Languid Ambient O....(?) Sleepy Laos

Despite not having finished my Thailand/ Malaysia entry I want to try to not get too behind with Laos as there's lots to tell.

We arrived into Vientiane airport at 10 am local time, after a heinous early start at 3:30 in KL. The flight with Air Asia was fine as usual and arrived on time. On arrival in the tiny airport we had to fill out a visa application which cost $35 for a month's visa and an arrival card for immigration, but the Lao officials were friendly and chilled out and it was all pretty smooth. We then passed through into the arrival area and gathered ourselves before jumping in a cab bound for the city centre. This turned out to only be a 5 minute ride as the city is small, onl;y 20,000 people. We had a few names of guesthouses but couldn't communicate them successfully and ended up getting dropped off at a strip of guesthouses on the bank of the Mekong river in town. We met a western guy wandering by who recommended the place he was staying, as it was only $6 a night and places we'd been seeing were $28 a night, way more than we'd expected. So as we were shattered and starving we decided to check in there for our first night and get on with unwinding from our journey. The rooms were averagely sized but quite grimy and basic and smelled pretty awful, we were all a bit depressed and thought that Laos was going to turn out to be either hellishly grimy or overpriced, but we got ourselves up and out and had a lovely lunch by the river of Lao Laap ( minced meat and mint salad) and fried rice.

We had a wander round town and found a charming little cafe which gave us an hours free internet for a glass of OJ, and looked up some things to do and better places to stay in Vientiane. We then wandered up further into the city, and were gradually charmed by the laid back french/oriental hybrid vibe and the beautiful temples and old french villas. We passed some very ambient looking coffee shops and bakeries and started to understand why people stay in Vientiane. It was fiercely hot, hotter than anywhere we've yet been, easily in the mid to high 30s. We came across a cool old stupa and the main avenue of the city and then decided to head back for a shower and a lie down.

We headed out for dinner and had a delicious meal at a place called Sticky Fingers- the best western food I've had since NZ- We all went for the pesto and mozzarella burger with wedges, divine! We went to bed tired and a bit disorientated by the bizarre conbination of deepest Asia and european fine foods. Just before bed we discovered that the smell in our room came from the sewer out the back and decided we would definitely move the next day.

The following morning we enjoyed a very continental brunch of pastrama, cheese and mustard mayo on 7 grain bread, washed down with iced lao coffee at the Joma bakery. Feeling good we moved across the road into a lovely guesthouse, a big french villa with high ceilings and air con and a balcony, nicknamed the 'seriously social guesthouse' in contrast to our previous abode 'poo-pong'. Very happy with our new quarters we set off to find the biggest temple in the city, via the big market. We ended up getting snarled in a consumer frenzy for 2 hours but made some lovely purchases of hand sewn bags and purses from the Hmong hill tribes near Vientiane. Colours and patters here are great, very soft geometry and sensitive use of colour, not as brash as some chinese design. Silk and coffee are the main specialities here, very civilised! The big temple and its giant golden stupa centrepiece were very tranquil, and we were feeling very lazy in the heat after a long walk so took a tuk-tuk back to our rooms for some air con and a shower. That evening we couldn't resist going back to Sticky Fingers, to enjoy a roasted veg and feta salad and a tortilla stack. Mmmm.

We booked tickets to Vang Vieng for the next day, and so were up and about to check out by 11:30 and then had breakfast. The boys enjoyed vietnamese style baguettes at a place called PVOs on the river, and I ended up back in Joma Bakery for another excellent brekkie! We were collected from our guesthouse by a 7 seater minibus which then proceeded to stop off at 3 more guesthouses, until 13 farang and a driver where bumbling along on each others laps the short distance to the actual bus station. Here we got into something resembling a 60s school bus and set off more or less on time, hot and cramped. The scenery on the drive to Vang Vieng was really breathtaking and we drove through several rural Lao villages and caught glimpses of family life. People seemed to be spending lots of time hanging out together in the shade and playing games, or swimming in rivers and tending fields and livestock. We stopped once on the way for a toilet break (small surcharge applied) and then arrived into the stunning sunset in Vang Vieng.

As the sun dropped behind the awesome limestone mountains we made our way to the guesthouse Thavisouk where \Greg's sister and her friend were staying. It turned out to be pleasant and not dissimilar to the place in Vientiane, but a steal at 40,000 kip (12,000 kip to the pound) a night for 2. One hitch was the water seemed to stop working for a bit but was soon back on and we got out cool shower. We headed next door for a bite to eat, enjoyed a yellow curry and the company of a baby monkey named Smeagle (Greg renamed him Jasper, and became a foster parent. The monkey fell asleep on him in an incredibly sweet manner and was genuinely devastated at being separated from him.) After dinner we had a wander round the town, looking for the mysterious MayLyn guesthouse for which Ben had received an emphatic recommendation when he was on Ko Lanta in Thailand. We couldn't find it anywhere, all we did find was lots and lots and lots and lots of same same bars crammed with young gap year tourists all pissed up from a day on the tubes. We went to bed feeling a bit unsure that Vang Vieng wqas really the place for us. But the next day it was all so different, and the real Laos emerged to greet us... tbc