at a very different pace to the rest of the region and particularly Thailand. The quote is something along the lines of:
"If the nations of South East Asia were tuk-tuk drivers, the Thai driver would take
you to your destination via a fake gem shop, the Vietnamese driver would run you over before you had a chance to get on board but you would have to go find the Lao driver, wake him up and then persuade him to do some work."
The Lao checkpoint at the border certainly seemed to be evidence of this attitude. The officials were smiley and very friendly but took all the passports from the bus in one bunch then sat in a little office slowly and painstakingly leafing through each document, writing down the details, stamping them, having a little giggle at the photo, watching some tv and then ambling about trying to find the owner of the passport before stretching, having a cigarette, a quick power nap, brewing a coffee and then settling down to do the next passport. Getting everbody through the checkpoint took some considerable time but, rather than getting frustrated, it seemed that most people actually welcomed the relaxed approach after getting hassled every few seconds to buy something in Bangkok. Once we had finally crossed into Laos we were transfered onto ramshackle looking local buses depending on where in Laos we were going. The
Vientiane bus trundled off with us on board and roughly an hour later we were in the capital.
Arriving in Vientiane we were dropped off on a random street with no clear landmarks or road marking and had absolutely no idea where we were. While in Bangkok we had booked a room in a lovely sounding place on the banks of the Mekong river outside the centre of Vientiane and had printed out a map and directions in Lao for when we arrived. The directions said that we had to get to the bus station and jump on a songthaew out of town so we hailed a tuk tuk and headed off towards the bus station while checking out our newest home. Vientiane is a very small city of only 200,000 people and it didn't take us long to get to the bus station which was next to a food market. We had read that Laos still has a lot of French influence and were quite excited to see lots of stalls selling tasty looking French baguettes in the market! We found a group of songthaews waiting around the back and started bartering with a driver for a good
price to the guesthouse. The exchange rate is a ludicrous 12,500 Laos kip to the pound but not everywhere takes kip. A lot of places prefer US dollars and some are happy to take Thai baht which makes trying to work out a daily budget in a combination of all three difficult.
We agreed on a price of 100,000 kip (8 pounds), jumped on board and swung out onto the dusty roads. We had been prepared for a very poor looking city after reading that Laos is ranked as one of the least wealthy nations in the world (137 out of 157 by the Wall Street Journal) but, although the roads consisted of more pot holes than actual flat surfaces, there were attractive French style houses and golden wats dotted frequently along the route we took out of town, as well as a couple of very grand looking hotels. However, as we neared the edge of town the road abruptly ended and turned into dirt track and we started driving past abandoned buildings, run down looking shops and, as we got further out into the countryside, basic looking villages. The journey was fascinating and we saw many farms with
sun baked Lao working, or more often, sitting, in acres and acres of rice fields either side of the road. Occasionally the songthaew would swerve to miss a farm vehicle or stray herd of cows that had wandered off the grass and feel like it was going to tip over. Although the roads here are quieter in terms of the number of vechicles, those vehicles that are on the roads seem quite happy to make up for their scarcity by being utterly bonkers and suicidal and the drive to the guesthouse often seemed more like a series of games of chicken with oncoming cars and songthaews vying for possession of the narrow dirt track.
When we finally reached the guesthouse after 45 minutes of being bounced around the songthaew, covered in dust and sweat, we jumped off, paid the driver and went to check out our home for the next couple of nights. There didn't seem to be anybody around reception so we walked along a path towards the river and the rooms. The setting was absolutely beautiful and we sat down at a table to take in the view. After a few minutes we were spotted by the
owner, a British guy called Phillip who lives locally with his Lao wife. He welcomed us and took our bags off us before one of the guys working at the place showed us to the rooms explaining that they were all empty so we had our pick. The wooden bungalows were lovely, really nicely done out and with a price tag to match. We paid 28 dollars (19 pounds) a night for a riverside bungalow but with hot water, large rooms and a magnificent view of the Mekong river from our balcony we decided it was more than worth it.
We each had a well needed shower (the water ran red with dust!) and sauntered down to the floating restaurant on the river for some dinner and a beer. The guesthouse website had mentioned a swimming pool but when we got down to the floating restaurant we discovered that this was simply a square of the decking that had been cut away to reveal the river beneath! Technically a swimming pool, but only just. After dinner, on the way back up to the room we sat and watched the sun set from one of the little bamboo huts on
the river bank. Bliss.
The next morning we arranged to go on a tour of Vientiane and were met at reception by our guide Gail, a girl from the local village who works at the guesthouse, and a driver. We all jumped into the guesthouse's songthaew and headed off into town. First stop was Patuxai, Lao for Victory Gate. Patuxai was built in the 1960s to celebrate independance from the French in 1949 and was constructed using concrete given to Laos by the US to build a new runway, earning itself the nickname "the vertical runway". The monument bears more than a passing resemblance to the Arc de Triomphe but has Lao ornamentation. We walked up the 7 levels to the top and took in the view of Vientiane and the road leading up to Patuxai which is known as "The Champs-Elysses of the East".
Next we went to Pha That Luang, a monument of great importance to Laos. The stupa was originally built in the 16th century on the ruins of a 13th century Khmer temple which was in turn built on an Indian temple from the 3rd century. Many Lao also believe that there are remains
of buddha in the site. The stupa was destroyed by the Thai invasion in 1828 but restored in 1900 by the French colonialists. The architecture contains references to Lao culture and identity and has become a symbol of Lao nationalism. Bank notes even contain images of the stupa.
After Pha That Luang we drove to Wat Si Saket, the oldest temple in Vientiane. The temple houses over 10,000 buddha images in the main sanctuary and around the outside and, despite showing signs of age, is very impressive. We walked around looking at the different styles of buddha images over the years before going for lunch at a local cafe.
After lunch we drove around some more temples, including the rather impressive building of Haw Phra Kaew, actually a former temple that is now used as a museum of buddha images and ancient buddhist artifacts where we bought ourselves a small buddha to take home.
Finally, Gail took us to Talat Sao, the market next to the bus station that we had caught a songthaew at the previous morning, and let us walk around for half an hour while she took a well deserved rest. We didn't buy
anything but it was fun to walk around and see the enormous range of things being sold, from sticky rice in banana leaves to flat screen tvs. When we had seen enough we all jumped back into the songthaew and drove back to the guesthouse for another dust-removing shower. Once cleaned we walked down to the floating guesthouse and gorged ourselves on laap (minced meat with fish sauce, lime, chilli and mint), spicy papaya salad (hot enough to make your eyes water) and other Lao specialities. Talking of which, Beer Lao is particularly excellent, a serious contender to Tiger's crown as the best beer in South East Asia.
The following morning we checked out and started our journey north to Vang Vieng and the infamous tubing...
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jayne
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congratulations your engaged!!!
Hello both of you , thankyou for another newsy blogg,all sounds fantastic. Those journeys sound terrifying; i think i would need a sedative!!! Hey what wonderful news of your engagement! we are delighted for you. Celebration when you get home!!! mum/Jayne xxx