Because we had treated ourselves to flights to Laos (rather than the 30 hour bus journey) our last day in Vietnam was fairly chilled, we’d a couple of things to do, eg buying new flip-flops, but our main priorities were to eat and find the airport bus. All went to plan, so we figured we’d get the bus and find somewhere to eat at the airport… bad idea! There was only one place we could afford with our remaining dong, and half way through my spaghetti with tomato sauce, I found an elastic band, tasty! We then got onto our bus with wheels plane, it was a tiny propeller plane, but one hour later, we had arrived in Vientiane.
We shared a taxi into the city centre, which looked more like a big town, with an American couple and then went on the search for hotels. We weren’t really too worried about finding somewhere to stay, we were used to searching when we arrived (it’s usually more expensive to book ahead) and Laos is meant to be so cheap. Unfortunately we arrived in the run up to Christmas, and it’s with the wonderful recession, it’s no longer that cheap! We eventually found somewhere to stay, (after checking so many different places) but had bargained that much they would only let us stay one night!
After that mini-drama, we were in need of some food, (while Laos airlines got us there safely, the food on the plane wasn’t great) so we got a very tasty Indian and went for a stroll along the river. Vientiane has a whole range of places to eat and drink right by the river, so it’s a nice walk, especially at night as it’s all lit up. We got to the Mekong Deck, which looked like a more upmarket place to eat, and decided to head back. Simon decided he would take the dirt track down the bank (it’s not very big) but I advised the good, solid concrete steps two seconds away, but against all logic, I followed Simon. When he let out a loud, “Woah!” sound, I merely thought he’d slipped, and so not to look stupid, took a giant step across the dark bank… bad idea, one foot landed into a deep, murky puddle, and I emerged flip-flopless on one foot, as I turned to ask Simon to grab it, I realised he was in the same predictament. We walked home with one dirty leg and a bare foot each, with me saying, “We should’ve just walked down the steps.” and Simon saying “Why didn’t you stop when I said?” (You’ll notice the lack of, “Laura, stop!” in our conversation).
We got back to our hotel and rinsed a leg each that was covered in Mekong gunk. Cleaned up, we obviously laughed about it, but I was a little traumatised at having lost the flipflops, not only were they new that very day, but this is not the first pair of shoes I’ve parted with on bad terms. Prepare for a shoe rant… I limited myself to three pairs of shoes for this trip and all of them failed me, my tusty rocketdogs were abandoned in Beppu due to a hole that could hold a koi pond, (and seeing it was raining this wasn’t good) my two pairs of sandals fell apart, one when trekking the Great Wall, and the other in Hong Kong. I then bought a very pretty pair of sandals in Saigon, but by Hanoi they had suffered the same fate… In short, I’m bitter about the constant shoe losing.
The next day, we got up and changed hotels, we found one, that wasn’t quite as nice, but it was cheaper, had a TV and a hot shower, so we decided to stay there for Christmas. We chilled and got our bearings, enjoying a few BeerLao by the river. Attracted by the music and bright lights from the previous night, we headed to the Malasian Food Festival in the “Mekong Deck”. We relaxed enjoyed some Malaysian food and traditional song and dance, until they asked for some interaction from the audience. We avoided it until a French couple sat beside us, next thing I knew I was on stage waiting for my turn in a “Teh Tarik” competition, hosted by the chef. For those of you who don’t have a clue what that is, (like me before I was on stage) it’s a type of tea pouring, which is poured from one beaker to the other. Easy enough except you’ve obviously got to add a little excitement… cue the chef twirling around, dancing, pouring it into a balancing beaker etc. I was more than a little nervous especially as some people had spilled some and the stage was wet, but got through it, and even managed a couple of twirls, and for the record, I didn’t spill a drop. As if all this wasn’t embarrassing enough, we all had to line up, and the audience cheered for the winner. Just as I thought it was all over, Chef obviously thinks I have a hidden talent and decided that it was between me and another tourist, and we should repeat the process to confirm the winner. Unfortunately I got beaten at the last hurdle, and won a very fetching Beer Lao Jacket. (You can see my prize modelled by Simon in the photos) Next came the prize draw, in which we won a prize, imagine the excitement! Unfortunately it wasn’t a gorgeous room somewhere but a card holder and keyring from one of the banks. However, seeing I got back up on stage to dance with the French woman, she donated her prize of a free lunch! A successful night all round!
Our free lunch, (which turned out to be a place that did proper coffee and bagels ) prepared us for our touristy day ahead; first we hit the Talat Sao market, which was like a giant maze, you can buy everything here! We didn’t buy anything, but spent our whole time marvelling how quiet it was. It was busy, but without the sounds of Vietnam, it was all a bit surreal. There was no shouts and cries to ‘Come in, have a look’ ‘You want something?’ ‘t-shirt’ etc. We then walked up to Patuxai Victory Monument, which is basically Vientiane’s own Arc de Triomphe. It’s nicknamed the “Vertical Runway” as it was built with concrete supplied by the US for a new airport. Not much to look at inside, but the views at the top were worth the tourist only fee!
The next day, inspired by turkey sandwiches, we spent our day trying to find somewhere to have Christmas dinner, and spent the night watching some Christmas films. We started Christmas day with breakfast bagels in bed (my treat, but I’m sure the walk in the blistering heat will be rewarded… one day…) In the afternoon, we headed down to the English pub, “The Hare & The Hound” for our Christmas dinner. We ended up sitting with a group of teachers from Bangkok, on their Christmas holidays, seriously tempting me with stories of teaching in Thailand, their apartments with a pool etc… After a long wait we tucked into a proper Christmas dinner, complete with turkey, stuffing, roasties, mash etc. Obviously it didn’t rival the dinners you were eating at home, but, in Laos, it was perfect! After a couple of Christmas drinks, we phoned home, or in my case, trying to catch my dearest mum in Tenerife, having taken the opportunity to disappear for Christmas with half the family! There were a few tears hearing everybody, but it was nice.
After a lie in, we spent our final two days in Vientiane… updating the blog. I kid you not, two whole days with each of us working flat out to complete that Uber update… so keep gracing us with comments!
Our next stop was Vang Vieng, home to tubing and TV bars. We had booked a bus, “definately a ‘big’ bus for only 3 hours” which obviously turned out to the most crammed mini bus, with me taking the last seat in the aisle (actually in the aisle, not an aisle seat!) and poor Simon on a carpet/cushion combo in between the driver and passenger seat. We arrived fairly late on, (having taken a Lao 3 hours rather than GMT thre hours) and took the first place that was reasonably priced. We changed hotels twice in the next two days, first to a goreous one with a perfect view of the karst cliffs, and then to a not so nice, but cheaper hotel the next day.
Having finally settled on our floor mattress, we decided to take a bike out, and seeing we couldn’t get an automatic, Simon had his first experience on a manual bike. You’d think the company would be concerned that he didn’t know everything about using a manual, but no they didn’t even bat an eyelid as they gave him a quick lesson, assured us that we had enough ‘gas’ to get us to the petrol station, and set us on our way.
Following the guy’s direction’s for a petrol station, we soon realised that it wasn’t, ‘just around the corner’ and as we got further out of the village, ran out of gas. We had little option but to stroll and push the bike up the empty road. Finally, an Australian couple stopped, and probably feeling sorry for us in the heat, went to the petrol station and got us enough fuel to make it there ourselves.
Having refueled, we set off for our relaxing tour around Vang Vieng, which is actually quite pretty, once you’re outside the main town. The Australian couple recommended a cave to us, but seeing we didn’t have any of our swimming gear, we decided to do it the next day. The next day, we rented push bikes, and set off. Unfortunately, on the way I somehow fell off the bike, and managed to get my wrist stuck in Simon’s wheel. After the Lao woman who came over to make sure it wasn’t broken, (it’s hard to convince someone who doesn’t speak any English that you’re ok, and that embarrrassed you’d rather leave, broken wrist or not) we set off, a very red faced, tearful Laura. Stopping to make sure I was ok, I convinced Simon I was fine, (I could move it after all) but as it started to go a funny shade of purple and swell, it was timeto turn back. Some Vivomed strapping later, it was time to head out for New Year’s Eve.
We stopped at an Australian bar, who promised theydid the ‘best’ chicken burgers (they were that good, they also posed as our hangover cure for New Year’s Day) and seeing they had a promotion on Tiger and buckets, we stayed for the night. (For those who don’t know, a bucket is literallly a small bucket, filled with vodka or lethal LaoLao mixed with redbull and coke, tasty but literally lethal) After our free (but admittedly flat) champagne at twelve, we headed to the late night bars across the river. Finally we walked Sally home, to her ever so nice hotel, promised to go tubing the next day, and headed back, not before stopping for a Vang Vieng sandwich… chicken, bacon and cheese in a big roll… so tasty!
The next day, we woke up with hangovers from hell, and with my wrist still messy looking, decided it wasn’t such a good idea to go tubing, so we booked our bus for our next stop, Luang Prabang, giving ourselves one more day to do tubing. So after a hangover day, we got up, got ready for tubing, ignoring the grey ominous looking clouds and headed for breakfast. So on out last day in Vang Vieng, and our last chance to do tubing, it rained. Yeah, we could’ve went tubing, seeing as we were going to get wet anyway, but it rained that much the tubing place actually closed early… unbelievable!
Well, a long overdue update from us both! Hope everyone is well and has had a good Christmas, we haven’t done too badly here considering we are in Laos, we even managed to secure a Turkey dinner on the big day! Wasn’t quite up to the standards of home but beat rice and noodles for sure.
Bear in mind that we can’t cover everything because doing this takes so long (we’ve spent about 6 hours each on this), but we’ll try to keep more up to date from now on! We’ve also had a horrible time getting photos uploaded because the connections are so slow here but there’s a few up now, and there will be more when we get faster internet! Also about this blog - the companys hosting it are a shower of (ahem), which is why it’s so slow and tempremental, nothing to do with my design skills! I’ll try and get it moved to a different host when I can get a decent computer etc…anyway!
We’ve also written nothing about Laos yet, we’ll wait until we’ve seen a bit more, but there are a few photos up on the flickr site.
You can access our photos directly here! So add it to your favourites.
OK lots to catch up on since last time so here we go!
China Continued…
So back at the end of October (around the 21st) we left Beijing for Xian on an overnight train. This was to be one of the worst journeys we’ve had so far. We originally planned to get a soft sleeper which would have meant we shared a small room with 2 other Chinese but it would have been relatively comfortable, we might have even got some sleep! But alas this wasn’t to be. Due to us leaving it too late to book our ticket we had to settle for a hard seat, but hey how bad could it be, right!? Pretty bad it turns out, we were herded onto the train and had to battle with the ever polite Chinese even though everyone had a ticket for their seat, so there was absolutely no need for the chaos. The seats were laid out 6 at a time, 3 facing each other, and a little too small for 3 people to sit at and have any room to move. This was all OK but we were in the middle of a group of co-workers who immediately started bitching (in Mandarin of course) about our luggage taking up so much room when in fact they had 10 times more than us. This was the start of a night of general unpleasantness with lots of staring, whispering, touching, prodding and just plane rudeness directed at us. They also took pictures of us while we were asleep! The Chinese also (on this train at least) seem to be incapable of sitting down for more than 5 minutes without having to get up and completely readjust their luggage! We vowed never to do a hard seat again…
As you can imagine we were glad to see Xian, though it was pissing rain when we arrived. One soaking later and we got picked up by our pre-booked hotel and were at the south wall of the city in no time.
Xian is famous for one thing: Terracotta Warriors. Not going to see them would be like going to Giza and not stopping by The Pyramids. So duly we booked a tour a few days after we arrived. For those who don’t know, the warriors are thousands of terracotta army persons that were found by a group of farmers outside Xian (they were digging a well). The whole thing was quite impressive, not least the amount of work that has gone in to restoring the warriors, each one about 6 foot, not including horses, chariots etc. Photos probably say it best on this one so check them out.
We relaxed a bit in Xian and took in the city, walking and cycling around the walls of the city was a great way to see all the different districts. Our last night was spent eating a drinking, we met some cool people in the hostel (as it had a bar / restaurant), but over indulged a bit and were both feeling pretty rough the following morning. So the walk to the train station from the south wall to the north one was not pleasant! But thankfully for our next train ride we had been on the ball and got ourselves a soft sleeper, success! We were initially in different carriages but got sorted quickly enough by the seemingly nicer class of Chinese people in the soft sleeper seats.. Hey, who says money doesn’t buy class? We were even plied with fruit and snacks from the lovely woman in the bed beside Laura, how nice! We had a bit of trouble in the restaurant car, no English menu..no one to speak English..hunger then dictated that we’d sample a few random dishes from the menu. Dish one: Pork, Dish two: Chicken, so far so good.. Dish three: Tofu, ouch! A swing and a miss. We got enough to feed us anyway
Eight hours later we arrived into Shanghai, economic centre of China. My immediate impressions were of a mini-Tokyo (though not all that mini). Great transport system meant getting around the city was easy. People seemed alot more used to Tourists (read: whiteys) and there was no staring, hurrah! Our hostel here was alright, shared bathrooms and a few rats running about (not in our rooms though)…Aren’t we brave! The main attraction of Shanghai is really the city itself, very modern and cool. The Bund (the area running along the river) offers some great views of the skyline, and you also have a good chance of an attempted hustle! We were approached by 2 Chinese girls (tourists too dontchaknow!) with impeccable English who were talking to us for about ten minutes..trying to butter me up with such gems as ‘Oh the name Simon means ‘leader’, did you know that?’, giggling at my voice ‘It’s so deep, just like the BBC’! We always have our guard up but did think these two were maybe just practising their English with us (hey it does happen, and I do have a very good voice!), until of course they asked if we’d like to go to a great Chinese show with them… We make a hasty retreat and have another story to tell, every ones a winner!
We toured about Shanghai for the next couple of days, visiting Nanjing road and all the shops etc. Parts of it are very similar to Tokyo. We had a bit of a weak moment when we spotted a western style pizza buffet, we ate a lot of pizza and felt the usual guilty feeling travellers seem to have when the eat anything but rice and noodles in Asia, it’s cheating! I think we may have had a BK at some point too…I know, I know… We did redeem ourselves by braving it into a little cafe near our hostel, no English menu, and no one to speak English, which can be a bit intimidating when you are the only white people in the whole place. All we had was my iPods translation of ‘meat noodles’. Lo and behold we got some of the best pork noodles & soup we’ve had yet for about 1 or 2 pounds, great! We went back the next night too.
The French Concession Market at Shanghai’s Science & Technology Train station was a bootleggers dream. You have to brace yourself before going in as you will be hounded by every sales person in the place to buy their dodgy goods, they had fake *everything*. Watches, shoes, belts, clothes, movies, games, sunglasses, fake iPhones, bags, and more. I did partake, got a very good deal on a Tag Heur watch, Ray Ban sunglasses, and a D&G belt, hopefully I haven’t contributed to the downfall of those poor companies. It would have been more if I didn’t have to lug it all half way round the world! Laura got a nice Swatch watch, but alas we didn’t realise it was missing a winder to change the time until the next time-zone…. Aw well, it was only about a quid!
Hong Kong
31st of October saw us leave China and fly off to Hong Kong (yeah yeah, it is China, but not really). To get to Shanghai airport we took the famed Shanghai Maglev. Which means i’ve gone faster than any of you have on land, it gets up to 431 km/h (268 mph). It made the Shinkansen seem like an Ulsterbus, it gets to the airport in about 7 minutes (30 km away).
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is so different from anywhere we saw in mainland China. Everyone speaks English, transport system is fantastic, food is great and everything is just so easy compared to across the border. We were really wary of where we were going to stay after hearing so many horror stories of over priced crappy accommodation in HK. We couldn’t have asked for a nicer place though. We stayed at the Yes Inn, and due to us not booking the next nights in time we managed to see most of the available rooms! It was a really nice place, cool people there too. It was located about 2 metro stops from Lockheart road, HKs central nightlife street. It had been a while since we had been into a proper bar so we headed out on our first night, had a few (expensive) drinks. One of the few down-sides to HK nightlife was the amount of sleazy (white) business men hitting on all the young HK girls. Though I think in general they were just in it for a few free drinks, girl power eh!
The skyscrapers in HK are something else, by far the best skyline of anywhere we’ve yet been! And it’s got two of them, on one the Kowloon coast and the other on HK Island proper. Both seemingly trying to out do each other to spectacular effect! There is a laser light show on the skylines every night too , very impressive.
Hong Kong is expensive, but like Japan, not as bad as people say. There are fast food places that aren’t too dear and do some really nice food. The amount of electronic shops is unreal too, and they use UK plugs so I was able to buy a wall charger for my iPod, yeah! This meant I wouldn’t leave it sitting plugged into a computer to charge and forget about it again…whoops…happened twice!
As the pubs seemed so expensive we took the budget option on our first saturday in HK (1st November) and wento to a supermarket for a few beers and lady drinks for laura. Then we went to the seating place under the IFC building (currently tallest building on the skyline) and got some great takeaway fajita things, was good eating! Great views, really great weather and cheap! I’ve just realised that this sounds suspiciously like we had a carryout in the park like a couple of vagrants, but it wasn’t like that, honest! No trip to HK would be complete without a trip on the Star Ferry across the bay. Was a nice experience, definitely a good way to cross the river!
We also took a tram ride to the top of Victoria peak, this thing is nearly vertical at some points. Very surreal trip! Unfortunately the weather was against us and the grey mist / cloud meant the amazing views were hiding for the day…
We had deliberated going to Macau while we were in HK, and since it would mean another stamp in our already respectable looking passports we decided to go for it and take a visit for the day on the ferry. Macau is another special administrative region of China with it’s own borders etc. It’s also the Vegas of the Asia and is packed with casinos. We arrived a couple of days before the Macau GP so the roads were all set up for the racing, pretty cool to see. We went to one of the big Casinos (Sands), and for a while we were high rollers, on a lucky streak, nothing could stop us, but we had to take it too far..We didn’t know when to quit! We learned alot of lessons that day, and came away losers..we were down about 40 HK Dollars, damn you slot machines! We headed back to Hong Kong with our tails between our legs!
Our last day in HK was spent getting out stuff together and making our way to the airport. En route we did a bit of last minute reading about Vietnam, our next stop. There was something in the guidebook about needing a Visa, and that none were available on arrival, that couldn’t be right though could it?! Everywhere in SE Asia is Visa on arrival, right?! Argh!, we had messed up, you do of course need a Visa for Vietnam, and we had none. We couldn’t get on our flight but luckily could change it until the Saturday for free, phew! We scuttled back out of the airport, headed straight to the Vietnamese embassy in HK and applied for our Visa…Don’t laugh! We spent the next few days feeling embarrassed and tried to avoid any questions on why we weren’t in Vietnam yet! We had one last night on Lockheart road and settled down for a night of Rocktails at a great pub. We returned the next day for the best fry we have had since we left home, it was fantastic apart from the guilt of course
And so on Saturday we headed back to the airport, only to find out that our flights hadn’t been changed to Saturday…but to the day before… Not good, we thought we were really screwed but a few shouts of ‘ this isn’t our fault’ and forlorn looks soon had us sorted (for free again), phew number two!
So onto Saigon, Miss Laura shall take over for the next section (hey, fairs fair!)
Vietnam
We arrived into Ho Chi Minh, or Saigon all prepared for the madness ahead. The plan was to avoid all the crazy taxi drivers at the international exit and head for the domestic arrivals so off we went, grabbed a taxi that wouldn’t rip us off and set off. On first impressions, Vietnam was crazy, the road, without lanes, was a sea of bikes and mopeds, with everyone beeping for space, but we arrived safe and sound at our very nice hotel.
We got our bearings, checked the map and headed in search of food. To get to the backpacker area, (all the bars and eateries) we had to cross a few roads, but more importantly we had to find our way across a roundabout… No big deal, I hear you say, but remember, Saigon has no green men and the roads are crazy! Everywhere we had read said, “Walk at a slow steady pace, the drivers will simply swerve around you,” but this is easier said than done, it is against every ounce of common sense to dive into a fast, noisy sea of bikes… so we saw some locals (the ones not quivering with fear) and followed them across the road… it’s all true, walk slow and they really do swerve around you. Some of the more cheeky drivers wait until they’re nearly hitting you, but still swerve when it counts. Needless to say after a few road crossings we were danger-dodging experts. No Fear! It was worth it though, when we arrived at the backpacker area, they were so many bars and different types of food! Needless to say, after the stress of Hong Kong, and partly because our hotel had HBO and Star Movies, the first few days were spent eating, sleeping, eating, drinking, eating and watching some English speaking TV. We did spend one day searching for somewhere else to stay as our hotel was expensive for the area, and successfully found our new home… Madame Cuc’s, perhaps the friendliest place we’ve stayed to date. They give you tea, coffee and fresh juice without asking, and if you time it right, they feed you too! Most importantly, the staff go out of the way to make you feel at home, this place was probably one of the main reasons we stayed so long in Saigon!
We eventually got back into travel mode and arranged a tour to Ca Daoi Temple and Cu Chi Tunnels. We had an early start so we could make the daily prayer service in the Great Holy See Temple in Tay Ninh, it’s a beautiful temple, and the service was definitely different! They all wear different coloured robes depending on their rank within the Temple, and after an entrance procession, sit in allocated areas for some prayer and song.
After lunch, we headed to the Cu Chi Tunnels, the big underground network of tunnels used by the Viet Cong during the war. Our tour guide Minh, showed us around the site, including some nasty looking booby traps. ( I resisted all urges to push Simon in) before we got a chance to crawl in the tunnels. Cue a minor freak out from perhaps the most typically blonde girls we’ve met on the trip. After their drama, some of our group began the crawl into the first tunnel, They’ve widened the tunnels for us westerners, so going in, all I was worried about was spiders and other crawlers; I thought I was doing quite well, until I realised that we weren’t actually in the tunnel yet, so things got a little darker, a little warmer, and definitely smaller, but there’s an escape route every so often, so we crawled on. Just as we were coming up to an exit, I was convincing myself it wasn’t as bad as I thought and should carry on, the couple in front of us stopped to take some photos, which would’ve been fine if we weren’t stuck on a tight, dark corner and they didn’t take so darn long. A few minutes wait, they still weren’t moving, and I was beginning to understand how claustrophobia can kick in, so decided to crawl out faster than Julie in a black taxi! Simon followed, apparently to see if I was OK, but seeing I reassured him I was fine before I left, I figured he also got the fear!
Before we left, we decided to do one other thing that Cu Chi is famous for… putting a gun in a westerner’s hand and allow them to fire it at animals. OK, the guns are bolted down and the animals are wooden cut outs. There was only a few of us that wanted to shoot, (the snake-skin handbag loving blondes thought it too immoral to hold a gun) so Simon and I paid for our ten bullets each and headed for the gun range. We’d decided to shoot an AK-47, and were pleased to get some protective headphones when we got down. They didn’t work, the noise was unbelievable! Simon really enjoyed shooting, but honestly, I thought it was just scary!
The next day we chilled outside one of the bars, watched the crazy traffic and read our new books. A distinct lack of copyright laws means you can buy photocopied books for cheap! Wait long enough in any spot, and usually a Vietnamese girl will come up with a whole stack of books on her hip ready to sell you all the Lonely Planets, and any other books popular with the backpackers of today. They’re not bad copies, except for the few pages missing here and there!
The next day we went to War Remnants Museum. We had been warned that it left you feeling a bit down, but having done Hiroshima Museum, we figured it couldn’t be much worse. It started with the history, facts and figures on the war, and we worked through that and the displays of tanks and aircraft quite quickly. We went into the final section, and it was as awful as everyone said, the display was mainly photographs, but reading the descriptions, you realised that almost everybody in the photographs are now dead. There was one photograph of a family that was taken minutes before the entire family were shot, and a lot of photographs of soldiers burning houses and performing torture, all a bit shocking really. The next bit was on how people were affected by the war, and of the various survivors. It was a bit gruesome too, as there were many photos of injuries and deformities caused by the chemicals used during the war. There was also a display of babies and foetuses that had been stillborn, or hadn’t survived, again because of the chemicals. Photos of the survivors were a bit brighter, the famous photograph ‘the girl in the picture’ Kim Phuc, was on display, alongside a recent photo of her and her son. Despite this, we left the museum feeling a bit numb.
The next day, we visited the Reunification Palace and the Notre Dame Cathedral, The Reunification Palace. It was interesting to look around it, because they haven’t changed the inside, it felt as if you were having a snoop around someone’s house, but I did think, with it being called a palace, that it would’ve been more impressive. I did think it was funny that the President had a “boy’s room” complete with cinema, pool table and his very own bar! Notre Dame, is pretty, but doesn’t compare to Paris! On our way to all the tourist sites, we passed a cinema, and decided to take full advantage and watch the new Bond film; of course no film is complete without snacks, so we settled down with popcorn, Pepsi and some tomato crisps!
We arranged a Mekong Delta tour through the same company as before, and so with another early start, we headed off the next morning. The tour advertised, “More Boat, Less Bus” so we were more than happy when we got to a mini-port and was told that would be the last bus of the day! We continued the rest of the tour on a boat down the Mekong River, it was definitely a lot more fun cruising down the river, not only for the sights, (houseboats, riverside huts, small markets) but also because so many people we passed waved and said hello. A lot of the kids ran along the river chasing the boat, until everyone in the boat waved. Very friendly!
We stopped at Coconut Village, which is basically a little workshop where everything is made from coconuts and rice. We watched some coconut candy being made, and some ‘Pop Rice’ which is pretty much the same idea as Pop Corn, except it tastes like Rainbow Drops (Remember those!) We stopped for lunch, and were encouraged to get the local speciality… huge prawns and elephant ear fish, fresh from the Mekong. Not a fantastic seafood lover (I am getting better) I was a bit worried, but, while on the Mekong and all that. The seafood was that fresh, that as Fu, our guide, was showing us the prawns, they were literally jumping out of his hands. The Elephant Ear Fish, so called because of how it looks when it’s cooked, is presented in a little stand still with a head and a tail… but I struggled on, beheading prawns on the way, and have to say it was very tasty! We got rice paper to make rolls with the fish and noodles, so fun as well! We then got a little mini cruse in a smaller boat, when we had to wear the cone hats, as you can see from the photos, Simon loved his new look! Onto our bigger boat again for our sunset cruise (which was meant to cost extra, but for some reason we got it for free) we ended up in Can Tho for the night. The hotel was a far cry from Madame Cuc’s and for a change, we were missing somewhere other than home! After a cheap, but tasty steak dinner and a drink, we had an early night to prepare for another early start.
The next day, we visited the Can Tho Floating Market, which put all the smaller ones to shame. Seeing a boat full of whiteys, they sail up to sell you all sorts of drinks and fruits. We couldn’t go very far in our tour boat, so took smaller boats out again. While we were waiting, we were able to chill on top of our boat, and take full advantage of the fresh fruit on offer. We had some pineapple, which was cut, so it looked like a lollipop, very tasty. When it was our turn to get on the smaller boat, we ended up in front of the driver. It was all a bit funny, when he asked Simon to help, and the boat stopped moving. I was laughing on the other side of my face though, when Simon sat down and the driver asked me for help, I think we might have moved a little further, but it really is harder than it looks! We finished the tour with a group lunch in Can Tho, where we were treated to a sample of snake wine, which tastes like a nasty whiskey. Alain, a guy on our tour, ordered some snake for lunch, but was generous enough to offer us a bit. It didn’t taste too bad, but the texture was weird, like a cross between chicken and fish.
On the tour we were talking to two Irish girls about an island off the coast of Cambodia. Doing some reading we discovered the island, although closer to Cambodia, was actually part of Vietnam, and meant to be paradise before the westerners spoiled it with resorts. So on arriving back to Saigon, and Madame Cuc’s, we decided to head to the island for a ‘vacation away from your vacation’. We had two options, we could fly directly from Saigon, or bus it overnight and take a ferry in the morning. Forever trying to save pounds, we decided on the bus and ferry, how bad could it be?
Famous last words. Our bus wasn’t meant to leave Saigon, but we were told we would be picked up at 10:45, no one could explain why we needed to be on the bus an hour before it left, but we quickly discovered that our bus, was actually a minibus, that doubled up as the DHL or Fed-Ex of Saigon, and spent an hour picking up parcels and various passengers before leaving Saigon after midnight. This alone was stressful, we were told it takes 6-8 hours on the bus, depending on traffic and ferries along the way, our boat left at eight, so leaving Saigon late was not an option. We had read the horror stories of Vietnamese buses, cramped, loud Vietnamese music, few toilet stops, bad roads etc, but nothing prepared us for what would be joining us on our trip: 101 Cockroaches and this was no Disney movie; we noticed a few bugs crawling around the window Simon was beside, but didn’t think much of it, until every time we passed a light, we noticed that everywhere was crawling with the 101 cockroaches and their entire families. They were on the floor, on the countless packages and parcels, on the windows, crawling along the seats. It was, in all honesty, a complete nightmare, even Simon hated it. Along with the bugs, no one spoke English except to shout ‘You!’ and it was cramped with people, oh and loud Vietnamese music really does suck as much as everyone says. On a positive note, I was ‘adopted’ by a little Vietnamese granny, who insisted on me getting off at each toilet stop, showing me where the toilet was, lending me her towel, offering me food, and trying to hold a conversation in Vietnamese, which coincidentally I don’t speak a word of, because everybody speaks English! She did give me the fright of my life though, I had finally got some sleep and was wakened by a strange sensation across the back of my neck, I obviously presumed was a giant bug, or worse, and so jumped a mile, while making some gruesome noise. It was simply the poor woman, probably sitting up to make sure her whitey-friend was still alive, I did have some job explaining, in English, to her that I wasn’t a freak and that I didn’t think she was a giant bug, meanwhile, presuming I had taken real offence, she tried (though I don’t know for sure) to apologise for my near heart attack, presuming I had taken real offence. The end result: we shook/held hands for a few minutes, then she gently patted my shoulder until one of us fell asleep again!
So two buses, lots of bugs and two ferries, we eventually arrived in Rach Gia at the ferry port, and got talking to Siobhan (from N.I.) and Freddy (from Malaysia/Canada) who were getting the same ferry as us, and also had a turbulent time reaching the port…although they didn’t have bugs, so we won the bad bus story! We took the hydrofoil “Super Dong” over, and while Simon slept through the badly dubbed film, I thought nothing of the tiny black bags being passed around. That is of course, until I realised how much our boat was rocking and how many people around me were being sick. It was all worth it though, when one hour later, we landed on Phu Quoc, complete with palm trees, clear skies, and lots of sun. We travelled up with Siobhan and Freddy, and ended up in the place beside them. We got a beach hut, right on a perfect, quiet beach. It was being cleaned as we arrived, so we took the opportunity to realise we were hungry and so enjoyed bacon and eggs on the beach. Did I mention it really is paradise? The first two days, we spent in the water and walking along the beach, and on the third day, decided to rent a bike and explore the island. With a serious safety talk from our hotel owner, “Be safe, don’t go to fast” we set off. It didn’t take very long to get around the island, on the red sand roads, but after our explore we decided that our beach was the nicest part, after all, it has a perfect view of the sunset. The owner of our place was telling us that there’s plans for a big international airport, and how the island is going to get very developed, true enough, on our tour around the island you notice all the work that’s going on, building new roads, and big resorts. Now is the time to go!
We also took kayaks out for an hour, complete with fetching life jackets, and after a little practice, I was surprised that I could manage quite well on my own! We had a little explore on up the beach, and the rocky part of the water we couldn’t swim in, all very pretty. When it was time to return, we thought we would be oh-so professional, and get swept up the shore on a wave, all went well, until, as I was being swept up, and waiting on Simon (didn’t I feel good getting swept before him) a big wave decided I looked too smug, and washed me out, then tumbled me out onto a rock… I even have the scar to prove it! (It’s just a small one on my hand… but it’s still a scar!)
Freddy & Siobhan did Vietnam the sensible way, from North to South, so when they got back to the mainland, they headed straight to Cambodia. We wanted to spend a few more days on the beach, in the water and of course, eating and drinking! Paradise! However, it even rains in paradise, and although when it rains, it pours! We got caught in the rain and a thunderstorm one night, and when we got up the next day, instead of being completely dry like normal, it was still raining! It lashed for one day solid, and while we went to bed, I was convinced our little beach hut was set to flood; the next morning, it was as if it had never rained!
When it was time to head back, we had to head back to Saigon, this time with a reputable bus company for one more night, before heading up to Nha Trang as we were craving another beach. Unfortunately for us, after another overnight bus, (big bus, no cockroaches) we arrived at our little beach town, to be greeted with… rain. We checked into our ‘Nice Hotel’ (that’s actually the name) and set off to explore our rainy seaside, which was pretty, apart form the massive waves that meant no one was allowed in the water! When the rain eased a bit, we rented another bike, to explore a bit further. This was a different experience than the island, for poor Laura on the back, on the island, the only drama we had was when Simon’s helmet flew off and hit me on the way by, but here in Nha Trang, there is traffic, roads with rules, and roundabouts. Don’t get me wrong, Simon is not a bad driver, but when you are sitting behind him watching all this going on… well you get the fear! Just to had to the fear, when you’re crossing a really busy junction and have to do an emergency stop, nearly coming of the bike, you get a little apprehensive, but we’ve survived… so far!
From Nha Trang, we took our first sleeper bus to Hoi-An, and what luxury it is! OK, you get frozen from the air con, and still have to do the toilet stops, but the space! We were like two kids at Christmas, though the novelty wore off after about an hour! Hoi-An is a sleepy little town, more famous for its tailors and Bia Hoi than the fact the whole old town is a world heritage site. Just beside a river, that often floods as we discovered one night, it’s a pretty little town, with traditional buildings with people making everything from statues to fabric. This is also where everyone gets their customised clothes and shoes, but we saved the money instead!
On exploring the town, Simon had his first experience of ‘Bia Hoi’ which translated, is fresh beer, but to us Irish, it’s home brew that costs less than 30p a glass! It was also here, that we truly understood the term ‘flash-packer’ On heading out for happy hour, we got talking to a guy Chris (who I realised was the same guy in Nha Trang that I thought was getting scammed by a hooker, he wasn’t for the record, it was just a date!) and Wen-Wen, a girl from Australia. After too many drinks and shots of snake wine (do we ever learn?) we headed to the only bar that stays open late, ‘Happy King Kong’ crammed on bikes, yes, Simon, I and the driver on one bike, fun! We realised this bar was full of flash-packers, eg people who flew rather than take a bus! While arranging a wedding party for Wen-Wen and Fountain (an Irish flash-packer) we also agreed to meet the next day for a walking tour of the town. Needless to say, there were a lot of hangovers the next day, and the only people in the bar where me and Wen-Wen!
After Hoi-An, we took a bus up to Hue, where we rented another bike to do our very own tour around the citadel and Thien Mu Pagoda, this time with no drama! We didn’t spend very long in Hue, because we got a bit conscious of time, seeing as we wanted to be in Laos for Christmas, so another sleeper bus called, and off we headed to Hanoi.
It was weird being in a proper city again, though with its lake in the middle, Hanoi is quite pretty. The first day we priced tours for Halong Bay, then as we changed hotels on the second day, I took ill. This not only meant that I was stuck in our spinning hotel room moving only to be sick, for days, but that we didn’t have time to go to Sapa or Halong Bay. Simon did take great care of me though, researching doctors (thankfully we didn’t need one), taking regular pharmacy trips, and when I could finally keep water down, went and got me soup, and beans and toast. (Not all in one sitting though!)
We had planned to brave the thirty hour bus to Laos, not being flash-packers and all, but seeing as when I finally left the hotel room, I was holding onto Simon like a frail old woman, we decided to buy ourselves early Christmas presents… flights to Laos.
Sorry for the complete lack of updates, computer access has been sketchy at best but rest assured we will post a mega-update soon. We’ve since been to Xi’an, Shanghai, Hong-Kong and are currently in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon), Vietnam - In the middle of a massive thunder storm!
We arrived into the new, ever so swish Beijing airport, and despite being tired, and I’m sure not so attractive, we kept up our true-traveller spirit, walked by easy-route (taxi) city, and decided to take the not so easy bus to our hostel, which may I add, meant having to get money, get change and swich buses on our way. Definately a lot smellier, we arrived at our hostel, which without doubt, is both the nicest (and cheapest) yet… so all good so far.
After having a shower and settling in, we decided not to catch up on some much needed sleep, and complete our Beijing Mission… Get some good tasty duck on our first night. Exploring the eateries around our hutong, we discovered something lacking… all the plastic food displays from beloved Japan… with no English around, how were to find our tasty duck…?!
Me, being me around food, had prepared for this, and as we walked down the street a little further, came across a neon sign, with two little pigs and no English, which I was told offered some of the finest duck in Beijing. Heading in, hoping we were entering a restaurant, because even taht wasn’t clear… we were quickly seated, and served by a very attentive waitress, who unfortunately could only ask, “Beer or Water”, “Can you not speak Chinese?” and “Duck” She somehow understood exactly what we wanted and definately earned her tip by bringing us, without doubt, two halves of the juiciest, tastiest duck we both have ever tasted, and just to make you all a little envious… It cost us less than eight pounds for the entire meal and drinks!
The next day, having consulted our map, we decided to walk to the not so far Olympic Village… two hours later…we were still walking, but eventually reached the fantastic structure that is the Bird’s Nest. We ventured in, and while we were both a little starstruck that we were inside the Olympic Building, we were both disappointed to say that it seemed a little neglected, although nothing that a little maintenance wouldn’t fix. They had some of the costumes from the opening and closing ceremonies on display and it was good to see the flame holder and track. It was definately here though, that we felt most foreign. Some guys even asked to have their photo taken with me, and while the Celeb status was flattering at first, it did get a little embarrassing…
We definately raise more that an eyebrow here in China, because all we get is stares, especially considering the only people staring at us in Japan were either children or people trying to determine whether we needed their help! What is becoming evident is that although we obviously stand out as foreign to the majority of the Chinese population, perhaps a more foreign concept in China is manners. Obviously not tarring everyone with the same bitter brush, but we have been pushed, shoved, grabbed, nipped, beeped at, almost ran over. ( The green man doesn’t mean go here…. it means tread very very carefully…you’re in the firing line!)
Onto prettier things in China though, and on Friday we arranged a trip with our hostel to the Great Wall, Mutianyu. An early start, but we were supplied with a hearty breakfast to start our travels. On arrival we were faced with the choice cable car up, toboggan, or good old traditional walking… We decided to walk up and take the easy way down. (I wish we had’ve taken the cable car up because, it was a long walk with lots of steps up!) The Wall was fairly quiet when we arrived, so we’d plenty of time to take in the fantastic views, and attack the fully restored, sometimes very steep walk ahead. It was, as I hope the photos show, unbelievable; everytime we reached the top of a slope, we ‘found’ another section of the wall. Another hefty walk, and we decided to turn back as we had to meet our tour buddy and our driver for lunch, so we headed for the toboggan. We banged into a whole team of school kids, who all either looked in pure amazement, or shouted hello, and giggled when we replied. One wee guy, marched up to Simon and said, in perfect English, “Hello, my name is James, what is your name!” (I’ll add here that every kid we’ve met has been the perfect example of how their elders should act!)
Back to the Toboggan, which I was obviously dreading, what with being so high up and all, but it was so much fun! I even had to bang into Simon to move him along a bit quicker! Starving, and tired from all the walking, we were rewarded with what can only be described as, The Ultimate Feast. So tasty, and everytime we were almost finished, our driver fed us more! Returning to the car, he reclined the seats (no seatbelts, but tinted windows and reclining seats for pure luxury!) and we had a sound snooze on the way home.
Today, we visited Forbidden City, and Tiananmen Square, (another long walk, that looked a lot shorter on the map) we did our best to avoid the hoards of tourists (more stares and grabs) to appreciate everything the Palace Museum was offering. Failing to find the bullethole in the lion on the way out, perhaps the only reminder in China that the massacre ever happened, we returned to our hostel, to drink some 30p beer (a litre of what simon says is excellent beer) and figure out our next plan of action. This, and a little advice from our Great Wall friend, Richard, led us to possibly our best dinner yet… Hot Pot China style.
We got the yin-yang hotpot, which has one half ‘hot’ and one not! Each side consists of a broth, (heated on a gas hob) to which we add various meat, noodles and veg to our own taste. The Sichuan, or hot side, was so spicy, but we ate and ate, and were both stuffed all for around a fiver (and that included beer and coke!)
Tomorrow, we’re going to explore around the lakes, and then I think take a well deserved night out. (I found a bar who’s motto is ‘Shut Up and Drink’ which apparently offers cheap drink)
Enjoy the pictures, looking forward to the comments!
Well, we are in Beijing at the minute, apologies for the lack of posts but hey, we’ve had stuff to do!
Our last few days in Japan now seem like a bit of a distant memory but i’ll try to relay the adventures as best I can.
We had a lot of troube finding anywhere to stay in Kyoto when we were in Hiroshima, so through lack of choice we ended up going to ‘Japan’s Vegas’, a little city / town called Beppu, way down south of Kyūshū. It was billed as a relaxing spa paradise but to be honest we found it a bit seedy. Alot like a rainy Newcastle (as laura put it). The place is famed for it’s natural hot baths (Onsen) & the 7 hells. The 7 hells are natural geysers & hot springs that are too hot to become onsen and are instead Beppu’s main tourist attraction. Unfortuantely for us after about 3 hours of exploring, the skys opened and a storm headed our way, we decided to retire early and missed most of Beppu’s ‘attractions’!
We had thought of staying 2 nights in Beppu but fortuantely decided to head a bit further north to Nagasaki. We arrived at at our fantastic little hostel Akari, situauted right beside the river and Spectacle Bridge (it looks like a pair of specs when the water is at the right height). The weather was with us here and we had a great time exploring the city. It was similar in size to Hiroshima, which meant it was easy to explore on foot. We skipped the peace museum as we had seen enough atomic bomb devestation at Horoshima. Nagasaki is a fantastic place though, really relaxing and laid back (even for Japan). I even got to see a Kingfisher catch his dinner right beside our hostel! We stayed in Nagasaki for 2 nights before heading on. We had great food both nights, so good infact that on the second night we left the waitress a tip of about 100 yen (a pound or so)…Only to have her chase us down the street with our change, red faces all round! She still wouldn’t accept it after us insisting, Japan is the most courteous place in the world i think!
We finally got a place to stay in Kyoto, another K’s house (we have stayed in 3 of these throughtout japan, all pretty great). Only one night though. We had a great Thai meal not to far from the hostel, and a few drinks in the bar/cafe annex, nice and chilled. We managed to visit the main Kyoto temple on our last full day, though it rained all day long. The main part of the temple was under huge renovations, so we missed out on seeing the whole place. A quick Shinkansen later and we were in Osaka at a loose end. We decided to check out the Suntory Museum Imax, huge screen, 3d glasses and an ocean documentary… Just what rainy evenings were made for! We were both pretty impressed with the film, hilarious to watch the Japanese kids reaching for the fish.
Dinner consisted of a cheap Curry as we both became conscious of how much Yen we were getting through, we got a train to kansai International and bedded down on one of the comfy-ish seats in the airport. Travelling ain’t all alcohol & polka raves kids! We were also rudely awakened by Japan’s finest, I always did think Laura looked like a terrorist…
Sad to be leaving Japan, but viva China, (and since i’m already here I can say it’s great too)!
A few points I may not have mentioned about Japan:
1. Toilets
Japan have got toilets sorted, all you have heard is true. They sing, they dance, they will do a pretend flush to hide your flatulence, hot seats and squirty nozzels, yes, Japanese toilets have it all. I’m importing one when I get home.
2. Transport
Fantastic. You can get anywhere in Japan with the smallest possible amount of hassle, trains are on time to the SECOND, we checked. All trains are also spotless, and are cleaned after every loop. The Shinkansen is unbelievable. Best in the world, i’d imagine.
3. Cleanliness
Tokyo is clean. Beyond clean. For a city it’s size it’s unbelievable how spotless it actually is. No rubbish anywhere! A few of the other places we visited had sparse bits of litter, but nothing major.
4. Politness
Most polite, honest and courteous people i’ve ever meet, and i’d wager, ever likely to meet.
Our last days in tokyo were spent in quite different ways! On sunday we went for a tour of Harajuku, famed for the goth / rocker teens of Tokyo & ofcourse the Harajuku Girls! We landed in quite early in the morning and went for a tour around the quieter part of Harajuku: the shrine at Meiji Jingu. The shrine is Tokyo’s biggest and was surrounded by some pretty spectacular gardens, lots of green forest and a few big spiders hanging from trees to keep Laura happy… We entered the shrine through a big winding path leading up through the Torii Gate, the grounds were very grand and the place was very busy. We were lucky enough to catch a traditional Japanese wedding in progress too and got some pictures.
We then went into Harajuku proper, and took a walk down the narrow main street: Takeshita-dōri. The place was absolutely packed, this is the design mecca of Tokyo. Hundreds of clothes shops, lots of cool t-shirts and trainers, oh how I wished I had more Yen! I consoled myself by buying a pretty cool compass / hook combination thing that has came in useful since
We then went for a tour through Harajuku’s famed Yoyogi Park, full of amateur punk bands and old style greasers, complete with a cherry red cadillac. Harajuku is a brilliant place, both Laura and I agree we could have spent a fortune.
We also managed to visit a little garden with lots of bonsai (some were 400 odd years old), and caught another wedding. This is where I got to take some (live!) fish photos.
Monday, much to my protest, was Tokyo Disney. I was very apprehensive about giving up a day of my valuable Japan time to sell out to corporate America….But the fact that Tokyo Disney is not Disney owned and that I knew it was bound to have a Japanese spin on things brought me round. It was a good day out for sure, Laura loved every second and was beaming for the whole day, even when it was pissing down for the first 2 hours! The weather did clear though, and that’s been the only rain we’ve saw so far. It wasn’t too expensive either and some of the rides were fantastic, Space Mountain & Splash Mountain being my own personal highlights. Parades came and went throughout the day, some more impressive than others… The last of the day (a million lights nightime only parade) was quite good.
All in all, if I was destined for Disneyland then i’m glad it was in Tokyo!
On Tuesday we had a quick stop off and te Senso-JI again during daylight hours to check out the crowds, and see the little street on route to the temple properly buzzing. It was a nice way to end our time in Tokyo: come in at night and leave during the day, very poetic! Tokyo is an amazing place, so so clean and organised. Convenient to a tee. I’ll be back for sure.
Our next mission was to get the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) to Hiroshima, rail passes in hand we headed for the main Tokyo station to get our tickets. We are only allowed tickets for the second fastest Shinkansen which takes a whole 15 minutes longer than the Nozomi (very fast Bullet Train), those dastards! We were both very impressed with the fast train, at times looking out the window was like looking at a tape on fast-forward, and like so much in Japan quite unreal & hard to take in. There were some spectacular sights on the journey down, even if we did only see them for 0.2 seconds! I think we did around 600 miles in 4 hours or so, it would have been faster but we had a 20 minute wait to swap trains around 2/3 of the way.
Our first night in Hiroshima was a quiet one, we went for a walk around the town and ended up in (oh the shame) an Irish bar.. where we both got fish and chips which were very tasty. Yet again Laura did better out of the deal due to it being Ladies Night (where’s the equality?!) and was getting half price cocktails and free desert into the bargain. I’m going to complain the Japanese equality commission.
Wednesday, & it was time for the A-Bomb Dome & Peace Museum. Not alot to be said, hard to take in. Some exhibits were quite hard to look at, clothes worn by children who died a few hours after the bomb hit (with many walking home to their parents from school with devestating burns & melted skin). Paintings by The Hibakusha of people on fire throwing themselves into the river to cool the burns… It’s amazing that the people here can be some welcoming of tourists after all that has happened to them. We toured the museum and walked along the bridge that was the main target for the Enola Gay on August 6, 1945. Spooky stuff. But there is no hostility or hate here, it’s completely the opposite infact.
Today (Thursday) we went to Miyajima, a small Island south of Hiroshima. I think Breathtaking would be the best word to describe the initial impressions. We got a train from Hiroshima station to a connecting ferry (complete with automated English tour voice/guide thing) out to the island. Famed for Itsukushima Shrine and its floating torii, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and officially one of Japan’s Top 3 Views. Miyajima is definately an amazing place & probably the best scenic place i’ve ever seen, green mountains, epic ocean, wild deer running about, brilliant! We tried to take a trek up to the top of Mount Misen but the sun was against us and we had to head back around half way up or we would have been walking in pitch black. We made it back down for the sunset though which was certainly the most spectacular i’ve ever seen. A Momiji manjū (Japanese bun native to Miyajima) and a quick look at the world’s largest rice scoop spatual (it’s huge) later and we caught the ferry back to the mainland and headed back to Hiroshima for our last night.
As of now we’re not quite sure where we’re for tomorrow, Kyoto seems to be playing hard to get when it comes to hostels so we may head further south in search of a Japanese beach town. We’ll keep you posted!
Sayonara for now!
PS, there’s prob a rake of speeling and grammmer mistakes here, sue me!
An aside from laura:
Can I just add a little note that he didn’t take much persuasion to go to Disney and although ‘It’s a small world after all’ may have killed a little piece of him, he did admit, to quite enjoying it… though I do think that by the time we’d been there for about 7 hours, the magic was wearing thin!
) prepared us for our touristy day ahead; first we hit the Talat Sao market, which was like a giant maze, you can buy everything here! We didn’t buy anything, but spent our whole time marvelling how quiet it was. It was busy, but without the sounds of Vietnam, it was all a bit surreal. There was no shouts and cries to ‘Come in, have a look’ ‘You want something?’ ‘t-shirt’ etc. We then walked up to Patuxai Victory Monument, which is basically Vientiane’s own Arc de Triomphe. It’s nicknamed the “Vertical Runway” as it was built with concrete supplied by the US for a new airport. Not much to look at inside, but the views at the top were worth the tourist only fee!
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