May 1
We get up early and look forward to our morning breakfast
and wonderful Lao coffee with milk. We
are ready to depart when the truck arrives at 9:00. We pile into the back and drive off to
another stop where we pick up a group of passengers including two brothers from
Canada. We head down the road and a couple
of us have started the journey feeling green but we are hopeful we can look
forward to an uneventful, unwinding and un-vomit inducing trip. Turns out, we (or, rather, I) are subjected to
a rather nauseating journey. We stop
after about 2 hours and the rest does everyone good. We continue you on our way and arrive around
3:00 at the Talat Soa (Morning Market) in Vientiane. We have not been successful in booking a
hotel so we are now on the hunt with the two Canadian brothers in tow. They are flying out tomorrow to go to Chiang
Mai and are not too picky about where they stay as long as it’s cheap. We are able to negotiate a songteaw along
with them and we split the cost to a guesthouse that I have the name of where
we might find a room. When we arrive,
the rooms are too expensive for us, so we walk back to the street and start
going from door to door. Everyone is
booked and I am not sure why. We get
some cold drinks and Hudson and I agree to do the reconnaissance work for the
group to try to find a place for all concerned.
I must say, I am very unimpressed with Vientiane. It is loud, dirty and without any obvious
virtues. I, for one, am glad we are only
here for one night before returning to Thailand for the final stay at Khaosan
Park Resort. Hudson and I make
numerous inquiries at places that are either 1) too expensive or 2) have no vacancy
until we finally come upon a guesthouse/wood carving studio that has a large
family room with five beds as well as a double room available for the brothers. We retrace our steps and get the group to
follow us. We arrive, and once all
negotiations are underway, we lug our stuff up about 4 flights of stairs, get
into the room, turn the AC on full blast and then venture out to have a bite to
eat. Easier said than done…..May 1 is a
national holiday (as Laos is a communist country) and most of the stores are
closed up for the day. We wander through
the equivalent of a “mall” and out the other side before settling on a
semi-diner/ice cream shop….this is really weird. This place, for all intents and purposes is a
shiney diner right out of the 1950’s except they serve spicy macaroni and curry
with rice….crazy world. We order and eat
with great enthusiasm as it is nearly 4:30 and we are starved. After lunch, we purchase some necessities and
then return to the hotel room to discover that our AC is essentially just a fan….we
are swelteringly hot and we all flay ourselves on our respective beds to try to
cool off. We shower in an attempt to wipe off the grime and sweat only to
return to our beds and start the process of sweating all over again. This is fun.
We complain and argue for a while as the heat has us all in such a sour
mood, before deciding to walk around for a little while. All the complaining and arguing has really
worked up our appetites and we find a nice little bistro where we order
sandwiches and soup for dinner.
Afterward, we purchase some water and drinks for our room before
returning to our sauna of a room to try to sleep.
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