It was naive of us to believe that Vientiane would be a metropolitan oasis and provide us with our much craved fix of busy city life. Instead Vientiane charged us big city prices for not much in return - but it wasn't all bad.
We spent the best part of our first day at a gym - after Vang Vieng we were craving some healthy living. We did a workout, cooled off in the pool, and then had an hour long traditional Laos massage all for about $10 NZD. Les Mills could take note of these prices!
The following day we hired bicycles and set off to see the sights. First up was Patuxai which translates to Victory Gate or Gate of Triumph.
The Patuxai was built using American funds. The US had given Laos money to build a new airport, however the Laotian government of the day used the money to build the monument instead - classic! For a fee we climbed to the top and the view was worth the effort.
Next on the sight seeing agenda was Pha That Luang - better known as the national symbol of Laos. We timed our visit perfectly to arrive during the full force of the midday sun. We were sweating up a storm whilst fending off hawkers but it was worth it.
Aside from checking out the sights we obtained visa's for Cambodia - the next country on our visit list. The visa process was a very interesting experience - we biked to the embassy at 10am only to be told to come back at 2pm. At 2pm we arrived back and met some irate Israeli's. They warned us that the official on duty would try and charge us extra for the visa - usually $20US.
Sure enough the little scum bag tried to make us pay him $30US. We tried to reason with him but when that failed we put on our angry voices and tried to physically intimidate whilst sitting down. This paid dividends as we got our visa's for the correct price - yay us!
Random Fact
- At sunrise and sunset a public aerobics class takes places on the banks of the Mekong. Everyone is out of time and it is very entertaining.
Highlights
- Seeing a bright yellow Lamborghini in a communist country - Mr Chairman is that allowed?
- Saying good bye to Vientiane - it's not a bad place, there just isn't much to do.
Lessons Learned
- This is it - what you see is what you get, there is no hidden night life, there are no markets, go to bed and get some sleep.
- Cambodian visa's - stick to your guns and you wont get ripped off.
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