Vientiane Hotels
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Communication breakdown
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Took a night bus to Vientiane which was supposed to take 12 hours, was all going grand only the bus hit something on the outskirts of Bangkok... to be honest don't even know what it was as I was asleep but according to everyone else they didn't feel it either so it can't have been too bad. Despite this we stopped on the side of the motorway with no visible damage for about two hours with no one really knowing quite what was going on as communication didn't seem to be a strong point! After setting off the setting off again we got to near the border where we herded off the bus and asked to handed over our passports, again no one seemed to know exactly what was going on but the general feeling was we'll go with it. Got our passports back with some forms to fill in and then off we were to the border. Border crossing was uneventful but took awhile (an hour) as they examined our documents but we got through arrived late morning in Vientiane, the capital of Laos.
When I say capital I wouldn't have you thinking that this was some big city more like a suburban town, Lonely planet says there's 200,000 that live there but we didn't see them or so we thought... Decided since it seemed pretty quiet we'd rent a couple of bikes and ride up to the two main landmarks that of the Patuxai (the Laos version of the Arc de Triomphe) and the temple of Pha That Luang. Big mistake!! After leaving the supposed quietish main road to cycle up to the attractions, we soon found that we on a sort of busy three lane motorway with everything whizzing around us everywhere! Apart from that I hadn't been on a bike ( it was a girls bikes too I might add, very macho) for about ten years. The highlight was trying to go round the Patuxai which is similar to that of the Arc de Triomphe, a three lane roundabout with cars and bikes entering and exiting everywhere. I might add that we needed to change lanes somehow as well across this. There is somewhat of a state of lawlessness on the roads here with cars, tuk tuks and motorbikes changing lanes and turning with never an indicator or anything. In theory it actually seems to work as everyone gives way to others when they need to. Got to the Pha That Luang temple in the end but it nearly killed poor Marie Therese with the stress of the bike and the heat even more so. Every temple in this part of the world (and there are more temples here than churches) seems to have at some gold on it if not covered in it. Makes you wonder why they're poor sometimes. Again this temple no exception.
Had a quiet dinner later on as we're heading to Luang Prabang early in the morning. Incidentally the food here is mostly minced meat with either chili's or pepper seeds mixed in with of course sticky rice which comes with everything. Suffice to say some meals are a little hot even for my tastes. More thumbnails ...
Where I stayed:
Saysouly Guest house
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