Chaleunxay Hotel Vientiane

... to go, after passing Laos' version of the Arch de Triumph about a mile or so to the big central golden Wat. The beautiful sky and the gold covered Wat made quite an impression on us. We walked around the premises, enriched by the culture and then left to cycle some more around Vientiane.
We headed down to the water front passing the impressive presidential palace and found ourselves surrounded! The entire Mekong River strip was covered with an old fashioned fair to ...

... and tried to nap on the uber uncomfortabe wooden chairs for a while.

Managed to get a dorm in the end and dumped our bags and went for a walk. Theres really not a lot in Vientiane! In fact, I thought it was kind of a pointless place. Went out for a drink in the evening and there was just no one around so we called it a night. Next day wasnt much better so decided to give up and head for Vang Vieng for a trashy couple of days partying.....

... is no McDonald's here which must make Laos one of the few countries in the world without a McD's!

In a few hours I'm heading South to Don Det in the 4 Thousand islands to lie in a hammock for a few days before I head to crazy Cambodia. It's an overnight bus journey that will take about 15 hours (if I'm lucky!). I was going to stop at a few towns/cities on the way but the attractions are all mountain ranges, waterfalls, temples etc that are out of town that will all cost ...

... influence. We walked and explored up and down main and side streets for five enjoyable hours wishing we were able to stay a little longer in this part of the country. We do realise that there are some amazing historical sights in and around Vientiane and these we would have loved to have visited. It's unfortunate that we haven't had the time to explore further but on our drive northward we'll be able to stop at Luang Prabang which is the ancient capital and has heaps to offer.

... its nice not to have a choice actually) . We politely followed out host into the room ...... They were very surprised and excited to see us there and immediately sat us down and forced beer and whisky down us (its just easier to say Yes)..............then some of the older members of the group started to tie string around our wrists..............as they did so they mumbled to themselves - our host translated "They wish you good luck and good health in your ...

Got into Vientiane this morning. Managed to find a dor for $5 a nigh wich isn't too bad. The pace has hot water!!! The first time I've had hot water since Siem reap!! Must be three weeks or ore now!!!

Nice little tonwn. Not quite what you'd expect from a capital city, but he this is the sleepy town of laos so i'm told . Went to see the big golden monument, can't remember the name. Very ...

... 8221;, thực chất là bảo vệ cái ghế của mấy lănh đạo chóp bu là ǵ? Lại nữa, họ sẽ được gắn huân, huy chương đến đỏ ngực, được oai như thế th́ phải theo giáo điều “yêu nước” của lănh đạo chứ. Tôi th́ chả dám “yêu n ...

... accents) about the fact that the French paid 5 dollars less than the British.....at that point we cringed about being British and a sudden attempt at an ozzie accent was born!



Finally Zach was allowed into the country and we caught a taxi to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. The contrast on leaving the airport totally hit us, no beeping of horns, very clean, chilled and laid back and about ...