Saturday 27th June 2009, Vientiane

Another morning lie in, only this time with air-con, so much easier to sleep or at least pre tend sleep!! We were up about 10am ish and after dressing and sorting our washing out it was out to find the cheapest place to get it done. We were both desperately in need of some clean clothes so this was of major importance before anything else could be done!! The going rate was about 10,000 kip per kilo so we dropped it off with a promise of it being done in 24 hours and by machine not hand!! After this we nipped into a few travel agents to get some quotes for flights from Laos to Thailand. We are going to fly from Luan Prabang (Laos) to Bangkok (Thailand) as this will guarantee us a 30 day visa and also it's a lot quicker. The plan is to fly on the 7th July.After getting a few quotes we then headed to Sticky Fingers café to get some breakfast/lunch and have a think about it. I had a chicken and basil mayo sandwich and Caroline had poached egg with toast. Caroline was not so impressed with the poached egg as it was too watery and we both found the bread a bit weird as it was wheat and salt free. Thankfully it went quite well in a sandwich but not so well on its own! I did suggest tipping a lot of salt onto the bread to see if this improved it but Caroline wasn't keen to try this!!

We'd decided that today would be a walk around the city day to see what we could find so after lunch we went off wondering around the streets. Vientiane as a city is very quiet and feels a lot like a town and not like a capital. Compared to other cities it's tiny. There are lots of little side streets to just meander along so that's what we did. Without a map so much more fun. First of all we came across a temple so we had a look around the grounds but didn't actually go in the temple as neither of us felt we were appropriately dressed and there were a lot of monks about. But then we got talking to one of the monks as he wanted some help with his English homework in preparation for an exam he was due to take. We also at this point found out that Laos are due to host the South East Asia games this year in December. It did take us a while to work out what he was talking about because he kept referring to them as the SEA games and we had no idea what he was talking about, but we got there in the end. Having looked it up the SEA games are held every 2 years and involve 11 different South East Asian countries. There a little like the Olympics and involve a multitude of events. The funniest part of helping the monk with his English was how bad the actual grammar was on the printed homework he had. It was supposably taken from the Oxford exam board but I some how doubt it!!!

After here we carried on walking until I spotted an interesting building so we turned right and followed the appropriate street until we were outside the so called building. It was a pretty spectacular building and it turned out to be The Laos National Culture Hall. We couldn't get inside as it was all locked up but from the outside it looked pretty amazing. According to the board outside it was opened in the year 2000 in recognition of Laos being free from Polio. Opposite the Culture Hall there was the Laos National museum so we went in there to have a look. Now it will come as no surprise to you by now that Caroline finished a good half an hour before I did. I thought we were only actually there for about an hour but she claims it was longer. The museum itself had 16 rooms detailing the history of Laos. It started off pre-historically at the dinosaur stage and progressed through to now. It was ok but I was really disappointed that there wasn't more information on the various wars of Laos. But what we do know that is surprise surprise the yanks and the French invaded at separate times to try and take control. They are not spoken highly of within the museum in fact the word puppets was used frequently to describe the American soldiers. After the museum we went across the road to a restaurant and had ice-cream milkshakes. Mine was Strawberry flavored and Caroline's was chocolate. Very nice and cured the sweet tooth cravings.

From here we headed back to the River front (The Mekong River) which is where we are staying going via Nam Phu Square. Nice little square with several restaurants around it some of them French. We did take a look but found the prices a little steep!! The square also has a water fountain in it and I was again disappointed to see it wasn't on! (This is always the case during the day-money saving!) But later on when we walked through again during the evening it was on, so I was happy, and it looked all very pretty!! After our 1st walk through Nam Phu square we then used the internet for a little while (2 hours) before deciding on where to have dinner.Caroline was cold at this point so we nipped back to the guest house so she could put on some jeans and a jumper but this decision was later regretted when during dinner she became very hot. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant plus several beers until closing. Tonight was also our first taste of lady-boys!! With a very tall one at that and dressed in a very black slinky dress!!

Sunday 28th June 2009, Vientiane

We left the guest house today about 12pm after picking our washing up and sorting out bus tickets for tomorrow to Vang Vieng. From the guest house we walked to Nam Phu square to the Scandinavian Bakery and café we had read about in the Lonely Planet. And we were not disappointed. We had a very nice brunch in here and a chilled hour and a half chatting and people watching. I had a Salami and salad baguette on honey wheat bread with Mayo and Caroline had a salami and cheese salad. We both really enjoyed it and I even had a cake to finish off my coffee with. Any excuse.

After this we decided we had better take in some culture so having read about the Pha That Luang we jumped into a tuk tuk and headed there. We agreed a price with the tuk tuk driver before leaving Nam Phu square including waiting time at Pha That Luang. So making life easier than having to barter with 2 tuk tuk drivers!! The Pha That Luang is the most important national monument in Laos. It is a symbol of both the Buddhist religion and Lao sovereignty. An image of the main stupa appears on the national seal. Legend has it that Ashokan missionaries from India erected a that (Buddhist stupa) here to enclose a piece of Buddha's breast bone as early as the 3rd century BC. Construction began again in 1566. Over time 4 wats were also built around the stupa but only 2 remain. Wat That Luang Tai to the south and Wat That Luang Neua to the north. The main stupa is colorfully painted gold although we did feel that it could do with a fresh lick of paint!! It was interesting to have a look about and we also had a look at both Wat's to either side. Its all very same same but different but interesting architecture and very colorful!!!

After here we went ten pin bowling!! We played 3 games and over all Caroline won! Boo Hoo FOR ME!! Her highest score was 121 and mine was 94. I won the 1st game but Caroline won the next 2. We actually ended up playing bear foot as the shoes were too slippy and annoyingly we had bought socks at the alley when we got there as we needed them for the shoes. After bowling we walked back to the main area near the river and had smoothies at the Full Moon café as well as picking back up our ipods, we once again have had some new tunes put on. After this we came here to the internet café which is where we still are having updated this and made a few phone calls. Tonight I think we may eat local on the river front. Tomorrow we are heading to Vang Vieng.