Golden temples, arguments and night buses

Thursday 27^th January 2011

MP3 track of the day: Bat out of hell - Meatloaf

Weather: Hot but cloudy

Every morning … yes every morning I've been in Vientiane the 'Wat' across the road has been holding some kind of party … starting at 6am! There are tents outside the temple and, roughly around 6am, music starts playing with some monk blabbering on about something or other. Add to this that I can hear running water from my room all the time the result has been me getting up very early each and every day. Today was no exception, however I did think about going over to said party and unplugging the monks microphone. I felt sorry for Joe and Rachael as at least I'm sleeping at the back of the guesthouse, they're right near the front.

Once ready I went to get some snacks for my night coach to Savannakhet before checking out and putting my luggage within Joe and Rachael's room. I had absolutely nothing to do today … nothing to see and nothing to do. Joe and Rachael wanted to see the 'Golden temple'; I decided to walk with them and have another look as it sounded better than just sitting within the guesthouse all day. After this Joe and Rachael wanted to head to an internet cafe, which was fine by me as I had a load of photos to upload to the internet … only that the internet, within the cafe, wasn't good enough to upload anything at all.

It was during our internet cafe outing that Joe and Rachael had an argument about where to head to next (benefit of traveling alone, I never argue with myself) and they left the internet cafe and headed back to the guesthouse. I decided that I should really give them sometime to themselves (I had been spending a lot of time with them recently) and so I decided to head out into the streets of Vientiane by myself … but what was I going to do?

I ended up with selecting my old 'fail-safe' … a shopping center. No only 'a' shopping center but Vientiane's 'only' shopping center. Three floors of confusing stores - that looked more like car boot stands - didn't take me long to browse through and so I soon found myself pondering at my map asking myself what could I do that didn't involve any money. I walked past a posh pizza restaurant to see how much the prices were (and laughed when they were more expensive than the ones you can get within the UK) before turning to my left to find an ice cream palour. Inside was like a surgeons theater with a spotless white floor; behind glass panels sat many different flavors of ice cream and when I looked at the menu my mouth watered. Banana Split, Chocolate Sunday and white chocolate with strawberries to name just a few fantastic concoctions on offer. The prices were expensive and so I left, however for a special treat it wasn't that bad.

In the end I ended up at a small convenience shop purchasing a 'Black Forest Cornetto' and a bottle of Pepsi. I made my way to the fountain I saw two days ago and parked myself on one of the many benches that surrounded it (making sure that I was in shade). As I ate my ice cream I thought about important topics such as the universe, life and just how good would that Banana Split taste. I didn't make any ground-breaking discoveries with the above three topics and so I moved onto another, just how lucky I am to go traveling. I may grumble about South East Asia, I may say that it isn't as good as the rest of the world (and I still hold to that) but when I think that I've seen the Petronas Towers, Taman Negara Rainforest, tea plantations, swam with tropical fish, ridden an elephant, seen the Bridge over the River Quay, cooked a Thai green curry, seen the White Temple, took the slow boat down the Mekong river, visited the Plain of Jars and seen the Golden temple - within Vientiane - twice … I have certainly experienced, and seen, things that I shall never forget. You know, for all it's faults, South East Asia is a pretty amazing place … I thought to myself. I would have liked to continue my thoughts but I had a Lao woman, to my left, staring at me and giving me the 'eye' continuously. I decided to pick up my bottle of Pepsi and move to the river front to continue my thoughts about this 'once in a life time opportunity' that I was having.

The sun was hidden behind the clouds and so it was perfectly fine for me to sit on the side of the Mekong River, without any shade, watching the water flow by. In it's own way, it's very beautiful and Vientiane should use the riverfront more.

It was 5:45pm and I was getting picked up within an hour and fifteen minutes. Even though it was super early, Joe and Rachael came out with me for our last meal before returning back to the guesthouse to collect my things from their room. I moved most of my money from my bag onto my person; my 'Pac-safe' went into my day bag and so did my coat (it's freezing on night buses). All three of us waited in reception until 7:30pm (thirty minutes late) when my tuk-tuk arrived to pick me up. I said goodbye and we think that we will probably see each other in Paxke, or the For Thousand Islands.

Just like the rest of South East Asia Vientiane's bus station is nine miles out of the city center and so a tuk-tuk was needed to transfer me to my night coach. I talked to a Hungarian on the tuk-tuk however he wasn't going where I was; anyway my mind was on this coach. I was just praying that nothing of mine would get stolen. Once at the coach I waited outside of it until the luggage door was shut (to make sure that my bag was on board and that no one was within the compartment). I wasn't the only one waiting; I chatted to two British girls, heading to Savannakhet, as we watched the bus driver load delivery boxes into the luggage compartment. As we all got onto the coach the luggage door slammed shut … leaving a very 'man shape' hole inside. Once upstairs, within my seat (I sat next to a very nice Lao lad … he spoke little English), I herd the luggage door open again. From my seat I couldn't see that side of the coach however the two British girls could and they gave me the 'thumbs up' when all was good. The two British girls were as paranoid, even more so, that I due to the fact that they have already had stuff stolen on a night bus within Thailand … which was comforting to know.

I put my wallet, MP3 player, phone and passport within my day bag and 'pac-safed' it to the chair in front of me. I wasn't planning on going to sleep, how could I, but I made the swap just encase. Once out of the bus station it was pitch black; we made a short stop five minutes into the journey where I could tell that the luggage door had been opened once again. Was it someone getting in or was it one of the drivers deliveries. All I knew is that there was no way that I could monitor the situation and I just had to accept it. After that I actually found it easy to drift off to sleep, partly due to the comfortable reclining seats and the blanket provided. Next up Savannakhet!

Toodle Pip!

The US Imperialists and their puppets!

Wednesday 26th January 2011

MP3 track of the day: Taina - Enemy at the Gates

Weather: Hot

For once it wasn't me waking up at an early hour; Patrick was up, and dressed, by 7:30am itching to cross the Laos border into Thailand. Half of me was still in the land of nod and so I wished Patrick the very best and I went back to sleep. When I eventually got up I knocked on Joe and Rachael's door to find out that they weren't up. A sleepy Rachael answered the door to inform me that they were going to have a lazy start to the day and asked if we could we meet up for lunch at around 1pm … no problem I said as I headed out into town.

I had another lovely bread roll, with jam, for breakfast before making my way to 'Wat Pra Kheo'. Being 'Watted out' it was a little strange to find myself paying 5,000 kip (40p) to visit a 'wat', but pay I did. The 'Wat' was pretty special; it had a very old look about it and its the only 'Wat' within Vientiane that wasn't raised to the ground by a marauding Siam army within the 18C (they used this 'Wat' as their headquarters). I stayed for a short time, taking photos, before leaving around 11am in search of a 'great art gallery' ... according to my guidebook.

My guidebook put the art gallery east of the presidential palace, but I couldn't find it. My guidebook also instructed me that the gallery was closed between 12pm - 2pm and considering the time was 11:30am I didn't think it was worth the effort. I returned back to my guesthouse. I met Joe and Rachael at 1pm and we went for a lovely, however a little expensive, sandwich (The Lao people can really do great bread). After wards we headed to the 'National Museum' to learn all about Laos' history. After paying 10,000 kip (80p) we entered the first room to our left which dealt with Laos' pre-history era. The rooms were in chronological order (one room had a 'jar' in there) and it all seemed rather well organized (apart from the disappearance of the English translation every now and then). It wasn't until I had walked upstairs to the 'modern history section' that things, shall we say, got very one sided.

'...THESE ARE THE WEAPONS THE AMERICAN IMPERIALISTS AND THEIR PUPPETS USED AGAINST THE TRUE PEOPLE OF LAOS...”

Read one sign as I looked through a glass cabinet at three automatic weapons. The comments continued with the 'American Imperialist and their puppets' (puppets are the Royal Lao army) suffering horrendous defeats, using a spoon to kill the local population and eating tomato soup. Whereas the 'true liberators of Laos' (basically the communist forces) were showing winning the fight, handing out medication and grain to the local population and tucking into a steak and chips whilst offering half of their meals to the poor. The section, even though it used photos and parts where very factual, was laughable and you had to take every comment with a pinch of salt.

The next room moved on through the years and it concentrated on Laos' place within the wider world. The room was covered with photos of embassy meetings with other countries; if I see another Asian bloke, in a suite, shaking the hand of another bloke whilst presenting a fake smile (with the nations flags in the background of the photo) I think I will stick pins in my eyes. Fortunately the roller-coaster ride of propaganda, mixed with fact, was over and I headed back to my guesthouse whereas Joe and Rachael went out to find a pharmacy as Rachael still wasn't feeling well.

I got back to my guesthouse – stopping to get an ice cream – to start with my jobs. Firstly I purchased a VIP bus ticket to Savannakhet, apparently the 'Louang Phabang' of the south. The problem with this bus journey is that it's at night-bus leaving Vientiane at 8:00pm tomorrow and arriving at 5:00am on Friday. Not only does this mean that I won't be able to see any of the countryside along the way but I have been told that you have to be careful with your possessions on night buses (apparently a lao guy hides within the luggage compartment of a bus and goes through peoples bags). Not only this but the possessions that I keep on my person I'll have to keep an eye on, which will be interesting if I fall asleep. However I have no choice as this is the only bus leaving here to Savannakhet. This is only the third night bus that I've ever caught and hopefully it'll be my last.

The benefits of arriving in Savannakhet so early is that I should be able to find somewhere to sleep, even though I'll have to hang around somewhere until 8am / 9am (and if I can't find anywhere the city of Pakxe is only an hours bus ride away). Next up I scoured the internet to see if I could book some accommodation within Savannakhet and surprise, surprise you can't. I did find a few reviews of places within Savannakhet (which I've made a note of) but none of the guesthouses listed do online bookings.

Next-up was to update my Norton Anti-virus software which was as boring as it sounded. At the same time I had received an email to say that the 'Chinese F1' tickets where on sale; I followed the link onto the booking site and found a grandstand ticket, with a good view, for £81.00. This would be much cheaper than going to Malaysia (and less of a hassle) and so I began to fill out the booking form. The £81.00 ticket wasn't my favorite choice; sure it gave a good view but it wasn't covered and so if it rains you either get wet or get a great view of umbrellas. However this ticket seems to be a happy medium as it's a good spot to see the race yet not too much money to loose if I don't make it for one reason or another. Frustratingly I couldn't complete the booking process as the internet here is rubbish and so I'll have to wait until I reach my next destination; I shall also book accommodation at the same time as that will fill up.

Next up was to read through my guidebook about southern Laos. I have two weeks left here and I'm running out of land. Fortunately with Savannakhet, Pakxe and the 'Four Thousand Islands' there should be enough to keep me occupied for the rest of my Laos adventure … I hope. Finally I went onto the Cambodian embassy website to find out that I could apply for a business visa, which would entitle me to three months instead of the one month the tourist visa allows. I can extend the tourist visa to two months however it's expensive and it means visiting the embassy within Phnom Penh. The other thing I found out was that the Cambodian visa starts running as soon as you apply, NOT when you enter the country. Therefore it looks like it'll be better for me to get the visa at the border, which I'm overjoyed about doing considering the fun I had with the Laos immigration.

Soon it was 8pm and just before heading out for food I spectacularly managed to lock myself out of my bathroom. This provided much hilarity with the receptionist, but soon it was fixed and we, yet again, found ourselves in an Indian restaurant. I ordered a vegetarian curry as it was half the price of the meat ones. We casually made our way back to the guesthouse where we had a game of 'Risk' on Joe's and Rachael's laptop before I headed to bed. I lost by the way!

Tomorrow my final day in Vientiane – which I haven't got a clue what I'm going to do – followed by a night bus … oh goodie!

Toodle Pip!

Walking routes

Tuesday 25^th January 2011

MP3 track of the day: Alright – Supergrass

Weather: It's getting hotter; luckily, within the shade, it's still quite cool.

Patrick was arriving at my guesthouse at 10am, to take the spare bed within my room (making it cheaper for us both). Reception were fine with the additional tenant and so Patrick dumped his stuff within the room before we all went for breakfast. Breakfast at 10:45am was a new one for me but at least I wouldn't need dinner. Whilst eating we chatted between ourselves and I took out my map of the city from my back pocket; I scanned it intensely piecing a walking route together.

After breakfast (I had a bread roll with butter and jam … excellent bread) we all explained our intentions for the day and, to my surprise, the others were willing to join me on my 'walk of the city' which started along the riverfront at a huge statue just to our left.

Overlooking the Mekong – towards Thailand – a statue of a man stands tall. We couldn't tell whether he was offering his hand to Thailand in friendship, or if he was pointing which direction he wanted his armies to move … either way the direction of concentration fell upon Thailand. The area around the statue had been well cared for with parks, fountains and brick walkways; Vientiane is a completely different city to anyother that I've seen within Laos, it's like every penny Laos has is poured into the capital. The sun was beating down where the statue was located and with no shade we moved onto our next site quickly.

We passed a few 'Wats' (temples) on our way to another statue which marked the extreme east of the city center. I had no idea who the statue was. We all stared at this man, on a column, who seemed to be in a military uniform returning a library book. Our best guess was that he was the current ruler of Laos, and he's a bit of a porker too. We returned back into town by taking the next road north of the one we had just walked down. My 'walking tour of the city' was designed in an 's' shape, moving through the city and out the other end, before returning back into the city using a road further north. As we continued into the city we passed 'Wat Kao Nyot', 'Wat Phia Wat', 'Wat SiSaket' and 'Wat Ho Pra Keo'. We're all 'templed out' however we had a quick look at each just to say that we had seen them.

We were then presented with the main road within Vientiane, heading north to the 'Arc de Triomphe' … Lao style. My walking tour stated that we should have continued west however Partick had to go to the Thai embassy to pick up his passport, and Thai visa, at 1pm. The Thai embassy was north and so, after a quick adjustment to my 'walking tour', we all decided to do the north part of the city before returning back into the center.

The sun was out, the road was long and there was little shade. We only stopped to see yet another temple, 'Wat That', before Patrick dropped us off at the only shopping center within the capital. Rachael, Joe and I said goodbye to Patrick as he headed off to the Thai embassy and we agreed to meet up later.

My computer has no space left on its hard drive and I've nearly filled up another camera memory card, therefore I needed an electronics store. Towards the back of this rather small, and crowed, shopping center I found a stall selling both camera memory cards and USB memory sticks. 210,000 kip later (£16) I had in my possession a 8GB USB memory stick and a 4GB camera memory card. As I had my camera with me I checked the camera card to make sure that it worked, all was okay. I said thank you to the girl I had bartered with and even took her photo; before I left she reminded me that both products had a guarantee and that if either should break I can bring them back and replace them … as long as I keep my receipt. A guarantee, this was a first for South East Asia and a welcome change.

After stopping at a bank for Joe and Rachael we eventually made it to the 'Arc de Triomphe'. Located on a round-a-bout (which was incredibly difficult to cross due to traffic) is Laos' major French influence. The Arc was build in the 1950's to commemorate the soldiers who died for the Royal Lao government. We were only planning on stopping here for a drink, and a sit down out of the sun, however Rachael noticed that you can climb to the top of the arc for 3,000 kip (25p). Thinking that it would be a good place to take photos of the city we paid and headed upstairs.

The Arc was never completed and I feel that this has added to it's charm; bare concrete walls and steps leading forever higher with cobwebs in the windows, the Arc felt a lot older than the 1950's. About 2/3rds of the way up we entered a large room filled with souvenir stalls, which felt a little odd. We gave the tacky souvenir stalls the time they deserved and headed straight to the top of the arc. The sun was high in the sky making it very hot. I got quite a few good shots, of the city below, before spending a little time admiring the view.

As we were heading down Rachael felt terrible and so her and Joe went back to the guesthouse. I wanted to continue north as there was other attractions further out of the city ... I wished Rachael a speedy recovery. Just like 'The White Temple' within Chiang-Rai 'Wat ThatLuang Stupa' was like no other temple I had seen within Laos. As I approached down this long, dusty and straight road I could see the golden spike of 'Wat ThatLuang Stupa' within the distance. Getting closer I could see that the whole temple was painted in gold and that it wasn't like the other traditional temples within either Thailand or Laos. The temple consisted of a center golden spike surrounded by a 'inner square' of further spikes ... all golden. The 'outer wall' was golden too and it had smaller spikes rising from it. I paid the 5,000 kip (40p) entrance fee and began to circle the temple taking photos. The temple was small and so it didn't take me long to walk around it; afterwards I headed into the courtyard area where I took photos of another statue and a very impressive building to my right. Yet again the area was immaculate considering how poor the country is. This is Laos' most sacred religious site however maybe the money spent here could have been better used else where … it was a very impressive temple though.

I didn't leave the courtyard the same way I had come in; instead I headed to my left and through 'Wat That Luang Neua's' grounds (well worth it; the art work on the inside roof of the 'opensided' temple was brilliant) insearch of a shop with any kind of drinkable liquid. I found a 'mini-mart' and purchased a fanta raspberry … yum. I took a couple of photos of a white monument in a nearby park before making the long walk back into town. Once back down the main road I went back to 'Mat's Walking tour' and headed west passing many 'Wats' (Wat Mixay, Wat Ong Teu, Wat Hai Sok, Wat In Peng … all of which I had a quick look at) before I made it to a statue of a guy I hadn't herd of marking the extreme west of the city center. Again a few photos were taken of 'Chao Fa Ngum' before taking the riverfront road to view the final temples within Vientiane ('Wat Chan' and 'Wat Xang'). Even though the city center had provided shade from the beating sun I still felt dehydrated and so I headed to another 'mini-mart' for another drink.

I checked my map and I had completely missed a fountain and a mosque that my guidebook had marked. I have no idea why the mosque was marked as it wasn't anything special however the fountain – which I had seen last night - was very pretty. Surrounded by French looking buildings, forming a square, was this small circular park with benches (painted in the brand of the company who had sponsored the bench), trees and flowers. There were four sets of steps leading to a squared platform where this fountain stood tall and proud, however no water was flowing … which was a little gutting.

It was now 5pm and, having walked the entire length (both horizontal and vertical) of Laos' capital I headed for my guesthouse, stopping at a convenience store to get some refreshments, to see how Rachael was feeling and to put my feet up.

At 8pm we all met up in reception. Earlier within the day a decision had been made that an Indian curry was the choice of meal for this evening, and so it came to pass. The curry was tasteful enough, however not a patch on the curry I had within Georgetown … or, come to think of it, back in the UK. It's funny but as I travel more and more within South East Asia I actually miss Malaysia (especially Gerogetown and Melaka) more and more; with two weeks until I can cross the Cambodian border I would love to find a 'Melaka' in Southern Laos where I can chill for a while … maybe there is one. We left the restaurant almost immediately after dinner with the intention of playing some card game. That intention didn't become reality as Patrick was leaving early the following day, and so he went to sleep, and I was pretty tired also. I went to see Rachael and Joe and we watched an episode of 'Futurerama' before I said goodnight and headed back to my room to travel to the land of nod.

So tomorrow there's an art museum, a history museum and a 'Wat' that I want to visit however that's it. I think those three will fill the day but then that doesn't really leave a lot left. As Vientiane is quite expensive I may only stay here until Thursday, even though its quite a charming, and relaxing, capital city.

Toodle Pip!

Vientiane's quite expensive

Monday 24^th January 2010

MP3 track of the day: Californication – Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Weather: It's getting hotter!

Yet again the bakery was our destination for breakfast and, yet again, I had the same scummy chocolate muffin I'd had the previous two days. The mini-van came to pick us up at 9am; looking at the van I could tell that it had seen better days. To make matters worse the seat I opted for was quite wobbly however I did have the most leg room within the van so I couldn't complain too much.

At first the air-conditioning was on full blast resulting in the floor being covered in snow. Fortunately it wasn't long before all members of the mini-van petitioned for the air-conditioning to be turned off and so it came to pass; I then sat in the van at the perfect temperature. The view wasn't anywhere near as great as it had been on my last mini-van trip, however I still peered outside whilst listening to my MP3 player. Joe and Rachael were reading, which probably wasn't a bad thing as our driver was terrible. Three times I caught him overtaking a vehicle into a blind corner; with no seat belts I was very worried about the possibility of crashing. Fortunately crash we did not and soon Laos' roadside infrastructure was starting to become more modern and advanced as we made our way to the capital. Firstly the missing tarmac from the roads wasn't a problem, then white lines and street lights made an appearance. Finally I saw traffic lights and dual carriageways which I hadn't seen since Thailand.

As I looked outside the window I noticed that quite a few ATM's had the 'plus' sign which made me breathe a sign of relief. Spotting ATM's is a habit that I do want to get out of however, to stop my worrying, I do think that I'll withdraw enough cash here to hopefully last the next two, and final, weeks within Laos. Surprisingly the mini-van dropped us off right in the heart of town. Rachael, Joe and I headed into town to find some accommodation; two things shocked me about this act. Firstly there isn't a lot of accommodation in Vientiane (and most of it's full) and secondly it's very expensive. I have my own room (again as there are no dorms) for 80,000 kip per night (£6.15). Remember that I spent 30,000 per night in Louang Phabang, 20,000 per night in Phonsavan and 50,000 per night in Vang Viang. We decided to only book one night as we might have a look around town this afternoon for better.

It was 1pm when our bags were in our rooms and we headed out, towards the waterfront, to look for a lunch. Rachael had said that she thought the waterfront would be the cheapest place to eat; I however thought this was a little weird as waterfronts are usually expensive and, for the first five minutes of walking, I was proven correct. However, after passing a couple of streets, we found a decent restaurant with standard prices. Once in the restaurant we saw the two Belgium girls – which was nice – and I saw Claudia (you know, from Penang Malaysia … Mike and I took her to the beach for her birthday). I was massively surprised to see her and we chatted for a little while to see what we had both been up to (She had been moving around South East Asia like a rocket). I asked her, and the Belgium girls, how much they were paying for their accommodation and it looks like I have the cheapest deal.

The meal was nice enough; after wards the rest of the group wanted to see the 'Buddha Park'. I have seen enough Buddhas to last me a life time and so I declined the offer to join and went back to my guesthouse to chill before heading out into the local area to have a quick look. We'd decided to meet at 7pm for dinner were I would also meet Patrick again as he was in Vientiane.

The group were back from the Buddha Park a lot earlier than I expected, however Joe was pretty tired and so Joe, Rachael and I still decided to meet the others at 7pm at a fountain. The fountain wasn't flowing as we approached it; we didn't have to wait long before Patrick and the two Belgium girls came into view … the old 'Plain of Jars' group – besides Fabien – were back together. We spent the rest of the evening in a restaurant chatting away until we were kicked out. We were in there so long that we left a good tip as we hadn't ordered much.

After, what seems like, a long day I was pretty tired and so I headed straight to sleep. Tomorrow I shall meet Patrick at my guesthouse - at 10am - and he's going to take the other bed within my room sharing the cost (which is great, brings it down to 40,000 kip per night). Until then, good night.

Toodle Pip!