Sunday 22 June 2008

It's oh so quiet...in Vientiane


'Never again!' we said after the last long sleepless coach journey but we've done it again and have arrived bleary-eyed in to baking Vientiane, our last destination in South East Asia. It's by far the quietest city we've been to on the trip, let alone capital. It seems almost empty! Here's the view across the Mekong river to Thailand...

Poor Ric was unlucky enough to have some one leaning heavily on him for most of the journey as they didn't have enough seats for the tickets issued. The poor passenger in question was perched on a foot stool for almost 10 hours! Ric was livid. I swapped seats with him in the end.

Hoping for at least a cheesy blockbuster (we've watched Speed and The Day After Tomorrow at least 3 times so far) with English subtitles, instead the driver stuck on the most atrocious selection of DVDs, comprising it seems of the very worst of Asian entertainment.

The first was a violent but absurdist Thai cowboy/martial art flick with Laos subtitles. An interesting blend of genres you might think. Yes in theory but in reality, a two hour torture. Strangely though I found it an interesting backdrop to Steely Dan and Ben Folds which I cranked up to the max in order to block out the movie's din.

Then someone put on a very strange and equally dire cabaret/pantomime show, which had been filmed live in a stadium somewhere here in Laos. Think Dame Edna Everage come Charlie Chaplin come Pat Butcher, on a stage, shrieking at each other, all wearing garish face paint and shocking pink clothes and you get the idea. Who can seriously enjoy this rubbish? Baffling.

Then as if that wasn't enough (usually the lights go out at midnight) the best was yet to come at 3am when they stirred us from our groggy half-sleep with a ridiculously loud karaoke video! Arghhhhhh!

Ironically the locals on the bus, ie. the vast majority, showed little interest in the television and seemed able to pass out almost immediately thus sleeping right through it all, except that is for the mandatory vommitters at the back. Well the roads did twist and turn rather relentlessly.

Aside from the above and the fact the the 'Air Con' was actually just a partially opened roof window which they had to shut when it started to rain, I was content as I always am when I have biscuits, Diet Coke and have the opportunity to listen continuously to my favorite music (mixed in with some new stuff including MGMT, Magic Bullets, Vampire Weekend who are all pretty good. Perhaps I'm not out of the new music scene just yet).

I am thinking about the future in a more rational, logical manner as well now. Mercifully, the madness of Thailand seems to have passed. It's hard to get stressed in easy going Laos.
We're horrified to read news of the typhoon that's hit The Philippines. To think we were there just a few weeks ago. I hope our friends in Manila and Coron are ok.

It's a pity it was too dark and misty to see the impressive rolling landscape we passed through last night. I caught glimpses of it when the lightening struck though and watched clouds swirling spookily around the nearly full moon. We went through dozens of tiny villages made entirely of bamboo. I even saw a few people, hill workers I imagine, curled up asleep on the road side. What a way to live.

So today, aided by the coffee and French baguettes which they do so well here, we've enjoyed wandering around this capital in a bit of a fug. It's not nearly as charming as Luang Prabang on the surface but there is a great range of food here, it's quiet and thus perfect for cycling and the Mekong river is spectacular! There were, as we've seen in many places, children laughing hysterically as they bathed and splashed around in it earlier.

Ric's had his hair shaved off revealing a plethora of mosquito bites on his head. I resisted the temptation to get a manicure while I waited.

Tonight we're going French as Ric has demanded steak. To be honest, we're both in need of a break from the usual stir fries and curries. I can't look at another spring roll. Plus we need to get our energy levels back up for our visit to the intriguing looking Buddha Park tomorrow.

Thanks to my lovely sis who's been saying nice things to her friends about my blog.

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