Capital city. Normally I'm pretty good with geography, but I hadn't heard of this place until just recently. On the banks of Old Man Mekong, and with Thailand just over the border to the south, Vientiane has a nice, central location within the country from which to conduct all kinds of administrative business. It definitely had me scouring the Lonely Planet to try and find attractions though.
My bus ride there was short. A brief conversation with a young Lao here, a nap there. It was 1pm at the northern terminal so I decided, before anything else, to head to the Cambodian embassy to get my visa for later. Those can take up to three days so it's usually good to start early. I haggled a tuk tuk down a good 80% and was driven straight to the gates. They were closed, but a door to the side was open so I headed in. The embassy was quite large and resembled a South American villa more than anything. I walked around. No signs of life. I yelled "hello" but there was no answer. A side door was open so I walked in. Up some stairs, past some tourism posters. I even found my way onto the balcony. Still no one there. I found a door with shoes piled in front and knocked. No answer. I pushed it open a crack, looked in and found myself eye to eye with a large shirtless man in his underwear who had sprung out of bed.
"Today is Sunday! We are closed!" he shouted. I had thought it was Monday. "Can I come tomorrow?" I asked. "Tomorrow holiday. Closed!" I groaned audibly. "What you need?" he asked. I told him. "Come with me" he said, and without putting any clothes on, led me to his office. There, I filled out a series of paperwork and within 5 minutes, had my visa. Easiest and most informal visa application process ever. He then scrambled back to his room assuming I knew the way out. Moral of the story: kicking down doors and barging on in gets you what you want, although I probably wouldn't try this at any embassy.
I hopped on a local bus that appeared to be heading in the direction that I wanted. Screw the tuk tuks. I got dropped off at the central bus station where I ate noodle soup and conversed with an eager young Lao guy. Walking up the main boulevard, I passed only a tasteful peppering of tourist facilities. Vientiane had it's own agenda to live by, and tourist dollars were clearly secondary. I wandered a bit before settling on a place. Kind of a dump, but leagues cheaper than the alternatives.
That night I found a Korean restaurant and ate some comfort food from my home away from home. Doendan jjigae with all of the side dishes. They even put water in Korean jugs and had metal chopsticks. I spoke a little Korean to the owners and they just scoffed, which I found incredibly frustrating. I heard them speaking Korean so I have no idea what kind of sin I perpetrated. Thanks for robbing me of an otherwise decent experience guys. If there was tipping in Laos, I would have not tipped!
I walked around a bit trying to find a place where a guy by himself could go and not look out of place and awkward, but I had no such luck. At night, as I was brushing my teeth at the communal sink, I AGAIN ran into Melanie from the Perhentians/Chiang Mai. Weirdest coincidence. She and Anaka (whose name I previously forgot) were basically taking the same trail as Adam and I. They were staying just down the hall from me so we made plans to meet up the next day.
Early next morning I woke up and knocked on their door. Anaka was sick and Melanie was going to stay behind, so I opted to explore the town on my own. We agreed to meet up and maybe do something later.
Now, Laos is by no means a rich country, and it's had a pretty bad history of getting sacked by the Siamese, Khmer, Vietnamese, Americans and others, but Vientiane is a pretty damned nice place. Wide streets lined with foliage, functional traffic lights, nice sidewalks, helpful signage, pleasant architecture. Some ninny back in Luang Prabang was going on about how Laos was the poorest country in Asia, but everything I've seen so far seemed to contradict that statement.
In the center of an extremely elegant boulevard lay Patuxi, Laos' own Arc de Triomphe. Quite large and impressive from far away, it revealed itself to be nothing more than a giant slab of concrete up close. Inside, a huge sign fully acknowledged this fact. I ducked under it for shade. For 3000kip you could climb to the top, so I did and took in Vientiane from above. Lovely city. Not too busy. Hardly seemed like a capital at all.
Pha That Luang is the national monument of Laos and was about 3km north of Patuxi. Tuk tuk drivers were quoting me ludicrous prices that I took personal offense to, so I talked a well-dressed man on a motorbike into giving me a ride up for free. Old silver-tongued Jon saving a few dollars.
The place was closed for lunch so I walked around the grounds. A temple here, a temple there. When it opened, I was the only one waiting. It was quite gorgeous too. A golden spire encircled by separate tiers of spires. A lot more impressive than I was expecting.
I tuk tuked back towards the Mekong and into a bank. I needed US dollars for Cambodia and got caught up in a heinously bureaucratic procedure, something very unbecoming of Southeast Asia. After submitting everything but a urine test, I got my Jacksons. For lunch I sat down for a 60 cent sandwich and got bothered by a very disheveled Frenchman. He had crackhead teeth and constantly wandering eyes. "Can I sit here?" he asked gesturing to the seat in front of me. Social conventions implored me to say yes, and naturally, he was in the mood for a bleary eyed, garbled, stream-of-consciousness conversation. I just wanted to eat my goddamn sandwich and this man's Halloween mask face made the experience less enjoyable for every faculty it affected. I remained polite and finished quickly. Gotta be nice. This guy was probably more alone than I was.
I knocked on Melanie and Anaka's door to see what they were up to. Anaka was still sick, but Melanie agreed to accompany me to the Buddha Park about 30km out of town. Apparently some loony guy built a bunch of freaky statues and they've become somewhat of a curiosity and an attraction. Tuk tuks all wanted $20 one-way. I found a local bus for 50 cents. Sha-BAM! I can't sing, dance, fix a car or cook a delicious meal, but I'll be goddamned if I can't stretch a buck,
We drove a good 40 minutes to the gate. The sun was about to set so we didn't have much time. Thankfully, the park was quite small. The structure that greeted us was probably the most bizarre. I'll forgo a description, just look at the picture. You enter via the mouth and circle around an outer ring that goes up and up until you reach the top. At the top, you enter another mouth that goes down into an inner chamber. It was almost pitch black in this chamber, so I had to use the tracer beam from my camera if I hoped to see anything. All around were terrifying, deformed statues, like something from a crypt. A small hole revealed steps that went deeper. Then more steps went deeper until we were at ground level in almost total darkness. I could only take pictures with the flash to see some of the demented structures surrounding me. It looked like a Tool video. Using only our hands, we managed to find the way out again. Damn!
The rest of the structured ranged from pretty standard to LSD-induced; all jammed together in a tiny park beside the Mekong. No other tourists were there. After making a few rounds and taking a few corny perspective shots, we left and waited by the road for a bus to take us back to town. One came just as the rainclouds rolled in.
Back in town I ate some pretty disappointing Indian food. I had given up on a place to drink and meet people. Tomorrow I had planned to catch a 15-hour bus to Pakse in southern Laos. 15 hours would be a new record for a single trip. Doing that hungover would be hell on earth, so I stayed in and read my book until I fell asleep.
In the morning, I threw on my most comfortable t-shirt, my most comfortable shorts, bought a lunch and a sheet of Valium and caught a local bus to the southern terminal.
My bus ride there was short. A brief conversation with a young Lao here, a nap there. It was 1pm at the northern terminal so I decided, before anything else, to head to the Cambodian embassy to get my visa for later. Those can take up to three days so it's usually good to start early. I haggled a tuk tuk down a good 80% and was driven straight to the gates. They were closed, but a door to the side was open so I headed in. The embassy was quite large and resembled a South American villa more than anything. I walked around. No signs of life. I yelled "hello" but there was no answer. A side door was open so I walked in. Up some stairs, past some tourism posters. I even found my way onto the balcony. Still no one there. I found a door with shoes piled in front and knocked. No answer. I pushed it open a crack, looked in and found myself eye to eye with a large shirtless man in his underwear who had sprung out of bed.
"Today is Sunday! We are closed!" he shouted. I had thought it was Monday. "Can I come tomorrow?" I asked. "Tomorrow holiday. Closed!" I groaned audibly. "What you need?" he asked. I told him. "Come with me" he said, and without putting any clothes on, led me to his office. There, I filled out a series of paperwork and within 5 minutes, had my visa. Easiest and most informal visa application process ever. He then scrambled back to his room assuming I knew the way out. Moral of the story: kicking down doors and barging on in gets you what you want, although I probably wouldn't try this at any embassy.
I hopped on a local bus that appeared to be heading in the direction that I wanted. Screw the tuk tuks. I got dropped off at the central bus station where I ate noodle soup and conversed with an eager young Lao guy. Walking up the main boulevard, I passed only a tasteful peppering of tourist facilities. Vientiane had it's own agenda to live by, and tourist dollars were clearly secondary. I wandered a bit before settling on a place. Kind of a dump, but leagues cheaper than the alternatives.
That night I found a Korean restaurant and ate some comfort food from my home away from home. Doendan jjigae with all of the side dishes. They even put water in Korean jugs and had metal chopsticks. I spoke a little Korean to the owners and they just scoffed, which I found incredibly frustrating. I heard them speaking Korean so I have no idea what kind of sin I perpetrated. Thanks for robbing me of an otherwise decent experience guys. If there was tipping in Laos, I would have not tipped!
I walked around a bit trying to find a place where a guy by himself could go and not look out of place and awkward, but I had no such luck. At night, as I was brushing my teeth at the communal sink, I AGAIN ran into Melanie from the Perhentians/Chiang Mai. Weirdest coincidence. She and Anaka (whose name I previously forgot) were basically taking the same trail as Adam and I. They were staying just down the hall from me so we made plans to meet up the next day.
Early next morning I woke up and knocked on their door. Anaka was sick and Melanie was going to stay behind, so I opted to explore the town on my own. We agreed to meet up and maybe do something later.
Now, Laos is by no means a rich country, and it's had a pretty bad history of getting sacked by the Siamese, Khmer, Vietnamese, Americans and others, but Vientiane is a pretty damned nice place. Wide streets lined with foliage, functional traffic lights, nice sidewalks, helpful signage, pleasant architecture. Some ninny back in Luang Prabang was going on about how Laos was the poorest country in Asia, but everything I've seen so far seemed to contradict that statement.
In the center of an extremely elegant boulevard lay Patuxi, Laos' own Arc de Triomphe. Quite large and impressive from far away, it revealed itself to be nothing more than a giant slab of concrete up close. Inside, a huge sign fully acknowledged this fact. I ducked under it for shade. For 3000kip you could climb to the top, so I did and took in Vientiane from above. Lovely city. Not too busy. Hardly seemed like a capital at all.
Pha That Luang is the national monument of Laos and was about 3km north of Patuxi. Tuk tuk drivers were quoting me ludicrous prices that I took personal offense to, so I talked a well-dressed man on a motorbike into giving me a ride up for free. Old silver-tongued Jon saving a few dollars.
The place was closed for lunch so I walked around the grounds. A temple here, a temple there. When it opened, I was the only one waiting. It was quite gorgeous too. A golden spire encircled by separate tiers of spires. A lot more impressive than I was expecting.
I tuk tuked back towards the Mekong and into a bank. I needed US dollars for Cambodia and got caught up in a heinously bureaucratic procedure, something very unbecoming of Southeast Asia. After submitting everything but a urine test, I got my Jacksons. For lunch I sat down for a 60 cent sandwich and got bothered by a very disheveled Frenchman. He had crackhead teeth and constantly wandering eyes. "Can I sit here?" he asked gesturing to the seat in front of me. Social conventions implored me to say yes, and naturally, he was in the mood for a bleary eyed, garbled, stream-of-consciousness conversation. I just wanted to eat my goddamn sandwich and this man's Halloween mask face made the experience less enjoyable for every faculty it affected. I remained polite and finished quickly. Gotta be nice. This guy was probably more alone than I was.
I knocked on Melanie and Anaka's door to see what they were up to. Anaka was still sick, but Melanie agreed to accompany me to the Buddha Park about 30km out of town. Apparently some loony guy built a bunch of freaky statues and they've become somewhat of a curiosity and an attraction. Tuk tuks all wanted $20 one-way. I found a local bus for 50 cents. Sha-BAM! I can't sing, dance, fix a car or cook a delicious meal, but I'll be goddamned if I can't stretch a buck,
We drove a good 40 minutes to the gate. The sun was about to set so we didn't have much time. Thankfully, the park was quite small. The structure that greeted us was probably the most bizarre. I'll forgo a description, just look at the picture. You enter via the mouth and circle around an outer ring that goes up and up until you reach the top. At the top, you enter another mouth that goes down into an inner chamber. It was almost pitch black in this chamber, so I had to use the tracer beam from my camera if I hoped to see anything. All around were terrifying, deformed statues, like something from a crypt. A small hole revealed steps that went deeper. Then more steps went deeper until we were at ground level in almost total darkness. I could only take pictures with the flash to see some of the demented structures surrounding me. It looked like a Tool video. Using only our hands, we managed to find the way out again. Damn!
The rest of the structured ranged from pretty standard to LSD-induced; all jammed together in a tiny park beside the Mekong. No other tourists were there. After making a few rounds and taking a few corny perspective shots, we left and waited by the road for a bus to take us back to town. One came just as the rainclouds rolled in.
Back in town I ate some pretty disappointing Indian food. I had given up on a place to drink and meet people. Tomorrow I had planned to catch a 15-hour bus to Pakse in southern Laos. 15 hours would be a new record for a single trip. Doing that hungover would be hell on earth, so I stayed in and read my book until I fell asleep.
In the morning, I threw on my most comfortable t-shirt, my most comfortable shorts, bought a lunch and a sheet of Valium and caught a local bus to the southern terminal.
Lao National Culture Hall
Korean eats. Sorry bout the white balance.
Patuxi
Vientiane from atop Patuxi.
Some temple near Pha That Luang.
Pha That Luang (!)
Buddha Park. Smiling jackarse.
Home of all your worst nightmares. Buddha Park.
Buddha Park jackassery.
Last Buddha Park picture.
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