Viengchampa Guesthouse Vientiane

... of the Orange Julius drinks I used to love as a kid. On the way out, we picked up some baguettes at an outdoor food vendor to bring back to Thailand.

We took a van to the Thai border crossing and went through immigration, then we took a samlor (like a three-wheeled songthaew) to the Nong Khai bus terminal. We found a bus headed to Khon Kaen but it wouldn’t leave for about 45 minutes so we bought tickets and boarded the bus early to claim our seats. The bus ...

... street signs here and things are really easy to find, I've only heard a horn once, I've only been asked a couple of times if I want a tuk-tuk/taxi despite the fact that I have been through an airport, bus station, carried my luggage for around 15 mins, been to several tourist sights, walked past many stands with many drivers and I've been walking around most of the day and the street food is mostly bbqed and not fried and my meal was plenty spicy ...

... seats were decent, but what definitely wasn't, in contrast, was the flat-screen at the front playing offensively ***** Lao pop music at quite a loud volume. This kept up for the majority of the four hour journey. Nothing much happened on the road, well, aside from the driver having an obsession with stamping on the brake peddle. Every twenty minutes or so we would all lurch forward, sometimes violently, and only once did observation prove this was ever necessary, when a little ...

... 0px; ">TAT Udon Thani, Tel. : 66 (0) 4232 5406-7
Nong Khai Provincial Administration Office, Tel. : 66 (0) 4242 0323
Nong Khai, Thailand amazingthailand

... stuff is soaked. And of course, we got in at 5:30 am. Why don't the buses leave at 9 or 10 pm instead of 8 pm so we could get in at a more reasonable time? Had to walk around in the pouring rain for over an hour, looking for a guest house, as some weren't open yet and those that were didn't know if they had rooms available yet. Didn't even matter that it was raining since I was soaked from the minute I put my pack on!

My main goal in Vientiane was to get a 60 day visa for ...

... justice, but it really was stunning.

I think Laos has something for everyone, whether it be the mature traveller going to see the beautiful landscape and wildlife, the art gallery's and temples, or the "Gap Year Planeteers" wanting to get off the Thailand strip and still be able to party and live cheap. The food was great, and surpsingly different to that of the Thai's or Vietnamese. There are countless monks wandering the towns and cities in bright ...

... khi đó chả có chữ Lào, chữ Anh nào ở đó. Ấy vậy mà vẫn có anh Việt nhà ta đứng ngay trước chữ đó mà tè, mặc dù cách đó không xa là nhà vệ sinh, chỉ mất 1.000 kip là vào được. Anh này bị hai cảnh sát Lào (dùng chiến thuật của anh hùng Núp) chạy ra chụp cổ. Ngườ ...

... we were surrounded by security guards who were putting Ollie in handcuffs! I was somewhat worried although they weren't handcuffing me! We were taken to the lobby and waited alone for ages, feeling rather silly (still a little merry). We agreed that they wouldn't be happy that we'd stayed all night but we'd not done any harm so it should be fine. I wanted to take a picture of Ollie in the handcuffs but thought it was ...

... Hall. Things were very cheap in Laos, including a steak we ate at a European-look restaurant, but people were very nice and in an Internet Cafe, I have got a discount. The long distance bus station, North Bus Station, was very far from the city center, but we didn't know how far and took rented bicycles to get there. Actually, we didn't see anything special in Vientiane except That Dam Black Stupa, but we had a great time to ...

... up an army of Lao civilians, Hmong hilltribesmen (particularly useful as they felt little allegiance to the nation of Laos, were brave fighters and in need of money) and Thais. By this stage eastern Laos was overrun with Vietcong, some of whom were being hidden in villages by sympathetic, but in all likelihood ignorant, villagers. So began America's Secret War, which was so secret that the very term 'Laos' was to be replaced by the sinister term 'The Other Theatre'. The facts ...