Dragon Lodge Vientiane

Wie waren kurz vor 7 Uhr in an der thailaendisch-laotischen Grenze. Dort haben viele was gefruehstueckt, aber irgendwie sind mir diese Busraststaetten suspekt. Jedenfalls wurde ich erstmal schoen von Muecken zerstochen und mein Insektenspray befand sich gut verstaut in meinem Reisegepack. Der Grenzuebergang verlief relativ harmlos und zuegig. Ich bin sehr schnell durch gekommen, aber auf die Israelis mussten wir doch eine ganz Weile warten. In Vientiane war ich grade dabei mein reserviertes H...

If someone asked me to describe Laos in one word I think that word would have to be slow. I don't mean that in any negative sort of way, though. Three days in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, and I'm in love with this place. From the moment I stepped off the plane there was just a different feeling in the air -- a slowing down. Riding in a taxi out of the small airport I found myself marveling at how slowly everyone drives. The streets of Vientiane are wide and paved, but there are few cars on...

I had been told to try to avoid spending time in Vientianne, or only spend one night there at the most, apparently the city is less that thrilling. As I had spent so much time travelling overland recently, I also decided that I really couldn't face the 2 day journey overland into Laos, so decided to go the flashpacker way and flew instead. It was also supposed to avoid the overland borders, where officials are notorious for ripping tourists off. It turns out that this didn't make much differe...

After breakfast in the hotel we decided to leave early for the airport. This was because Donna & Peter were also going to the airport today and by sharing a car it made it a lot cheaper - 50% cheaper actually - see how I worked that out all by myself! Cap 1 are bound to want me back with quick fire calculations like that!! Anyway, this got us to the airport 3 hours before our flight, so we just hung around waiting to board. There is not much to do at the airport so I just tried to enter as ma...

Obviously, today is a sad day. Forest were knocked out of the Carling Cup by Premiership side Sunderland last night! A moments silence please....... They put up a good show by all accounts, but to let in an equaliser with only 4 minutes left was a bit frustrating. Ah well, concentrate on the league and the FA Cup!! Today we went for a walk around Vientiane. Like I mentioned in the previous blog, there's not much to see but we will do our best. First place we went to was the Presidential Palac...