Our arrival in Laos... Today has been a particularly LONG day... We have just disembarked the overnight train from Bangkok to the northeastern border with Laos, near the town of Nong Khai... Still in a bit of a transit daze, we shuffled through the absolutely baking hot sun across the Mekong river "Friendship Bridge" towards the Lao border... This was physically exhausting because of the heat and weight of our bags, but the added constant stress of being surrounded by taxi drivers, hotel touts, pushy trinket salesmen/women had us both a bit on edge. Sometimes, adventure travel is enough to drive a person INSANE!!! After a bit of a minor meltdown on my part, followed by a lovely air-conditioned iced coffee break, we finally made it to Vientiane, the 1-horse capital of Laos.
On first impression, Vientiane is a lovely town (you wouldn't really call it a city) lacking in traffic, congestion, and pollution... The people here seem to be so soft spoken and gentle in comparison to the aggressive, tourism-jaded Thais... Such a noticeable contrast from the shouts of "You come! Buy Suit! Taxi? Massage! Now, you EAT!" and the like from almost every Thai street corner.
I think we are going to love our time in Laos... Tonight, we are off to an Indochine-style French restaurant overlooking the Mekong River in a 200-yr. old colonial style house... I'm planning to suck down a bottle of cheap French wine, gaze upon the river, and try to infuse a bit of "soul" back into our trip... We've very recently hit midway doldrums but thankfully are not at each other's throats... but with the almost daily strain of moving, packing, haggling, schlepping, sweating, and sleeping on other people's nasty pillows... it can be trying at times. The unrelentingly high temperatures do not help matters and the inhumane climate is certainly a factor in my very-recent travel burnout: I am longing for cooler temperatures and not being soaked with perspiration the second I leave the comfort of a cold shower.
I think we are going to love our time in Laos... Tonight, we are off to an Indochine-style French restaurant overlooking the Mekong River in a 200-yr. old colonial style house... I'm planning to suck down a bottle of cheap French wine, gaze upon the river, and try to infuse a bit of "soul" back into our trip... We've very recently hit midway doldrums but thankfully are not at each other's throats... but with the almost daily strain of moving, packing, haggling, schlepping, sweating, and sleeping on other people's nasty pillows... it can be trying at times. The unrelentingly high temperatures do not help matters and the inhumane climate is certainly a factor in my very-recent travel burnout: I am longing for cooler temperatures and not being soaked with perspiration the second I leave the comfort of a cold shower.
Next Stop: Vang Viene
More soon. x Jason
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