Vientiane

I got a morning bus to Vientiane, it was only 150kms from Vang Vien. Once again I got dropped off in the centre of town but I'm beginning to realise that as long as you make it into the town, that you're not that far from the centre. Laos has a population of just over six million, the capital around 800,000, so not many people and all the towns are relatively small. One of the girls I was on the bus with had booked a bed in a near by hostel so I went with her and got a bed as well. The price included breakfast in the morning and vodka shots at night, unfortunately it was Laotian vodka, not nice. I texted Marie, she is now living in Vientiane, I was hoping to meet up with her. I was able to send one message from my phone but then I ran out of credit. I hadn't been expected to be able to use my pay as you go Vietnamese phone in Laos but I'd had full signal since I'd arrived. I was regretting having used a lot of my credit calling my mother and Darren from the bus before I left Vietnam. Ah well, nothing I can do about it now. I hung out a little in the hostel common room and then went for lunch with the Italian girl, Maria, that I'd arrived with. As is my habit I took a wander around the city and walked down to the river bank. I was about to take a photo when I realised that I didn't have an SD card in my camera, I'd left it in an internet cafe in Vang Vien along with my card reader. At least I hadn't lost any photos as I'd uploaded all of them up until then. I don't know how I would have handled losing yet more photos. I know that Darren had said that he would try and get my Mekong Delta photos back for me but there was no guarantee. I didn't sleep well my first night in the hostel, I was in a dorm room for twenty and some of the people came back at about 3am. I listened to Paul McKenna at least twice in an effort to get back to sleep, I don't know what I would do without it. In my guidebook, which I'd bought in Hanoi along with another North Face bag, they had a walking tour of the city. I decided to do it by bicycle. I managed to rent a bike from a place in the next street along from mine, but I had to leave my passport as a deposit, I wasn't terribly happy about that. Although I managed to surprise the guy working there by wishing him Happy New Year in Vietnamese, he had told me he was from Vietnam. I had almost forgotten the new year, the Laotians celebrate new year in April so there had been nothing since I'd arrived in Laos. Something I was very grateful for. The first stop was, of course, a temple, Wat Si Saket, famous as being the oldest standing temple in the city. In it's inner courtyard walls are thousands of niches containing small Buddha statues. I deviated from the route to go and look at another temple and then totally missed the National Museum. Through the centre of the city runs Lane Xang St, said to be the Champs Elysee of SE Asia, to complete the look is a concrete arch, the Patuxai. I climbed to the top, there is an impressive view across the city and river into Thailand.The previous night it hadn't occurred to me when looking across the river that I was actually looking across an international border into another country. It had only been brought home to me by a sign in the hostel advising people not to go down to the riverside at night as they could be arrested. I stopped for a chat with a security guard outside the American embassy and got a photo at the Black Stupa. It had originally been covered in gold leaf which had been stripped off when the city was invaded by the Siamese. I hid out during the middle of the day to avoid the heat, I think it's hotter than Vietnam. I then went back across town to go and see That Luang, the symbol of Laos. At the temple I bumped into a couple of girls who were also staying at the hostel. We wandered around the temple together, I managed to get some random people photos after we had jumped into a group photo. Then the girls were up for a statue photo, very cool. It reminded me of my trip with Anna on the train back home. There are definite benefits to travelling with a girlfriend. I had drinks and dinner with Marie, she took me to a great Laotian restaurant, the food was very spicy but delicious. It is surprising how difficult it is to get Laotian food in Laos. Lurang Prabang and Vang Vien's restaurants are all geared towards tourists and the menus are pretty much standard. There isn't much street food which is a disappointment. There is a large Vietnamese population in Laos but they haven't brought the street food culture with them, I don't know why. The biggest cultural influence comes from the French, in the bread, cakes and restaurant opening days, lots of restaurants are closed on a Sunday. Marie told me that this is typically French. We finished the night with a glass of wine in a local French restaurant, it was a very relaxed evening. Then it was back to the hostel, I chatted with a few people before turning in for the night.