Mar
7
Eating and Sleeping in Vientiane
March 7, 2008 |
We were in Laos, and I could tick off another country on my list of been there, done that countries. And as the taxi from the friendship bridge entered the highway to Vientiane, Nan had her first bit of culture shock, which set off one of her many giggle fits on this trip.
“Teerak I think the driver is mao!”
“Why do you think that?”
“Look, he drive on wrong side of road!”
“Ahem, I think that’s the way they do it in Lao. Don’t worry, it’s the same way in Norway!”
And with that she had a grand old giggle session, but to be on the safe safe she fired of a few reassuring questions to the driver in Lao. He obviously confirmed that I was right. Because that set off another fit of the giggles.
Traffic in Vientiane is actually quite civilized. So we arrived in no time at the goal of our journey: The Royal Thai Embassy. And the visa line was stretching all the way back to the gate. I have a brand new pass port, so I needed a copy of the ID page and the visa form itself.
But right next to the gate was a few tables, manned by people out to make a quick baht. They where offering to fill out the form and make a copy for 100 Thai baht. But as I did not see a copy machine, I was reluctant to just hand my passport over to a stranger on the sidewalk. So when I spotted the sign right over his head saying “Copy services 60 meters” with an arrow pointing down the street, we headed that way.
Copies, form and two passport pictures in hand I joined the line. Last minute as the closed the gate behind my back. Then it was to settle in to slowly roast in the sun, while I inched slowly forward. About 1 hour later I handed my visa application over…only to be told to join another line inside the embassy building to pay the fee.
That took another half hour. All the while Nan waited patiently, sitting in the sun outside. There where no shade at all. But she greeted me with a smile as I exited the embassy with my visa fee receipt in hand. And we boarded a tuk tuk for the city center. I had not booked, fairly confident that accommodation would be easy to find. But our first try, the Tai Pan hotel was booked solid. So when we where offered a 64 dollar suite at the next hotel, I took it. Well, our Nong Khai hotel cost us 400 baht, so things would even out.
Next on the agenda was food. The hotel was right next to the banks of the Mekong. So we headed that way, and opted for barbecued fish and rice for me, and Nan of course went for two healthy servings of Som Tam…well you can take the girl out of Isaan, but getting Isaan out of the girl is another story. The meal tasted great. But when the bill came, in the local currency at 94000 kip, Nan almost flipped.
She was sitting there totally stunned.
“Teerak, I think they make mistake!”
“What, let me see”…”oh, they make the bill in Kips, Lao money. I think this is about same as 300 baht.”
“You sure!”
“Yes, no problem”
“Hmmm…I think I will have problem for shopping here, Lao money is ting tong!”
And then she basically laughed her socks off, while I thanked the gods of rampant inflation!
We then had a short walk around, exploring the area surrounding the hotel, then went back to the hotel and slept for a couple of hours. Before Nan again announced that she was hungry. By now it was nearly sunset, so we headed back to the river and had a nice barbecue meal, while enjoying the view of the sun setting over the Mekong dessert. I say dessert because all we saw of the river was sand, with a narrow blue strip of water hugging the Thai side of the river.
After that, we walked around for a bit again, and then back to the hotel to sleep. Sight seeing could wait until next day, as we could not pick up my pass port until 1300 hours.
Thats’ it
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Comments
5 Comments so far
Well I’m glad to see your ok.I made it to Nong Khai but didnt get across the boarder, they said the truck I was driving needed a passport… I decided not to leave her fathers truck unattended. I figured Id have plenty of time in the future to venture into Loas. I thought it was kewl standing on the shores of the mekong also, though it wasent very impressive.Man, you have to be getting ready to go back to work soon…….hehehehe
He….dont mention the “W” word to me!
Anyway, we got plenty to do. The place is a construction yard again, as we are setting up a fence on 3 sides of the house and a wall on the front side, complete with steel sliding gate…but that should be completted in another couple of days.
$64 for a room in Loas, I hope it was 5 star for that price!
It was nice and very comfortable
The alternatives where not that appealing either, and trawling a city in a 3rd world country for accomodation after dark, is not how I fancy spending time.
“trawling a city in a 3rd world country for accomodation after dark, is not how I fancy spending time.”
you are getting boring in your domestic life….and to think I was going to invite you to do some 3rd world trawling the next time I was in the area….