Vientiane

Sadly I had to farewell Tom and Anna and power on through to Vientiane to catch up with Craig and Morgan again. We farewelled in style, chowing down lunch in silence with Family Guy playing in the background.

I caught a rather uneventful bus to the capitol. I tried a half dose of a travel sickness pill which had the pleasant side effect of making me blissfully relaxed for the entire journey. Lstening to Rossini’s Barbiere Di Siviglia has never sounded so divine.

I arrived at the designated hotel and, joining a table with Craig, Morgan and an Italian chap, was pleasantly greeted with free beer and food – the hotel’s Christmas party was being held and they wanted the guests to join in. Given we could see Thailand from across the Mekong there was some phenomenal Thai curry, as well as a tonne of other yummy foods, a bbq and free beer included just to win us over. The 30 plus staff plus families were clearly having a blast. There were songs (a terrible rendition of “I Started A Joke”), dances (inappropriate ‘shake your booty’ styled dancing performed by some kids) and competitions. The two competitions, a food eating one and a pepsi drinking one, were entered by yours truly which was great fun. As a ‘guest’ the MC placed me in the centre of the competitors. Towering over them all I completely masked the MC, but he didn’t seem to mind. The evening was finished off with some dancing which involved looking glum, shy, or both, while slowly swaying and moving only your wrists. An intriguing sight. There was another layer of complexity which we soon discovered which involved forming two circles with the woman on the outside, and moving around very slowly in our circle around the dance floor. Clearly looking lost and alone I was paired with a Laos girl who looked extremely shy and embarrassed. Bless.

Craig, Morgan and I went for a night time stroll along the Mekong and finishing at a night Market which stocked some cool things. And a variety of things as well – none of this ‘everyone selling the same thing’ mentality, which left me a little lost.

I drifted off to sleep to the sound of clubbing music down the road.

I awoke at 3:30 to the sound of someone beating the drum in the Monastery outside my room.

I awoke at 5:30 to the same thing.

Sadly this was not the good night’s sleep I was so desperate for after Vang Vieng.
Finally rising at dawn I stumble out to my 4th floor balcony and take in the city in the morning light. The monastery opposite the hotel with its golds and reds and basking in the morning’s own golden light. And the weird snake like dragons rolling off of every roof within. To my right is Thailand over the Mekong looking peaceful and enticingly quieter.

The day started with a quick walk to the Mekong river itself. We had to walk a considerable distance on the river bed to reach the water – this would be an impressive sight in the rainy season. After a hearty lunch we bumped in to Tom and Anna, and we all went to cool off in a water fun park. The fun park was average in places, from the mosquito infested changing rooms to the feral pools. Locating a clean pool we set up camp, then took turns on the water slides. These are undoubtedly the scariest slides I have ever been on. From being flung around in pitch black, smashing in to unexpected corners, to almost being flung off the side (my legs departed the slide completely). I repeated my terrifying experience until my knees and elbows could handle the scrapings no more.

That evening, farewelling Tom and Anna a second time, Morgan, Craig and I hopped on our sleeper bus off to Pakse [check spelling]. I should mention that this was no ordinary day, this was New Years eve.The sleeper bus was packed with people, and was awkward because each bed came in a pair meaning I was going to have to cuddle up to a stranger. Urgh. A stroke of brilliant luck however, the three of us managed to score the back row – five beds in a row – all to ourselves. Thus this became the greatest bus trip ever. With Monopoly, a pile of snacks, and a half dose of travel sickness medication, we readied our corner and set in for a good night. We were all asleep within half an hour and completely missed the New Years countdown. And none of us could have cared less. We awoke for a fiery dawn whilst pulling in to our destination.