Vientiane

So, I took the wimp's option of getting to Vientiane, a 1hr flight rather than the 24hr bus ride. Everything went well despite it being the smallest plane that I've ever been on. It would have felt like we were getting on a private jet apart from the fact that the plane looked about 100 years old. It had propellers. Do big planes have propellers? Will have to look next time.

Anyway, got into the country with no problems and it was a short tuk tuk ride to find a guesthouse. $12 a night which is a little expensive but it was nice and clean and airy and I had a little balcony so I was happy.

The town seems really small, not like a capital city at all. Very quiet and hardly any traffic.

I spent the first day just wondering around. I saw some of the Wats and got chattting to a trainee monk who was asking me lots of questions about religion in English. I made some stuff up so as not to appear too uneducated!! He found the fact that our going to church mainly on Sundays and singing a lot quite funny... The he opened the Wat especially for me so that I could take a look inside and there was a huge golden buddha in there, very impressive.

In the evening I was having dinner when Caroline walked by (one of the girls that I met in Vietnam) so we went for beers and arranged to meet the next day.

The next day.... We spent it walking around and visiting the market (had some tasty waffles), going up the mini concrete Arc de Triumphe and visiting a big temple that you couldn't get into. Not sure wether it was a temple or just a big gold structure, but apparently it's very famous (in Laos).

We went for dinner and beers in the evening and they put on some Malaysian dancing. Not quite sure why it was Malaysian dancing and not Laos dancing but it was nice! We got chatting to an American guy who told me about the bus journey to Luang Prabang - twisty turny roads through the mountains with arm guards dotted here and there - excellent.