Beau Rivage Vientiane

Not much to say about Vientiane. Vientiane's the capital of Laos. It was actually pronounced Wieng Chan, which means Sandalwood City, but the French mucked around with the spelling. Although it's the capital, it's still Laos, so there's not too much traffic or noise in Vientiane. But the city's not much to look at. It's dirty and polluted. Here, the mighty Mekong River dries up to a pitiful trickle in dry season. We were only there for a few days, and I was sick for most of it. At first, I wa...

We arrived in Vientianne - the Capital of Lao at about 6pm - we were the only plane and thus the only customers in the international airport at that time. So we filled out our form and paid our 30US dollards for our Visa's and went through immigration. Customs was already closed so we were straight through and out to our driver who loaded our gear into the car and off we went to our Hotel. Immediately we could notice the huge difference between Lao and Vietnam. The was no hustle no bustle.......

We woke up at 6 am and were on our way to an internet cafe at 7 am. At the first 2 places we were not able to place an International call, but found a cooperative young girl at the 3rd spot. Bill called and talked to his Mom; Don, Lauri and the kids had already gone home. I called Doug and Daphne's and spoke with Scott, Doug, Carol, Jason and Daphne; the Youngs have rushed home to take care of Ella and Ally for us and my Mom wanted to get home before dark. It was nice to hear from home. Sound...

Sabai Dee Pi Mai Lao is Laos Happy New Year! It is a 3 day celebration that starts today. People dress in bright floral shirts, flower garlands and wide brim hats. The holiday is also celebrated in Thailand at the same time and it is also know as the Water Cleansing Festival. People line the streets with hoses and buckets to douse pedestrians and motor vehicles for 3 days. Families also go to the temples to bathe Buddha and give offerings. Things to watch out for are: hoses, talcum powder, co...

Day 2 of Pi Mai Lao. We are told that it will not be as bad today, so we shall see. I had cornflakes and fruit. Bill had fried eggs and croissant. It already feels really hot and humid. We walked down Luang Prabang Road to find a pharmacy. Then we went to a few Wats in the area near our hotel. I think we went to Wat Khounra - similar to 1 in Chiang Mai with red and gold, Wat Sieng Vat - had a Naga fountain, and Wat Sithan Neua - we bought our flower garlands here, it had balloons for sale, lo...