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The train ride was ok in the end, very bumpy and noisy at times, but at least we were 1st class so had our own cabin with a sink to ourselves. Not sure we will be able to afford to travel '1st class' again so we can say we have done it. . . . Kind of! It sounded like we were on a roller coaster through jungles and rivers with water and branches constantly scrapping the window. Jacqui did eventually find the normal western toilet about an hour before we got off the train! We got into Nong khai an hour late- 9:30- and got a shared tuk tuk with a swedish couple, Daniel & Tina, to the border. They have been travelling for about 6 months and have been to a lot of places we are going to, so got a few pointers.
The whole visa process at the border was a little slow, and costly, lots of charges every step of the way(visa $30, photos 100 baht, bus over bridge 15 baht, entry fee 100 baht) but we eventually got through and shared a mini bus up to Vientiane with the Swedes and some english guy with his local lady. . . We had accomodation reserved but decided to have a look round town and found a nice place, closer to the action for half the price ($25 a night), there we cheaper options from $5 a night but they were ummmmm how do you say....unsatisfactory. Our hotel was the lv riverine, very friendly people, well most people in Laos are, unlike Thailand. I think we got the last room so was a little noisy in the morning but ok.
Spent the afternoon walking round the riverfront, there are hundreds of food vendors and bamboo restaurants lined along the Mekong river. Stopped at one run by a cute lady and her husband, no speaka da english though. My pork fried rice was amazing but we are still not quite sure what jacqui had. . . Apparently papaya is different here. She did get a whole coconut with a straw to drink though. Then she got even more risque and tried some barbequed bananas from some lady who looked like she was out of a gypsy horror movie, she managed to stomach one which was good form, I gave them a skip! The other restaurants have big buckets outside displaying their wares, massive fish and shrimps caught in the river, and then the unexpected, massive bullfrogs....nein...
Vientiane is very nice & chilled, quite a few travellers here, Laos seems to be the flavour of the month at the moment. Went to the full moon cafe which came highly recommended on tripadvisor, again Jacqui tried a local Laos laap meal. Meat with minced mint, interesting but not that satisfying, I went safe with the fish. One odd thing is every meal we order you get a bowl of onion/cabbage soup, I keep wanting to wash my hands in it, tastes ok I guess! Finished off with a massage at our hotel before bed, $4 for an hour.
Woke up early to do some sight seeing, breakfast in the hotel was quite nice, fruit and eggs on toast. Then headed off to see some Wats and other local sights. Shopping here is interesting, definately friendlier and more honest than Bangkok, although I think Alcatraz is more honest than Bangkok! However in Laos, if you ask the price and don't buy the item expect to have to walk away with the shop owner snapping at your heels as you run down the street, they don't give up easily.
The most interesting place we visited was COPE( Coperative for orthapedic and prosthetic enterprise) They basically rehabilitate victims of UXO's (unexploded ordinance) which are bombs littering the whole of Laos which the darned yanks dropped constantly for 30 years. They dropped a bomb every 8 minutes during that time. Of the 260 million I think that were dropped, 30% are unexploded, so there are constantly being uncovered by villagers by mistake or they look for them and try sell them for scrap. The people we spoke to there were really amazing and as the guy said to us, the Laos people smile on the outside, but on the inside they are not, they are scared. The yanks do donate money to recovery of the bombs but not to helping victims who lose limbs etc. when the explode. More bombs were dropped on Laos than any other country during WW1, WW2 and the Vietnam war. We are still not sure why, something to do with them being communists, will have to check it out when we get back.
Anywho! After that we headed to the river, chilled in a bamboo hut, had a Beer Lao and pineapple shake- scrumptious, watched the sunset and had an amazing green curry, apparently with not hot at all. . . But try telling Jacqui's mouth that! Dinner for 2 with drinks, totalling a whopping 75 000 kip/$8/£5. Currency is rather confusing as the accept US$, thai baht or laos kip, and we are thinking in pounds! We are officially millionaires though and withdrew half a million kip yesterday, and its all nearly gone! Ok, its only about £40 but still!
We are on the bus to Vang Vieng as I type for a couple of days of tubing and kayaking down the river before heading to Luang Prabang.
The whole visa process at the border was a little slow, and costly, lots of charges every step of the way(visa $30, photos 100 baht, bus over bridge 15 baht, entry fee 100 baht) but we eventually got through and shared a mini bus up to Vientiane with the Swedes and some english guy with his local lady. . . We had accomodation reserved but decided to have a look round town and found a nice place, closer to the action for half the price ($25 a night), there we cheaper options from $5 a night but they were ummmmm how do you say....unsatisfactory. Our hotel was the lv riverine, very friendly people, well most people in Laos are, unlike Thailand. I think we got the last room so was a little noisy in the morning but ok.
Spent the afternoon walking round the riverfront, there are hundreds of food vendors and bamboo restaurants lined along the Mekong river. Stopped at one run by a cute lady and her husband, no speaka da english though. My pork fried rice was amazing but we are still not quite sure what jacqui had. . . Apparently papaya is different here. She did get a whole coconut with a straw to drink though. Then she got even more risque and tried some barbequed bananas from some lady who looked like she was out of a gypsy horror movie, she managed to stomach one which was good form, I gave them a skip! The other restaurants have big buckets outside displaying their wares, massive fish and shrimps caught in the river, and then the unexpected, massive bullfrogs....nein...
Vientiane is very nice & chilled, quite a few travellers here, Laos seems to be the flavour of the month at the moment. Went to the full moon cafe which came highly recommended on tripadvisor, again Jacqui tried a local Laos laap meal. Meat with minced mint, interesting but not that satisfying, I went safe with the fish. One odd thing is every meal we order you get a bowl of onion/cabbage soup, I keep wanting to wash my hands in it, tastes ok I guess! Finished off with a massage at our hotel before bed, $4 for an hour.
Woke up early to do some sight seeing, breakfast in the hotel was quite nice, fruit and eggs on toast. Then headed off to see some Wats and other local sights. Shopping here is interesting, definately friendlier and more honest than Bangkok, although I think Alcatraz is more honest than Bangkok! However in Laos, if you ask the price and don't buy the item expect to have to walk away with the shop owner snapping at your heels as you run down the street, they don't give up easily.
The most interesting place we visited was COPE( Coperative for orthapedic and prosthetic enterprise) They basically rehabilitate victims of UXO's (unexploded ordinance) which are bombs littering the whole of Laos which the darned yanks dropped constantly for 30 years. They dropped a bomb every 8 minutes during that time. Of the 260 million I think that were dropped, 30% are unexploded, so there are constantly being uncovered by villagers by mistake or they look for them and try sell them for scrap. The people we spoke to there were really amazing and as the guy said to us, the Laos people smile on the outside, but on the inside they are not, they are scared. The yanks do donate money to recovery of the bombs but not to helping victims who lose limbs etc. when the explode. More bombs were dropped on Laos than any other country during WW1, WW2 and the Vietnam war. We are still not sure why, something to do with them being communists, will have to check it out when we get back.
Anywho! After that we headed to the river, chilled in a bamboo hut, had a Beer Lao and pineapple shake- scrumptious, watched the sunset and had an amazing green curry, apparently with not hot at all. . . But try telling Jacqui's mouth that! Dinner for 2 with drinks, totalling a whopping 75 000 kip/$8/£5. Currency is rather confusing as the accept US$, thai baht or laos kip, and we are thinking in pounds! We are officially millionaires though and withdrew half a million kip yesterday, and its all nearly gone! Ok, its only about £40 but still!
We are on the bus to Vang Vieng as I type for a couple of days of tubing and kayaking down the river before heading to Luang Prabang.
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