Capital City

Trip Start Aug 28, 2005
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Trip End Dec 10, 2005


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Flag of Lao Peoples Dem Rep  ,
Sunday, September 25, 2005

Well this was a bit of a dissapointment really. Capital City as it is dearly known was very much on Lao time with nothing exciting happening at all! Being on my own here I decided to splash out and treat myself to a nice cosy place to stay so spent US$10/night at a newish guesthouse called Soukchaleum which had all the luxuries.
I thought I had seen enough big guns on my way down in the minivan but Vientiane had men with big guns sitting on every 2nd corner and even outside some pubs/restaurants! I was lucky enough to have one sitting accross the road of the guesthouse all day and all night!
The afternoon we arrived we ( the ozzys and I) went out to see the symbol of Laos, Pha That Luang. This large golden monument is the symbol of Lao sovereignty and Buddhist religion. After this is was straight to the pub which they had already sussed out, sold jugs of cold Beer Lao.
Jo and Pie finally caught me up on the Friday night after they bused down from Luang Prabang. It was good to see them as I was feeling a little bored after my new Ozzy mates left earlier that arvo.
One of the highlights of Vientianne was catching the bus out to Xieng Khuan, the Buddha Park. This is a field with loads of buddhist and hindu images carved out of stone. We met a couple of friendly Monk novices who were keen to chat to us, tell us about the images and about life as a Monk novice and practice their english too. It is customary for all boys from buddhist religion to spend some time in their life as a Monk novice. They were great, very chatty and interesting and we ended up chatting and walking round the park with them for about 2 hours. Monk novices wake at 4am for their morning preying, they are not allowed to eat after 12pm and not allowed to touch any females even touch a hand in passing or to take anything directly from a girls hand. The monk novice has 10 rules, some which we could guess like not killing anything or drink alcohol but some are more strange like they are not allowed to smell any flowers or play any sport or dance to the music at the festivals.
I had a fantastic time in Lao. The country is peaceful and beautiful and the people are very layed back and friendly. A bit of a shame that we didnt have a bit more time here to explore further north and also south. Again i would have love to go see the Irawaddy dolphins in the Mekong river down south towards Cambodia. Luang Prabang is just fantastic but a little disapointed in the capital and Lao food (It was fine, I am just comparing to Thai food which is just amazing and overloaded with flavours). I would however come back here in a flash!
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