But we're a bit slow having breakfast and checking out, then I want to stop at the Post Office to send off some Christmas post cards, and it's further to the airport than I thought...
We arrive at the check-in counter at 9.20am three minutes before it closes for our flight - cutting things pretty fine! We barely get a chance to pay our $25 departure tax (what a shock!) and look round the terminal - the flashest part of Cambodia I've seen on my entire trip. Our plane takes off 15 minutes early - now all the passengers are accounted for.
We touch down briefly in Pakse in southern Laos before arriving in Vientiane, the capital, just before lunch. An expensive taxi takes us to our preferred hotel (determined from a knock-off Lonely Planet guide Fi borrowed), but it's fully booked, and without a backup option we're in the taxi driver's merciless hands. Fortunately he takes us to an adequate hotel fairly handy to everything, where we discard our packs and set off on foot to explore the city.
Vientiane has a huge amount of appeal. It's a lot smaller than the other Asian cities, and the low density of traffic combined with wide French-designed boulevards make for easy walking and road crossing.
We stop in at Subaiadee restaurant for our first taste of Lao cuisine and are favourably impressed - much more adventurous use of spices than Khmer food, and my taste buds are reacquainted with chili, lemon grass and ginger. Fi and I both feel like trying the local brew so we order a couple of bottles of Beer Lao - and are surprised when two huge 640ml bottles arrive! But it's thirsty work walking around town, and the quality of the beer makes it slip down very easily. I kindly help Fi with her bottle too.
We appreciate the temples and French architecture as we make our way to the river promenade, and are disappointed to find the Mekong is hundreds of metres away in the distance. It's the dry season, and the river has retreated from its flood plain, but as we walk north a little tributary comes in to view, and makes for some stunning sunset images.
But perhaps the "sun sets over the Mekong" images are getting a bit predictable now.
We decide we can knock out the sights of Vientiane in a day, so book Tuesday's 2pm bus to Vang Vieng.
And that's pretty much how it pans out. The day starts with breakfast in the Joma bakery cafe, and I finally get to experience the first decent latte I've had since leaving home. A couple of stunning Buddhist temples are covered in quick succession (with a naga having a go at Fi), and we spend an hour picking up T shirts and a bracelet in the Talat Sao market.
On to Patuxai, visually similar to Paris' Arc de Triomphe but with a Lao twist. It's also known as the vertical runway. Apparently the Americans gave Laos a load of cement in the mid-sixties to build an airport, but the government decided to build a monument instead.
The famous Pha That Luang stupa is the last of our monuments, and spectacular it is too. Unfortunately it is now midday and it's closed for lunch, but an exiting tourist says we're not missing much inside. We explore the adjacent temples instead, and this is where Fiona has a very strange experience.
Buddhist monks are at pains to keep their distance from attractive young women, so imagine Fi's surprise when this middle-aged monk directs her to sit down on the steps of the temple and proceeds to give her a massage! Firstly her back, then her legs and knees, but he sensed Fi's discomfort as his hand drifted up her thigh. So round to her back again where he gave it a crack like a chiropractor! Time was pressing by now so Fi had to leave, but felt a bit awkward. Thank him? Give him a donation? Run like hell? She pointed at the gate, said "Khob chai" (thank you), and strode back to the entrance.
We're on a tuk tuk (known as a jumbo in Laos) now as it's quite a way back in to town.
These things get along pretty well!
A bite to eat and we're on the bus to Vang Vieng, with time to reflect on our Vientiane experiences. And it's all positive. Of all the Asian cities I've visited so far, it's the only one I'd consider living in to take on an assignment. Relatively clean and modern, without the bustle and pollution of Hanoi and Saigon, and without the smell, sleaze and poverty of Phnom Penh.
The French influence is still there - not just the architecture and street signs, but the European influence combines with the strongly Buddhist culture to provide the best blend of lifestyle I've experienced to date. The Lao people are lovely too, not just their personalities but their finer features make them more physically attractive than their southern neighbours.
Vientiane - a great city. Roll on the highlands of northern Laos.
No comments:
Post a Comment