Vientiane Hotels
C-hampden's travel blogs:
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Vientiane - bloody expensive and not much to do!
Entry 42 of 67 | show all | print this entry |
We arrived in Vientiane on 16th Feb after getting a mini-van from Vang Vieng. The journey only took 3 hours which was a nice change, and got us into town at about 12.30. We then went and found the Dutch guys at the guesthouse/hotel and checked in. Every place around here is full so you end up paying a lot more than you do elsewhere. Me and Ross are having to share a kingsize bed and the room is costing $10. It isn't that much but it is compared to everywhere else in Asia so far.
Having met the guys, we grabbed some food (my 1st of the day) at Joma's, which is a really good bakery but again is overpriced. Notice a theme developing... After that we got in a tuk-tuk and got the driver to take us to see That Luang, a massive golden temple that is the pride of Laos, its national symbol, and the biggest and most beautiful temple apparently. It was pretty impressive, especially with the clear blue sky backdrop. After seeing that, we then got the driver to take us to Patuxai, Laos own version of l'Arc de Triomphe. From a distance it looks really good, but on closer inspection it was never completed and to be honest a little ugly. The last stop was the National Stadium, where we just walked through some gates and wandered onto the pitch! The other guys took some pictures of us in the goal, but my lack of camera at the moment prevented me from doing the same. Note to self - never break cameras!!!
That whistle-stop tour covered most of the sights to be seem in Vientiane in all honesty. Today we went and saw Wat Sisaket, the oldest temple in town (1818) which was actually really good, and the first temple in a while that I haven't just wanted to get out of! After that we wandered the morning market, but those kind of things are generally the same everywhere. So that is all the touristy stuff there is to do here basically - in other words don't stay in town too long!
The first night ended up being a bit of a big night. We had dinner at Stickies (near the Mekong), one of the best restaurants in town (and expensive), and I had a top quality Bangers and Mash which has a nice Western treat! After that, more and more people we recognised from the rest of Laos turned up, ending with a table of about 20 people outside there! Me, Ross, Gijs and Daan then went and played some pool in a mexican bar, before moving on to some 'club' near a bowling alley. It was full of 30+ local men in suits soo we didn't stay there too long. We ended up in a the Don Chan hotel nightclub that was the only place to go to after midnight. As a resuslt prices are extortionate, but it didn't hit my wallet too hard as I'd had a fair few Beer Lao's before. It was a good night out, and we talked to a few locals, one of which said she thought she loved me. Perhaps my UK passport and wallet had something to do with that, seeing as they are so poor here.
Last night was less big, and only involved a few games of pool in a quiet bar, then I watched a couple of FA Cup games in the hotel as it has been a while since I watched any football. Oh, we also grabbed some food at Khop Chai Deu, where I was given a note via the waiter by a girl asking me to go 'dancing' with her that night. I kindly declined that offer - seems I'm quite popular in this town!
As well as seeing the temple and market today, me and the 2 Dutch guys have been for a swim in a hotel pool. It was pretty nice to do as it is really hot and dry here. I'm not planning on doing much tonight though as we have to be at the airport at 5.30am tomorrow to frl yo Hanoi in Vietnam. This time tomorrow I'll be in 'Nam!!!! We're going to leave Hanoi to go to a place called Ninh Binh straight away as the Dutch guys don't get to Hanoi until 22nd, and we want to do things with them so Ross and I thought we'd check somewhere else out first. I'm looking forward to getting to Vietnam, although not looking forward to getting up at 4.30am!!!
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