Vientiane, Vietnam
Vientiane
We decided the first night in Vientiane to meet at 6pm for some pre-drinks before dinner at the hotel. From the hotel Andy took us to some bar along the river that ran beside Vientiane. The outdoor bar was cool, had nice lights and gave us a view of these outdoor aerobics. Apparently every night at 6pm there are outdoor aerobics along the main drag in Vientiane. Andy thought it would be funny to go and watch and have a few beers, so that was what we did.
After having a few beers and enjoying the aerobics and the view (also noticing that no Laotian ever sweats!) we decided to head off to dinner. Again Andy picked the place, and this time it was a French restaurant down the street from our hotel. France had previously occupied Lao for quite a few years as previously mentioned, so there was a lot of French influence, including their cuisine. The prices were expensive for a meal (like 6-8 or more dollars per meal), which is a lot for a meal in Lao. I decided to have nachos, Lao/French style, and then fan fried fish fillet with mash potatoes for the main course. If I had known that it would have taken well over an hour to get our meal, including the nachos and main dish, I would have ate before we went to dinner. I was hungry considering I had several beers before going to dinner.
The meal went fast, but tasted great. I was chowing down on anything and everything in front of me, nachos, bread, and the fish was going down my throat, and fast. In the end I was stuffed and really tired. We headed back to the hotel and I passed out probably before 1030PM. I needed a good night sleep, and got one.
The next day I was on a mission to do something exciting. The past few days had been relatively quiet and I needed some excitement. The mission; rent a motorbike. I am not talking about a Harley Davidson or anything, but a little guy, like a 110 cc motorbike that was manual. After scoping out the scene and going to a few rental places I decided on one that cost the least and didn’t require me to give them my passport. That was key. Especially after hearing the stories from Paul, the guy I met in Bangkok, who told me that when he friend got in to an accident in Vietnam, a girl drove off with his friend’s passport and he was required to pay a few thousand US dollars to get out of the jam. I said “no thank you,” to that and found a place like a few doors down from my hotel which rented out motorbikes.
The cost was 40,000 Kip for 24 hours, but since we were leaving pretty early the next morning I really only wanted it for the actual day, so that was fine. 40,000 Kip is about 4 USD per day, not too shabby. It came with a full tank of gas and a helmet (not sure how much that would do?) I was really excited, but nervous at the same time. I had never ridden such a machine, only a moped in Martha’s Vineyard a few years back. Mopeds are much easier, or at least looked much easier to ride than the motorbikes I had been watching wiz by me the past six weeks. The guy kept telling me “1,2,3,4, go!” That phrase would begin to have meaning later on in the day as I would get much better at driving it around Vientiane and the neighboring villages.
“1,2,3,4 go,” simply meant, hit the gear switch with your foot four times before you turn the accelerator with your hand and you were fine. So anyway, my first stop was supposed to be the Beer Lao factory. I don’t know why, but this seemed appealing, and quite a far distance out of town by motorbike, approximately 14 kilometers. I had a pretty good, colorful map, with all the major tourist attractions that I had bought from the reception at the hotel, so I was alright.
When I first tried to take off on the motorbike I immediately stalled out, not using the “1,2,3,4 go,” method appropriately. I stalled out trying to make a right on the busiest street in Vientiane, which is always nice. Eventually some local came to me and basically said similar to what the guy at the shop said as well. I now understood how to work the darn thing, made that first LEFT not right, sorry, and was off to the Beer Lao factory, well not quite.
I knew that I had to go a long way on the first road make a left somewhere, then a right, but the map wasn’t intricate enough to fully show all the small side streets, forks in the road, and merges etc., so I was a little nervous. The first road I was on of course was the one or two roads that was undergoing major construction and being widen as well as flatten and re-asphalted so that made for an interesting first time on the motorbike. My major concern was not my driving skills of the motorbike, but of the people driving around me. They drive pretty crazy throughout South East Asia and Lao was no exception. Generally motorbike riders are aggressive, love to speed around, and cut people off to gain position on the road. Since I was on this dirt construction road I wanted to go slower in case I hit a patch and would have time to respond. Because of this lack of speed I was being passed by everyone; from school children under 15 to grandmothers. From time to time I would speed up, change lanes, move with traffic, off road etc. I wanted to test out my skills and the skills of the bike. My second concern was the durability of this bike. I mean if someone rented you a motorbike for 4 dollars for the day, I’m sure you would be a little skeptical as well.
The bike seemed fine. I was given a full tank of gas to go with and had to return the bike with a full tank or risked being charged for them to fill it up by the litre, at some marked up price of course.
So I was chugging along, wind blowing around my cool looking blue helmet, working on my farmers tan, life was pretty good. My first actual stop was at this Buddhist temple. There are many, many temples in Asia period. They are colorful, unique in their own way, and often really interesting to look around in. So I managed to make the tight left turn in to the narrow entrance of the temple and parked the bike. Parking and turning off the bike was easy, locking it up and getting the kick stand out was the hard part. I kept trying to roll the bike back to put the wheel lock on, but I was not managing so well. So after a few minutes of trying feverishly to get the stand/lock to rotate back under the bike, these two young novice monks saw me struggling and at first started smiling at me and laughing as I struggled. Eventually I mustered up enough to ask them for help by hand signaling that I really could not do this. They laughed again and then proceeded to come over to me. I found this amusing since they were monks and I wasn’t sure if they were even allowed to help me with such a thing, but they did anyway. One of the novice monks was able to, along with my help, get the lock out and I was able to get off the bike, stretch the legs and walk around. Before I went around the grounds I ran across the street for water and a can of soda. I was dying of thirst since I hadn’t really drank a lot of water the day or night before and it was really hot, I mean really hot, like usual.
I said thank you to the monks, walked around the grounds, rolled the bike stand/lock back in to place, got the bike started and pulled out through traffic and continued my quest to the Beer Lao factory. This would become an epic quest of massive proportions, traveling kilometers and kilometers. I continued down this road, again staying with the road, trying to follow the map, looking for the temples etc that were landmarks given to us on the map. I then stopped at a second Buddhist temple along the way to the Beer Lao factory. This time I had the same problem with that pesky bike stand/lock. I couldn’t get the bike to roll back and roll over the stand and lock. Again there was another novice monk who was watching me from the moment I entered the temple grounds. He also smiled and laughed at my struggles and this time he came to me on his own reconnaissance. He also helped me get the stand to pop out and this time instead of walking away this novice monk engaged me for conversation. He started asking me where I was from, who I was here with, how long I was in Lao, where I had been, you know the typical questions from locals. Then he asked me if I was going to the Buddha Park, I told him no, that it was too far and I didn’t know how to get there. I broke out my map, but that really didn’t help him. He pretended to read the map and point to a location off the map, but I knew deep down he had no idea what he was reading and basically just pointed to a place on my map, which is fine, I saw the same crap with the Japanese in Japan.
After thanking the monk for chatting and helping me out, I checked out his temple, saw the Buddha and was on my way, again trying to find the Beer Lao factory. I rode and rode down the road, I finally came to a roundabout and decided to try and go the direction I thought was following the map, unfortunately it was not the correct turn. I ended up about 10 kilometers out of the way, off the map, in local villages, middle of nowhere, bumble Lao and lost. Luckily I had remembered how to get back to where I had initially turned off the road, but had made several turns after that. I just kept going figuring I would just run in to the factory and that maybe it was “just a little farther.” Well that “just a little farther,” eventually ran out and I decided to turn around and ask someone who seemed reliable at a market or something. The first place I pulled in to, I immediately go looks like “who the hell is this white guy riding on the motorbike?” I tried to explain to the guy who approached me in the most basic, broken English possible with my huge map that I was looking for “Beer Lao City.” When I told him “Beer Lao City,” he laughed then when he came back to normal told me I was 12 – 14 kilometers off the map, in the wrong direction and showed me where I had turned off incorrectly. So I just turned around kept going back and then decided to stop again when I got closer to where I thought he meant I needed to turn back and on to the right road.
The next guy was much more helpful and actually spoke English. Hand gestures were minimal which meant real communication. He told me I was only 3-4 kilometers off the map and that I needed to look for a clock tower thing and when I saw it I needed to make a right. I was thanks a lot, bought a 7up, ice in the bag with the drink of course, so they can have the bottle and the return on it and was on my way. I stopped a few times to take pictures of the scenery and cows real close to the road etc., it was definitely a nice ride down this really straight road. Eventually I came to this clock tower, and was like “sweet,” made the right and was able to figure out where I was on the map. After traveling for about an hour plus, going about 25 kilometers I saw it. It was beautiful. Beer flowing, barley and hops cooking, churning and producing lovely beer. Ha Ha I wish. As it turns out there were no tours that day. Apparently the lady told me in broken English that there was some course going on in the factory so that tours were closed. I was “you gotta be shitting me,” but she smiled and assured me there were no tours. Personally I thought I was getting the typical tourist runaround and eventually they would give in, but she seemed firm in her decision and message. I was feeling a little defeated. My quest was to find the Beer Lao factory or “Beer Lao City,” as the locals called it, which I did, but a tour would have been nice, since it was free. Suddenly my moral was raised when the girl said that I could test the beer, which in English meant I would be given a free beer! It was a cold, crisp, Beer Lao. The best I had since being in Lao; straight from the factory about 100 feet away. Nothing could better, until I reached in to my pocket and pulled out my MP4 player. Woohoo! Now I had music and a cold, fresh, crisp, Beer Lao.
After enjoying about 2/3’s of the beer I decided to go off and do more exploring. It was still early (before 12PM) and I had a lot of driving to do, I didn’t want to get in to my beer mode. One would become five and before you knew it I would be stuck 14 kilometers away from the hotel with a motorbike.
I had decided before I started my journey around Vientiane that I would make this big huge loop and hit up some major attractions. The second major attraction I wanted to see was a national monument and their version of the Arc De Triumphe, which was on the Champs in Paris.
To get there I would have to take a few roads, make a few turns and it didn’t look too hard. After riding around on the bike for a few hours, I had the hang of it and it was fairly easy to ride and I was really enjoying it a lot. I was also getting a great tan! A really good thing about the map was that it indicated where street lights were, so the way I found my way to this monument was by counting lights and looking for the landmarks provided on the map.
I arrived to this monument (I forgot the name of it, but it starts with a P), parked the bike, and again had the same stupid issue. I couldn’t get the stand/lock to roll under the bike. This time I hollered to the tuk tuk driver in front of me to come and help. At first he really didn’t understand what I wanted, but after a few hand gestures he came over and helped me with the stand. So the bike was parked, locked up and I was ready to explore this area which seemed pretty crowded with people. I snapped a few pictures of it, walked across the street for some chips and soda (again in a bag) and walked around and through the monument. On the way back to my bike I got some locals to take a few pictures of me. The first one was crap, but the second one came out pretty well and if I remember correctly even included the entire monument.
From the monument I was getting hungry, I was hot and tired. I wanted to go back. I checked out the map, figured out where I needed to turn, at what lights and started my way back after spending several hours of riding around on this pesky 110 cc motorbike, probably from China. I ran in to one problem along the way as the road I initially wanted to take was under construction, so I had to maneuver through that and on to another road. Eventually I found my way back to the hotel vicinity but really wasn’t interested in going back just yet. I wanted food, so I decided to check out JOMA bakery, which was suggested by Andy as having some quality food. So after maneuvering through construction sites, took the bike off road a little bit I managed to get to the bakery. Again, I could not park the fucking bike. This time a couple was eating right outside the bakery, saw me struggling and the guy after laughing along with the girl at me, helped me out and in like two seconds got it locked. It must be an acquired skill or something. So I went in to the air conditioned bakery which felt nice, but then weird, especially I was soaked in sweat and a little red/burnt from driving around all day in the hot sun. I was so flustered I had no idea what to order. I noticed they had a lunch special that looked appealing so I ordered half a garden salad and spinach, eggplant lasagna, hot. I sat down at a table facing the street so I could people watch, naturally. I went to the bathroom first to take care of business and then sat down. I sat down across from this girl who was by herself writing in this little notebook. Now travelers always enjoy talking to other travelers, especially if two are by themselves. She made the first move and made some comment, and from there we just chatted. She commented on how I could have ordered such a hot dish, in the lasagna, I told her that it was a poor decision and that I was regretting it with every bite since it was so darn hot out.
From there we continued to chat about our travels, the route we had taken, how long we had been traveling, the typical stuff. As it turns out she had done pretty much the same route I was doing in SEA, except in reverse, kind of starting with Cambodia and working her way back to Bangkok and then to the islands in the south for a week to ten days. My plan is to change my flight again, but not have to buy a new ticket back and go to the islands when I get back and maybe to a full moon party on Ko Penang in Southern Thailand. If you don’t know what a full moon party is google it, basically it is the biggest party on the planet every month. People estimate 10-20,000 people attend this massive party on the beaches of this island of Ko Penang. I have not decided if I can change my flight, how much it would cost and how much money I would have left after my tour. I don’t want to short myself on the tour by having to save for the islands, I want to enjoy myself, but if I managed to have an extra few hundred dollars left when I got back to Bangkok it could be a real possibility. While the accommodation would get a little pricey for thai standards since the hostels jack up the price during full moon parties, it would still be affordable. The biggest cost would be changing the flight which could be like 50 bucks, and getting to the three islands I would go to with my extra 12 days. The initial plan is to fly to Ko Samui, spend a few days there, then take a ferry to Ko Tao, then to Ko Penang a few days before the full moon party and leave about 1.5 days after the party, get to Ko Samui, fly back to Bangkok and then take a night flight back home to the USA, via wherever (Kuwait I think). We will see if it works. I would have to email my travel agent who I booked my ticket through, and then other agents maybe for the accommodation and maybe a package on each island.
Typically if you book through an agent in Bangkok you can get everything arranged including transportation, accommodation the whole lot. The issue is where to book it. I have heard that the places on Khao San are so cheap and seem too good to be true because they usually are. I am thinking of paying a little more for a place I can trust and that has been quality so far. My two candidates are the agencies I got my visa and airline ticket from. So I have a few more days to think about it.
Anyway back to the day after my tangent. The girl’s name was Tori, she was from London, England, age unknown, it never came up and I was not about to ask it because they ask me how old I am, and usually I am younger, then it is awkward. At the end of my conversation I asked if she wanted to get a drink and maybe some food. Nothing sketchy, but I was really looking to hang out with some people or person that was closer to my age and just do what I had been doing for the past four weeks, which was being on my own, chatting with travelers and meeting new people. I had been craving that since that tour started. I mean I went from spending four to five weeks on my own, doing my own thing, when I wanted to do it. I knew going in to the tour what it would be, but of course I thought it would be younger, and typically it is. I am still a little bitter about the fact that Intrepid never mentioned to me the age of the passengers when I inquired about the tour and when I was about to book it. They could have easily been like “hey I just want to let you know that the passengers on this trip are all almost 40, 50 and 65.” If that would have been the case maybe I would have done the later trip, and probably been able to get the same discount. So I think what they did was really unfair and really sketchy.
She said fine, and we decided to meet at 8pm in front of the gate that was on the corner on my block where my hotel was. That gave me a few more hours on the motorbike and to check out Vientiane. I then decided to head back to the hotel and rest up a bit before my next few hours of exploration, and as it turns out as I was pulling up to the hotel I saw Elizabeth and the girls. They said they were going swimming at that pool around the corner and down the street. I told them that I was just going upstairs to change quickly and that I would meet them there. Even though it was a little cloudy and overcast and there were a few sprinkles I was really hot and in need of a swim and needed to cool down. I quickly changed, jumped back on the bike, got to the poll, parked the bike, paid the fee to get in and dove right in. I actually dove in the pool. I hadn’t dove since Linda taught me how to dive by jumping through the hoop at Shibley several years ago. The pool was glorious. It was so warm. I swam around with the girls and then by myself after they got out for another half hour. I really enjoyed it. I began to dove in repeatedly till I got tired and then I was done. The girls and Andy decided to go eat at 7, and I told them I was going to meet a friend I had met at 8 and would not be joining them. Of course I told them right before they left at the hotel and couldn’t muster up the sac to tell all of them at once. Half of me felt really awkward about going off on my own and not joining them for dinner, and the other half really didn’t feel like getting teased and shit for meeting a “girl,” all the “oohs and ahhs,” would just piss me off.
So after I left the pool I jetted around a little bit in my towel and bathing suit. I drove all the way down the river, through villages, dirt roads and side streets. It was really cool. I also needed to find a gas station, because I needed to fill up the bike and return it full otherwise I would risk a jacked up price for them to fill it up. Eventually after checking with the hotel guy twice, I was able to see it on the map, and got some very rough directions from the dude. Of course there was road construction so any of the roads I wanted to take were blocked off because they all ran perpendicular to the road that I needed to make a right on too. Finally I went really far down, past where he told me to turn and tried to work backwards. After riding through construction sites, getting stuck in the mud, dirt and rocks, I found the gas station. So I shimmed through the sidewalk and construction, around people and to the gas station. Surprisingly I needed 2.5 liters which is a lot considering the tank was 4 liters, I didn’t have any working gauges and they usually go for many kilometers. All it meant was that I must have gone pretty darn far on the motorbike definitely got my monies worth. And when I mean nothing was working, I mean I didn’t have a speedometer, odometer, full gauge nothing. It was all feel and moving with flow of traffic.
After getting gas, I drove around a little bit more, soaking up all the moments with my precious motorbike. In the heat it really beat walking, it was cool, both literally and figuratively and I had a blast.
When I got back I sadly returned the bike, went back to the hotel, took a shower and relaxed. I had a few hours before I had to meet Tori for drinks at the Chinese gate. The great thing was that the hotel had TV, ESPN, HBO, BBC etc, so I had plenty to watch. I watched a little ESPN, and flipped around till I got to HBO and what was on…”Wedding Crashers!” In freaking Vientiane, Laos, there was “Wedding Crashers” on TV. I relaxed on my extremely comfortable bed and enjoyed the movie. I was loving life. I got ready to meet Tori and left the room with a few minutes to spare. After waiting like three minutes she found me on the corner and we were off. We went to the bar that Andy had taken us to the night before. I liked the fact it was along with beach, lit up, and outdoors. We shared a few beers, since we both agreed that if we both had one, they would both be warm by the time we were half finished. These were tall boys, 660ml bottles of beer, so it was several glasses per beer. We continued to chat about things like school, what we did, the school system in England, and other stuff.
After the bar we went to get some food. I was really hungry. I had not eaten since lunch and before that nothing, and had drank several beers. I was ready to munch like crazy. We eventually decided to eat outside this Indian restaurant on the corner about half way between each of our hotels. The food was great going down and really bothered me when it sat in my stomach. I ordered rice, nan (Indian bread) and a chicken dish with curry which was awesome. The meal was cheap, fairly quick and great. After the meal we said our goodbyes and said that maybe we would see each other in Ko Tao as that was the place she was going to be spending her final week in South East Asia in and that was it.
It was a great night because it was a change of pace from tour, away from structure and back to the way I like to travel. I am not poo pooing the whole tour experience, but I think the whole age thing really through me off my game.
Tags: Travel
Josh
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