Cosmo Hotel Vientiane

... disgusting, the cheap lino had come up in various places, and in the corners there were cigarette butts and nut shells. The fan made a noise like something out of Apocalypse Now. The walls were a drab off yellow colour, and the window was filthy. In short, it looked like a prison cell. I quickly got my stuff and we left. <br><br>Down the street was a nice French restaurant called La Terasse, and Mark and I had a really good meal there. Afterwards, we headed to what we later ...

... a bad effort.<br>We picked up our passports and 60 day visas then jumped straight into a private minibus we had booked to take us to Vang Vieng to catch up the tour.<br>Not cheap at 520,000 kip - although thats only about 40 pounds ... and it took almost 4 hours!<br>Its only 156kms so it just shows how bad the roads are!<br>Anyway - we had the van to ourselves so at least we could lie across 3 seats each and sleep!

... du Laos (que tu connais bien, Elie...), Vientiane est charmante parce qu&lt;elle est sans charme...<br><br>Va elle me reveler ses secrets ? La suite dans la prochaine chronique !<br><br>Bisous xxx Nath<br><br>(Felicitation a Antoine qui vient de terminer la redaction de sa these !! ET bon voyage...parce qu&lt;il part aujourd&lt;hui pour Delhi ! Bon retour de voyage a Elie et Julien. Bon camping a Coco, Sly, Annie et Mylene, Bonne rentree a la suuuuuuuper equipe des Actions concertees !).

... eventually accepted some Thai baht which i still had in my pocket. Food was basic but ok - Chicken fried Rice - (the diet of rice and noodles continues!).<br>It was just me Jorge and Pirjo - me and Jorge were starving and just wolfed the food down which was of great amusement to Prijo you must have really wondered about our eating habits - but hey when you are hungry who just want to eat.

... spanish flags!<br><br>In a street side bar afterwards Dudley and I chuckle about my little incident in Barcelona as prostitutes dressed in minimal red attire parade every corner touting the passing men. These aren't women though, with broad shoulders and rather gruff voices these are our first 'ladyboy' sightings. We remember not to laugh though - According to my Lonely Planet Guide last year a man was admitted to hospital ...

... I don&#8217;t know what I should or shouldn&#8217;t be paying!<br>The hotel was a bit ***** - a tall, thin building of three floors. The reception was nice enough, although the guy on duty was unresponsive, a bit miserable and seemed a bit put out that we had interrupted his video game!! Thank god they had no lifts and thank that very same god that our host was rude enough not to even offer help to either of us with our baggage!!! We love a good ...

... and they were the biggest prawns I've ever eaten... lush and only 2quid! (luxury as normally I'm spending a quid per meal in Laos)... few more drinks at a live music bar then off to bed....<br><br>Laos is the most bombed country in the world.... because it's a Communist country and because it allowed Vietnamese troops to use their land, America secretly bombed it to bits for 10 years... they say on average the US dropped a bomb in Laos every 40 minutes for 10 years.<br>There are ...

... and English 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.

... few days and so tried to find a pharmacist but ended up being seen by a Laos doctor instead! He was really helpful and after prescribing me medicine wanted to talk about where I was from and what I was doing in Laos, which was really sweet. That evening we strolled along to the waterfront in search of the night market but instead we found small chairs and tables set along the pavement with stalls behind them. People seemed to be eating noodles ...

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