SE Asia: Luang Prabang Day 3 / Vientiane

The essentials used to be keys, keycard, phone and Asthma puffer. Now, they are mosquito repellant, passport, cash and Tiger Blam – which can officialy cure any affliction known to man.

I wake up bruised, sore, bitten, hungover and tired most days, but not bored. Never bored. And I think the happy singsong voices of ‘Sabaidee!’ everywhere we go is a sign that money really can’t buy hapiness. Which everyone knows of course, but I don’t think many people actually believe it. After all, the villages we have visited have nothing in the eyes of most westerners, but they respect everything they have, which is more than I can say for most.

After a free day in Luang Prabang, spent relaxing in the town and catching up on internet and washing, we ended our stay with a  beautiful dinner lit by fairy lights in the gardens of our bungalow guesthouse. We all loved the town and didn’t want to leave.

Unfortunately we had to suffer a flight to Vientiane the next morning. I say suffer, because it was hell, and from memory those who go to hell suffer quite badly. It was a 40-minute flight with no air-con and most of us were quite grateful to be on solid ground when we arrived.

Vientiane was a strange Capital City (the term of which is a technicality, and not necessarily a descriptive one), quite a bit bigger than Luang Prabang and yet not as beautiful, more to do with less to see it seemed.

We played more cards and enjoyed drinks by the Mekong (the other side of which was Thailand) and planned our free day the following morning. Some of the group hired bicycles, and I walked. Nobody walks in Vientiane, and I suppose it would be like watching somebody crawl down George Street. But hey, a bike is a bike, and I don’t do bikes. So I walked.

After seeing temples and a replica Arc de Triomphe (the US gave Vientiane a shitload of concrete to build a highway after the war, and the Laos government stuck two fingers up at the US and built a structure to honour the French instead) we had a well deserved kindy nap and celebrated Marcus’ birthday with dinner and drinks at the pub, including a plate of marinated and fried crickets.

They were actually really good, although I couldn’t bring myself to open my eyes whilst I ate them. Still, as a year for trying new things, I don’t think with a plate of insects I am doing too badly.

Tomorrow – a 6-hour bumpy bus ride on dirt roads to stay a night in the homes of villagers near the Vietnam border. Which means more bruises and mosquitos. Thank Buddha for that Tiger Balm.

-Sarah