Escape from the prison cell and dull wanderings
Trip Start
Jul 02, 2009
1
107
122
Trip End
Nov 18, 2009
Vientiane, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
While I packed up my stuff, Mark kindly went on a wander round the area and looked for somewhere better – on waking up we had both come to the immediate consensus that we were definitely not staying any longer. Mark quipped that people usually have to commit a crime to stay somewhere like this! Twenty minutes later he returned, having found a place called Mixay down the road with a nice double room, double the price, but more than doubly worth it. This is what makes the RG description even more culpable, it actually states that Mixok is "more atmospheric" than Mixay. Yeah, if by atmosphere you mean dirty, smelly, dingy lighting, prison cells for rooms and owners who do nothing but laze around indifferently in the front room watching TV. Never have I been more misled, and I suspect if it happened to me, it must have happened to others. A strongly worded email shall be written soon.
Anyway, rant over. We transferred our bags to Mixay, then as it was only 10am and the room would not be ready until midday, left them there while we went for breakfast at a nice French cafe over the road. After this we decided to do a bit of sightseeing, so we headed off to the south end of Lane Xang Avenue, reputedly modelled on the Champs Elysees in Paris. After wandering north up the street for 10 minutes I can safely say that it is nothing like the glamorous Parisian concourse, aside from being a long street. On reaching the top, we were greeted by the sight of Patouxai, modelled on the Arc de Triomphe. It did resemble it to some extent, sort of like a smaller Buddhist reworking of the original. We paid a minor entrance fee then climbed to the top, from where we got a 360 degree view of the city, which was alright but not hugely inspiring. After taking some pictures we decided to head back, as it was nearing midday and we wanted to have showers, having been outrightly opposed to showering in the previous grubby hovel. We moved into the new room and saw that it was lovely, with an ensuite bathroom. We both had showers, got changed, then went to find an internet place.
After some internet shenanigans, we located a cafe near the river round the corner from the hotel and had a late lunch. Following our meal, it was approaching 4pm so we decided to go on a touristy wander, though after discerning that there was absolutely bugger all to do, owing to most museums etc closing at 4pm, we gave up and headed to the riverside for a beer. I say riverside, what appears to have happened is that about 20 metres of land has been reclaimed from the water, so the view from the bar we chose was predominantly of soil and JCBs, with the river vainly attempting to catch our attention in the distance. Decidedly unscenic. A beer or two later we headed back to the hotel.
Later on we went for dinner at the same French restaurant we had been to the previous night and had another rather delightful meal. Afterwards – as Mark had arranged through Facebook – we met up with Darren and Matt and some of the other slow boat guys at 8pm at the same bar as the previous night; it appears that literally everybody goes there as there is simply nothing else to do in Vientiane. We got some drinks and had a good old chat. Matt and Darren intended to head off to Vietnam but had run into some difficulties – Darren's passport had got wet a while ago and the Vietnamese embassy kept rejecting it, despite it not proving to be a problem with any of the other countries he had been to so far. I suspect they're looking for a bribe and he'll have to oblige them, the corrupt buggers. I had to head back to the hotel around 10.30pm to pack, in preparation for my early flight the next morning, while Mark followed up half an hour later.
