We decided to travel from Vang Vieng to Vientiane by paying for a kayaking trip. They truck us for an hour, we paddle a bit and they truck us the rest of the way. It was not in any way arduous, and it was mighty short, especially when considering the leisurely 1.5 hours for lunch, but still a good time.
Therewas one real rapid that tossed us...I was glad it did. Nothing like being thrown into a torrent, especially one that's pretty small and relatively safe. At our lunch stop we swam for a bit and jumped off a big cliff. Well kinda big, I've done bigger and certain others I know have done bigger still. I was the only one to jump, because I am the man.
Vientiane is a lovely town, and is very differetn from the rest of Laos. They just had a conference here and I'm assuming that's the reson it's so clean, so at least they're trying to avoid litter here. They even have hilariously translated signs up (sponsored by Australia) that in effect say love your city and don't litter. Unfortunately they haven't got around to providing bins yet. And for the most part it's just the downtown that is done up really nicely, about a 20 minute walk in any direction and sidewalks disappear, and things just feel a bit more Laos. We discovered this today when getting our Cambodian visas dealt with.
There are far more expats here and teh expensive grocerty stores that go with them. I forget it's getting towards Christmas, but the small boxes of christmas cake for huge prices bring it all back quickly.
Also this is the first really flat area of the country. Luang Nam Tha was on a small flood plain but this is much bigger. Looking at a map of the country today, it's all monutains in the north...no wnder ti took so long to get places.
Nice here, everything's a bit more expensive and we're going sightseeing tomorrow. Friday we're heading south and I don't know when I'll see internet on that trip...maybe stop in before we hit Cambodia, maybe not. If I don't, then I won't be on here until Phnom Phen (so dn't worry if there are no updates.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment