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Published: July 26th 2012
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I have been to many capital cities, though ironically never my own. One thing I've noticed however is that most capital cities are more or less the same and are popular only because they are a capital. This is definitely the case with Vientiane. I traveled to this city after my time tubing in Vang Vieng in order to catch a flight to Vietnam. I stayed one day and that was plenty as the city doesn't really offer a whole lot. You can check out the pictures but the most exciting thing that did happen to me while there was a motorcade of some sort that came roaring through the city. I think they were foreign dignitaries and it was a rather long motorcade with a several police cars, 10 cars each with one person in the back seat, more vans with blacked out windows and several ambulances. Impress for a very ho-hum town.
It also rained almost constantly while I was there. So I ended up sitting around relaxing quite a bit, reading a great book my sister recommended, and reflecting on my first three weeks of my trip. Here are a few things that came to
mind during that time of reflecting (in no particular order):
- I like traveling alone for the ease of making decisions and the fact that you are not responsible for anybody else
- But traveling alone is expensive especially when you cannot split taxis or other costs
- Therefore I also really like meeting and traveling with other people... I traveled all of Laos with the same people and loved it.
- You don't need a lot to get by: I have two pants that zip off to shorts, 5 t shirts, a polo, jeans, a swimsuit that can double as shorts, keen sandals, flip flops, a pair of vans, and enough underwear to get me through wash cycles. Everything else you can for the most part buy if you need it.
- Looking back, I would have brought an empty bag and bought all my clothes here... At a buck or two a shirt it is more than worth it.
- I have only wore socks one day this entire trip (during my flight over)
- No matter what, I stick out like a sore thumb anywhere I go -
I know this because I get yelled at by every tuk tuk driver, taxi and motorbike hire on the street anytime I walk somewhere. I've learned to ignore it
- SE Asia is totally doable on about 15 dollars a day if you go barebones (25 to live it up a little). But it is the extras (the things that make the journey more fun and exciting) that start to throw the budget out of whack... This is what I am realizing now.
- There are not nearly as many americans traveling in this region as there are people from europe
- Many people are fascinated with America but do not necessarily think of it in the most positive light (I already knew this but it is quite a bit more apparent here than I have seen elsewhere)
- There are a LOT of families traveling here.
- When you are cheap like me, you don't mind doing rather crazy things to save just a dollar. For example, I did not want to pay the 80,000 kip (10 dollars) it was going to cost to take a tuk tuk to the airport in Vientiane purely
out of principle. (any other trip that distance would have been 20,000 but it was more just because it was the airport) So I decided to walk the 6 km even though it was pouring rain. I had my rain covers on both my bags, and fit my poncho over them and myself. I know I looked ridiculously and I got pretty wet (from the rain and sweat) but I made it to airport in less than an hour and had plenty of time to dry off before my flight. Although my sweaty clothes still were probably not fun for whoever sat next to me on the plane...
- It is amazing too, what I haggle over. In SE Asia, you bargain and negotiate for everything. I particularly like this. But, for example, I will wrestle with a vendor for 5,000 kip less, when really that is only 75 cents cheaper. But 5,000 kip is my morning shake, so it is all a matter of perspective.
- It's rather exhausting always sleeping in different beds every night and sharing rooms and bathrooms with anywhere from 1 to 7 other people. But I think my years in the dorms
prepared me well for this. Still, I plan to splurge in a few days with a single room in Hue, Vietnam for two nights.
- I hate buying bottled water at home, but here I have to buy two big things of it every day (total cost equals a dollar)
- on the personal side, I am happy to have not gotten sick from anything yet (other than one milk incident) but I also have not had a "solid pass" this entire time either. Just how it goes eating strange things everyday...
- I'm jealous of the many people I have met that are traveling for several months, sometimes years. I can see why they do it, but the practical side in me says its also not something I would do myself more than a couple months.
- Lastly, while these blogs take me a while to do, especially uploading pictures with super slow wifi, I am really happy that I am doing it.
Next stop: Vietnam
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Aunt Tana
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Todd, I admire your tenacity. To travel alone in a foreign country...not sure I could do that. Thank you for keeping up with the blog and pictures. We are really enjoying them.