After a very smooth ride back to Nong Khai, and one last night at the Mut Mee, it’s time to leave Thailand for good and head over to neighbouring Laos, which has been tantalisingly out of reach on the other side of the Mekong for the past week. Luckily, mum has already gone through the border once, and we’ve got an idea of what to expect - although this way round, we will need visas!
Mum’s already got hers, as she has a hard deadline of getting to Vientiane by Saturday to meet up with her group, but we’ve opted to take our chances with the visa on arrival process - normally cheaper than the e-visa. First step: get everyone to the Thai-Laos friendship bridge, first of the name, which connects the two countries. It’s an easy but chilly tuktuk ride in the morning wind and soon we are walking over to the Thai exit border post. No issues there as we easily stamp out, well within our allotted 45 days stay. After that, we need a bus to cross the bridge - no pedestrians allowed. Luckily, the regular public shuttle is waiting and for 30THB each we are on our way as soon as the bus has filled up. It’s an interesting ride as the driver leaves the doors open, but we manage to hang on to our bags and get to the Laos entry post in good time. There the problems start. It’s quite unclear what we need to do, but we finally work out that we have to fill in two different forms stating the same information, but on differently shaped forms, then hand that in to the officials along with passports, a photo, and the visa cost. We’ve prepared 1,500THB each - we don’t carry much dollars and we read this was the standard exchange rate at the border, but it turns out the rate’s been upped to 1,700THB. We’re short just 100THB… And despite the border guard's insistance that we can change them for USD in a bank close by, we cannot find where. Luckily we do find somewhere that will change LAK (which mum has a provision of) for THB and make up the difference, and after another argument with the guard who now refuses to let us pay in THB at all as “we seem unhappy at the exchange rate” we get through - for exactly the same price as the e-visa in the end. Not for the first time, we wish we’d procured a couple of hundred dollars before leaving the UK…
At least we made it through, and once past the border we get on another public bus to Vientiane and make it there without further problems. Our hotel is right in the centre of town, but the bus terminal isn’t, and it’s a fifteen minutes’ walk with our bags - luckily all quite portable - to reach it. Despite mum’s apprehension (she has a suitcase), the sidewalks are in ok shape and it’s a pleasant enough journey, with a couple of sights glimpsed along the way: the Patuxai (the local Arc de Triomphe) and the mysterious black chedi, covered in dark damp stains. Once we’ve dropped off our luggage in our very pretty, carved wood hotel, it’s time to explore the town! We start with lunch at a small local eatery - triple cooked noodle soup for everyone and we skip the fresh leaves and herbs offered alongside, as we’ve just seen the cook wash them in a standing vat of tap water. It’s a bit bland as a result but really we only have our weak western stomachs to blame!
Ollie heads back to the hotel to work - he’s got a big meeting in a week’s time and has a lot of preparation to do - and mum and I set off through the historic centre to check out some of the most famous sights nearby. For the capital of a country roughly as big as the UK in square area, Vientiane feels incredibly small and provincial: sunny, dusty streets squeeze in between buildings that top out at five storeys, lots of rickety wooden scaffolding and abandoned shops. We aim for the riverfront - but there’s no such thing here and the city is separated from the Mekong by a large road. We have to settle for an orderly park dedicated to king Visanouvong, featuring a giant statue of the monarch seemingly holding back the old Thai invaders with his outstretched hand. Inexplicably, he is surrounded by tiny horses - maybe a form of offering?
Heading back inland and hoping to avoid the midday sun, we turn to the Ho Phrakeo museum. This former temple used to be the home of the Emerald Buddha (the one we saw in Bangkok) before the idol was taken by Thailand, and now houses a collection of old sculptures and artefacts. The building itself is pretty, with a traditional pitched roof and ornate red colonnade, and a little garden leading up to it, but the collection lacks in explanations to be more impressive. The best pieces are the original temple doors from the 16th century, wonderful carved wood items preserved at the front and back of the building.
Our next stop is Wat Sisaket, another more recent temple. This one is especially famous for its cloister walls covered in thousands of small alcoves each housing two or three tiny Buddha effigies, and indeed it’s quite an impressive sight and very different to other holy sites we’ve visited so far. It’s very quiet as well and we can wander round undisturbed, poking our heads into the main prayer hall, also covered in statues. Out of the main temple, several pretty ancillary buildings also catch our attention before we move on.
Despite the small size of the city, we’ve managed to tot up quite a few kilometres of walking and we’d like to take advantage of Vientiane’s french heritage to have a little cake break. Mum’s guidebook recommends a selection of tea shops but unfortunately all the best ones have disappeared, and we end up with very disappointing sweets in cafe Sinouk. At least that’s just round the corner from our hotel so it’s an easy stroll back to catch up with Ollie.
Not particularly impressed with our first taste of Laos cuisine at lunch, we make a u-turn for dinner and decide to check out another one of the guidebook’s recommendations: cafe Chokdee, a Belgian restaurant serving moules frites! It’s a nice change and Ollie is delighted with the astoundingly large beer selection, but it’s also proper European prices and an absolute fortune for Laos standards - too much to come back.
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