Trouble in Laos capital
Trip Start
Aug 15, 2006
1
139
155
Trip End
May 27, 2008
Vientiane,
Vientiane,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Friday, March 21, 2008
We went to the post office and picked up the easter chocolates my mum had sent which were all melted (as she's warned me!) and scoffed them in front of our TV.
Thursday we moved to Saysooly guesthouse which was a nice room. We had a great breakfast (Blue Sky restaurant) and went to the market before heading for a drink at sunset at one of the riverside bars in the city - it was cloudy and the Mekong river was pretty dry though! We went to a great bar for some happy hour drinks and cocktails and played a few drinking games before heading off to check out the evening riverside festival. We decided we'd buy our own drinks from a corner shop, Lao Lao being the cheapest and we ran into Richard from the cave. Miraculously he'd found his camera in there! We had some drinks with Richard at the festival then decided we'd try and find a club. Richard made the mistake of asking a tuk tuk driver who took us miles out of town to a 5* hotel (Don Chan Palace, http://www.donchanpalacelaopdr.com/main.php). It was quite pricey entry but we were told it included a drink of beer. Ollie asked if he could go in and see if it was any good before we all decided to pay up and they agreed. Funny enough he never came back so only Richard and myself paid to get in. It was R n B music which I like dancing to and Richard was happy chatting up the local Laos ladies. Things close very early though in Laos (like midnight!) and Ollie decided he didn't want to leave there and then.......we were both a bit merry and we snuck past the bouncers into the hotel area and Ollie tried to unlock several soors with his diving card! We were suddenly in the fitness and pool area and came across a room with mats on the floor where we took a look out of the window at the view of the city then sat down on the mats for a rest...........suddenly it was 6am and 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 best not to if we wanted to look remorseful! After ages, the manager comes over with a metal block in his hand and asks us to explain it. Apparently it was a door cardlock which Ollie had broken as he opened the door (he'd not used force though so was confused as to how this occurred). He told us we'd have to pay $300 to replace it or he would call the police. We bartered him down to $200 (still not sure why a lock in SE Asia would cost that much!) and said we couldn't pay it all now so Ollie would leave his passport and return another day with the cash.
We walked all the way back into Vientiene and slept most of the day. We went back to the hotel and asked to speak to the manager but he'd apparently gone to Thailand to buy a new lock (?). We ended up in a dingy sports bar for tea and played pool.
Today we had a lunch deal in the happy hour bar from the night before (where it all started to go wrong!) and it cost us the best part of maybe £5 which was a fortune in Laos but it was a huge 3 course meal with fresh salad and ice-cream and worth every penny! Ollie decided he'd have to pay up for the lock if we ever wanted to leave with his passport and the manager said he would let Ollie know if it cost less than $200 and give him some money back........
