Vientiane, Capitol of Lao
Land of many mishaps and few pictures....

November 19 - 25

Let me explain....
I took many pictures from Savannakhet to Vientiane, and had many great photos on my memory card. Then I thought I would take a short cut and changed the batteries in the camera when the camera was powered on. Three reformats of the memory card later I can use the memory again, but all the images are lost.

What did you miss? Well, it was a fairly uneventful bus ride from Savannakhet to Vientiane. Because Kathy had spent the last two days in Savannakhet with serious food poisoning, and was only just recovering, we made sure the trip was as comfy as possible. Thanks to Theung for all the great taking care of us while Kath recovered. We took the VIP bus (7 hours, great road) for $10 with full on reclining seats, VCD movies (couldn't understand them of course), air-con, snacks, etc. The driver was Khampanh's older brother, so we knew someone on the bus.

Anyway, we got to Vientiane and looked up an old buddy, who then insisted that we stay at his family's house. So we packed up out of our Air-con room with private bath and hot water and went to stay in a spare room, at their very large house, with fan and cold shower.

Now, I knew Phousay back in the day when I first came out here and was still drinking. Unfortunately, he expected to continue that relationship. Everything was drinking this, "too bad you don't drink anymore", "let's go out drinking", "who's going to laugh with me when I'm drunk now that you don't drink?". BS. Endless.

We went out to their relatives farm where they had a couple of fish ponds for a picnic. Turns out they were draining the ponds and catching all the fish. Primarily snakeheads and gourami, but also a few fresh water eels, spotted knifes and catfish. If you aren't familiar with these fish then a visit to your local pet store should help you fill in the blanks. Watching what I consider to be pet fish impaled live on sticks and wriggling over an open fire didn't really fill my mind with thoughts of eating. Oh yeah, and I had the Lao food runs that day as well.

So I'm trying to suck back enough water to stay hydrated between trips to the bushes, trying to dodge the incessant barrage of drinking issues, and waiting for it to end so I can take some Imodium and lay down for a rest. Meanwhile, Phousay is getting progressively drunker. After the ponds are drained and the fish are caught to everyone's satisfaction, it's time to drive over to the relatives house for dinner and of course more drinking.

No one can understand why I'm so impolite as to not join them, no one can understand why I don't smoke with them, or drink with them, or why I want to take a rest in the car. Whatever. Around 8:30 we are then treated to a harrowing 40 min drive back with Phousay at the wheel, Kath and I buckled into the back seat, and Phousay's mom yelling at him to slow down. Phousay meanwhile insists that he's not drunk, turns down my offer to drive, and narrowly misses every pedestrian on the road. Promptly on arrival, our "not drunk" driver pukes in the bushes outside his house, stumbles inside and passes out.

Kath and I packed that night and left the next morning. Saysombath family: thanks for the adventure, I hope you continue to survive it....

So Vientiane itself is a pretty basic city. There's a lot of drugs and prostitution, as with pretty much any Capitol city in the neighborhood, that makes it a bit of a sleazy tourist destination. There's not much there, but there are banks where you can use plastic, a decent array of western restaurants has sprung up in the last couple years, and the airport can take you anywhere you need to go as long as you're willing to leave on the right day and don't mind 10 hour layovers in Bangkok.

Here're some photos:

The skyline from the top of our hotel.

The Cultural Hall.

Main street traffic.

The Stadium.

 
Tuk tuk's and a street vendor.

 
Not sure if California's current governor would be terribly amused, but I'm trying to figure out who this Arbikd Scgwarzebegger is.

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