Vientiane, Laos
18/12/2008 - The flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Vientiane, Laos was very short - only about 1 1/2 hours. We arrived Vientiane around 9:40a.m and I was planning to get the visa on arrival. I realized that I did not have a picture and thought it'd be painful to get the visa and all, as that was a requirement for the visa, they were cool - no picture is an additional $1 usd, in addition to the $40 visa fee. Not too bad. Got my visa easily and picked up my bag and went for money exchange - I became an instant MILLIONAIRE !! The exchange rate was 1USD to 8469 Kips. I then got a prepaid taxi coupon to town for $6usd. I should have rather gone out and gotten a tuk tuk rather than a cab and it could have cost me half that price.
I asked the taxi to drop me in the center of town and I walked around and checked out many guesthouses. Very Tiring endeavor with the midday sun and slugging around an 8kg bag. Finally found a guesthouse - Haysoke guesthouse. I got a single room with air con, TV and shared bathroom for 110,000 kips (about USD 12). Not a bad price for own room and it was in a good location too. I dropped my bags, showered and went off to explore Vientiane. While walking around, I saw many travel agencies advertising visas for vietnam and they had same day service. I began thinking, that'd be an interesting country to visit if I can get visa (I had previously ruled it out, because of of visa difficulty). I went to one of them and left them my passport and visa fee ($55 for same day) and he told me to drop by in the afternoon to pick up my passport and visa. I was glad that was so easy !! I went off to the riverside part of Vientiane and there were many restaurants along the bank of the Mekong River. I sat down at one of them and ordered a grilled Mekong River Fish. Had a delicious late lunch while admiring the beautiful Mekong. After lunch, I found a place that was renting biycles for $1.5USD for 24 hours or if I wanted a motorbike, that'd be $4. I rented a bicyle and wandered around vientiane. Vientiane, even though is the capital of Laos, is very quiet traffic wise and very bicyle/pedestrian friendly. The city is not too big. I cycled along the main roads and checked out the sights, sounds and smells. I spent the entire afternoon cruising around town and really loved it. I checked out the local market and some local buddhist temples.I was loving Laos more than any other country in South East Asia that I had just been to. Laos did not have any chaos as elsewhere. Everything was peaceful, quiet, and people were extremely nice and things were very cheap.
It came time to pick up my visa. Found my way back to the travel agent where I dropped the visa. Bad news. He told me they could not do the visa today itself, that if I wanted I could take my passport and he'll refund me or else for sure tomorrow he should be able. I had not planned on staying in Vientiane for another day.. so now I had to decide if I wanted the visa, I had to stay. After some thoughts, I decided that I really wanted to go to Vietnam and deciced to stay for another day. So I asked him to try to do it for me by tomorrow evening. Now, I had to find something to do for the next day. Next to my guesthouse, is the office of Green Discovery, one of the recommended eco-agencies from Lonely Planet Guidebook. I went in and asked them about the different day trips they had. A white water kayaking trip grabbed my attention and I signed up for that (All trips cost cheaper if there are already other people signed up for it.. for this one trip the agent told me 3 other people had signed up from Vang Vieng). Price was allright for a whole day trip - $32. That included transporation (about 2 hours away), fresh cooked lunch on the trail, english speaking guides and the kayaking equipment and life jackets etc.. So, I was all set for how to spend my day tomorrow !! Went back to the Mekong riverbank and had dinner there again before coming back to the hotel and calling it a night a bit early. (Talking to the local people, I hear there's a curfew around 11:00p.m.. when all restaurants, bars, discos etc.. are supposed to close.. but not confirmed though). Pic 1 : Buddha
Pic 2 : Buddhas
Pic 3 : Mekong Riverbank House
Pic 4 : Haysoke Guesthouse, where I stayed
Pic 5 : Fresh Fruit Shake Seller
Pic 6 : Brahma
Pic 7 : Novice Monks
Pic 8 : I am a Millionaire !!!
