Ekalath Metropole Hotel Vientiane

Well it was a bit of a trek getting to Laos but it’s been so worth it. After flying into Bangkok I had a 12 hour train journey to Chiang Mai in North Thailand. Next it was a 6 hour bus ride to Chiang Khong on the border where we spent the night. The slow boat was something I’d read so much about, the majority of reports saying it was extremely long, extremely uncomfortable but extremely worth it! I opted not to take one of the speed boats ...

... She works for her father's business in Bangkok but now she works in Vientiane temporarily. We also went to her office where she asked some colleagues to help out on how I could best buy my onward bus ticket. She even arranged for some guys to take me to the bus terminal 9km out of town to buy a ticket. <br>In the end it I could not buy a bus ticket in advance, they told me there were plenty of buses and I should just buy on the ...

<br>Got to the bus station 20 mins early, good and ready to catch the VIP bus to the capital. <br><br>Well, a sawngthaew (covered truck that takes passengers on hard benches in the back) pulled up and asked if we wanted a ride. We repeated &#8220;to Vientiane???' Usually these trucks just cart people around town. Anyway, we decided to act like locals and screw the VIP bus as the truck was only 30,000 instead of 60,000! Before really thinking through the next ...

... br><br>Anyway, we eventually arrived at our destination, Luang Probang... a very picturesque city in the north of Laos. Luang Probang used to be under French control, so there's lot of French influences all over the city, from little cafes and bistros to the architecture, the whole place seems like an old french town, though you get the reminders your still in Asia, with orange clad monks walking about, the night markets and ...

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... L'Arc de Triomphe of Laos. For a cheap price we decided to walk up to the top to view Vientiane from a different angle. On the way down, inside there were a few stalls and dimwit thought he would purchase an American style wife beater in pink, which according to him suits him well. Whilst the rest of the group headed for the benches to hide from the sun baker thought he would give Dom a ...

... that is leaving next week, you name it, they said it. I was called in for being a virgin and for being a front runner.<br><br>Along the trail there are either chalk spots, circles of chalk, X's, or a circle with a H in the middle, which is where you had to stop and wait on everyone and they could decide if they wanted to continue or not from there. These were the 1/3 marks I spoke of. The circle without the H meant that the trail could go anywhere from there. It was usually at an ...

Good day to you<br><br>Laos, Laos, Laos. What to say about Laos. Well, firstly there isn't that much to do in Laos and although this may sound like a negative point I think, rather, that it is one of it's charms. Luang Prabang is the country's primary tourist destination but I didn't go there for a few reasons, the main one being travel weariness I suppose. But missing out on this opened up new opportunities for me.<br><br>Instead of heading north from ...

... are quite a few Budhist temples in Vientiane and a sort of attempt at copying the Arc de Triomphe (not that impressive) but the best thing has to be the riverside bars. There are numerous makeshift bars all along the Mekong river where you can sit with the locals and watch the amazing sun set whilst sipping a juice, or more likely a beer Lao, and trying to get over the hot hot chilli taste of your dinner (how can papaya salad be THAT hot?)

... are people ploughing fields or trying to defuse them and sell them as scrap. The most common UXO is the cluster bomb (called the 'bombi' in Lao) of which up to thirty percent dropped remained undetonated. The manufacturers, still in business, of these evil devices are said to be refusing to cooperate with demining efforts and won't say what proportion didn't explode citing 'commercially sensitive information'. This high level of non-detonation was later explained by the fact ...