Tai Pan Hotel Vientiane

... soon.<br><br>Anyway, rant over... we transferred our bags to Mixay, then as it was only 10am left them there while we went for breakfast at a nice French cafe over the road. After this we decided to do a bit of sightseeing, so we headed off to the south end of Lane Xang Avenue, reputedly modelled on the Champs Elysees in Paris. After wandering north up the street for ten minutes I can safely say that it is nothing like the glamorous ...

... avons fait un arret a une chute en cascades&#65292; avant la cohue touristique. Nous avions le site pour nous seuls, c etait genial! Pour couper le trajet en deux, nous avons dormi a VangVieng, une ville tres touristique reputee pour ses TV bars et ses milkshakes hallucinogenes. Nous nous sommes abstenus et nous avons plutot profite de la belle temperature pour se promener a travers d'autres petits villages splendides.<br><br><br><br><br>

... We walked out shocked that in such a poor country someone would refuse our money and we just had our first "on the house" dinner.<br><br>October 4th <br>We got up to get bikes. It is always advised to use bicycles when in Laos in general, but here in Vientiane it made more sense...the distances would stretch out a bit more and oh, it's way more fun. We got our city bikes, (the ones without gears but with baskets!) and set off in search of our next adventure. We didn't have ...

... and on our way to Hanoi. We had 8 hours of travel ahead of us but at least we were through. A couple of hours into the journey the couple who's bag had been moved were jumping off to get another bus to take them south, but when they got off and went to get their bags they couldn't find their hand luggage which had been moved. The staff just pointed at them saying it was their fault and then laughing to themselves. Eventually they claimed another bus heading to Hanoi must have it ...

... parlor, enjoying a show. It was a good time!<br><br>Another main attraction in Vientiane is Patuxai, Laos' Arc de Triomphe. It was built in the 1960's with cement that the USA gave to Laos to build an airport but they decided to build this monument instead. It is jokingly called the 'Vertical Runway.' On the weekends it is really crowded, with tons of people sitting outside, enjoying the park and fountain around it. <br><br>One day Femke, Matjhis and I rented motorbikes and ...

... robes, the people are welcoming and trusting, theres enough to do to keep you busy or relaxing enough to kick back and read a book all day. The history is interesting also, with Lao being the most heavily bombed country during the Vietnam war, images of the hammer and sickle in many restaurants and currently following in the footsteps of China with a one party political regime but still allowing economic freedom. A poor country, but definitely a developing one.<br>

Hey dudes,<br>I think I wrote my last update on my last day in Luang Nam Tha, Northern Laos near the Chinese border.... that day it rained, we tried and failed to sort out visa's for Vietnam, we lazed around, had a mooch around town (weird, quiet place)... after dinner we managed to find the town's 'nightclub'.... where we joined about 20 locals in a dark room where the lights were lasers.... weird place....<br><br>So the next day me, Matt (1) and Avi headed to the bus station.... we ...

... we done in Vientiane? That first day that we arrived we dropped off our stuff and ran to the US Embassy before it closed for the weekend. We needed to get additional pages to our passport. It was kind of cool going to an embassy. It was the first time I have gone to a US Embassy. The process was straightforward and easy. After getting some new pages in our passport we set-out to visit Potouxai on Lane Xang Avenue. Avenue Lane Xang is ...

... chuy&#7879;n gì v&#7853;y? Tôi nói &#273;ùa: &#8220;vì h&#7885; quá &#8220;yêu n&#432;&#7899;c&#8221;, quá nh&#7899; nhà nên c&#7889; chen vào làm th&#7911; t&#7909;c xong s&#7899;m &#273;&#7875; &#273;&#7863;t chân lên &#273;&#7845;t Vi&#7879;t s&#7899;m &#273;&#7845;y&#8221;. Hay là h&#7885; quá th&#432;&#417;ng yêu CNXH (Ch&#7911; ngh&#297;a X&#7871;p hàng), nên t&#7853;n d&#7909;ng c&#417; h&#7897;i này &#273;&#7875; di&#7877;n l&#7841;i c&#7843 ...