The Quietest Capital City Ever!

Trip Start Jul 31, 2005
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Trip End Sep 05, 2007


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Flag of Lao Peoples Dem Rep  ,
Monday, August 14, 2006

So we finally left the beauty of Vang Vieng, unfortunatly during our time there Matt had a bout of typical travellers tummy, and so the kayaking and stuff was thrown out of the window for obvious reasons! He is much better now may I add!
We spent our days in the shade of the bars, watching friends and munching baguettes.

We paid a bit extra for the tourist VIP bus to take us the 3 hours from Vang Vieng to Vientiane, we managed somehow to be the last people on the bus, our tuktuk pulled up at the side of the bus and our bags were hoisted and secured on the roof of the bus, in the meantime we grabbed the last two seats together at the very back of the bus, think of sardines....yep you got it!

Despite the fact that it was a rather uncomfortable and cramped journey, it was only 3 hours and we got to Vientiane just before the rains, the bus stopped outside the Cultural Hall and we walked to the guesthouse which I had called the day before and been told that they had no rooms, to walk in and be offered about 32 different ones Ali enjoying a Sunday Roast in Vientiane!!
Ali enjoying a Sunday Roast in Vientiane!!
 ! So, we chose an air con room, for a little bit more money, its nice feeling the trickle of cool air that comes out of the air con unit that doesnt really work!

Vientiane is small and compact, its very quiet and for the first time on a sunday for ages three things happened yesterday.....

1. Most of the shops and cafes and things were closed, usually everyone works 24/7, its unthinkable to go out and things to be closed!! But here they were...

2. We found a great Cafe, where we ate a delicious Lamb Roast, roast spuds, carrots and cabbage...it was so yummy and made a nice change!

3. We had a TV which had ESPN so Matt was able to watch Liverpool thrash Chelsea 2 - 1! He was as you can imagine...totally delighted!

We were only going to stay the night and were supposed to head over the border and down to Bangkok today, but its such a nice place we decided to stay until tommorow...its not like we actually have to be anywhere is it??!! So today we are heading out to see the Patuxai, which is like Paris Arc De Triomphe, and generally pottering around the city checking things out...tommorow its over the border to Nong Khai and an 11hour bus trip down to Bangkok for round three!

Hugs

Ali N Matt
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