Mekong Hotel Vientiane

Vientiane is the capital of Laos. Still with hangovers from the tubing we arrived in Vientiane and had a quiet first evening. <br><br>The following day we explored the city for a few hours. We looked at the Presidents Palace and along the streets to their version of the Arc Du Triomphe. We also stopped at the oldest temple and markets in the city. There was also a monument that the ...

... arrives! Planning to head to Vang Vieng tomorrow<br><br>Well we arrived in Vang Vieng after a short 4 hour journey. I definately think I'm going to love this town! It's really relaxed and quiet here, well somewhat.... This is the home of the famous "tubing" What has made Laos on the map in a sense, basically everyone grabs rubber tubes and rides down the Mekong River. I can't wait to do it! <br><br>Wandering down the street today we ...

... and the boat was clearly struggling to make it across against the current, but we made it. From there it was another 3 hour journey up to Pakse by mini-bus. The first half hour of the journey was spent slowly going through bumpy and flooded roads and a couple of times it felt like the water was too deep to get through. We arrived in Pakse at 2pm and said our goodbyes to the 3 heading to Bangkok (there bus left as soon as we arrived) and the 3 of us then went into the town ...

We stayed in Vientiane two times. The first heading north from Pakse, and the second on our way down before our 3 day travels across to Bangkok by bus, a flights taking us down to Southern India.<br><br>It's an easy place to like in my opinion, but perhaps needs more time spent to love it. It has the obligatory Mekong riverside, and its ...

... i found a good quote that I like:<br><br>Often I feel I go to some distant region of the world to be reminded of who I really am... Stripped of your ordinary surroundings, your friends, your daily routine, your refrigerator full of your food, your closet full of your clothes, you are forced into direct experience. Such direct experience inevitably makes you aware of who it is that is having the experience. That's not always comfortable, but it is always invigorating.<br><br>-Michael Crichton, Travels

... try while tubing down the river. As you float along, you are enticed into each bar with offers of free drinks, &#8220;happy&#8221; shakes ;-), or mud wrestling, ping pong&#8230;.. you name it! It was brill. We hooked up with a South African/Mexican couple and spent the day partaking in the many activities available. Aside from the drunkenness and debauchery of Vang Vieng tubing there are plenty of other things to do. The scenery is amazing. Beautiful, green ...

... various produce and people. I had a young Lao lady with her baby next to me, she checked if it was ok to lean her head on my shoulder, I said ok of course. After arriving in Vientiane, we spent an hour or so finding a guesthouse, the three boys, Gary, Jesse and Lewis shared a room and Hannah, Nicole and I also shared a room. But we went to a different ...

... 7901;i Viêng t&#7921; hào v&#7899;i gi&#7885;ng nói nh&#7865; nhàng, truy&#7873;n c&#7843;m h&#417;n.<br><br><br><br>Li&#7879;u anh Vi&#7879;t này có v&#7899; ph&#7843;i "cá to" c&#7911;a Lào?<br><br>Ng&#432;&#7901;i Lào c&#361;ng thích k&#7875; chuy&#7879;n ch&#417;i ch&#7919; v&#7899;i ng&#432;&#7901;i Vi&#7879;t. Có hai ng&#432;&#7901;i b&#7841;n &#273;i v&#7899;i nhau trên con &#273;&#432;&#7901;ng mòn, anh ng&#432;&#7901;i Lào b&#7843;o: con kh ...

... we were surrounded by security guards who were putting Ollie in handcuffs! I was somewhat worried although they weren't handcuffing me! We were taken to the lobby and waited alone for ages, feeling rather silly (still a little merry). We agreed that they wouldn't be happy that we'd stayed all night but we'd not done any harm so it should be fine. I wanted to take a picture of Ollie in the handcuffs but thought it was ...