Originally written on October 17th, 2004

Today we awoke (after hardly sleeping) and were happy to be venturing onwards away from Vientiene. A nice city, but really nothing going on there. We hoped to catch the 10:30 am bus to Vang Vieng so headed early to the bus station to secure a seat. We were not sure if there was assigned seating. We arrived at the station looking for the ticket counter for Vang Vieng, instead we found the 9:30 am Vang Vieng bus and a Laos gentleman (likely in charge of ticket sales) on the bus waving us on. Well, although Kirk had told me earlier that he was starving (we were going to go to the market after buying our ticket) he jumped on the bus, and I behind him. We weren’t sure if the gentleman understood that we did not yet have tickets and were hoping that we could purchase them from him on the bus journey. Did not want to upset anyone and break the rules in this (or any) communist country. The bus was equipped with many overhead fans (rotating for circling the cool air) and all of the windows were open. » Read the rest of the entry..

Originally written Saturday October 16, 2004

We awoke early and spent an hour packing all our belongings into our packs, ready to cross the border into Laos (pronounced L-owww as in owww, I just hit myself with a hammer, except with l infront). We paid our bill at MutMee (2624 BT, or about 30? a day CDN for food and lodging) and hooked up with Marvin and Rebecca with whom we had arranged to take a tuk tuk to the ‘Friendship Bridge’ [one of only 2 bridges to cross the Mekong, the other in China or so I am told]. As usual, the tuk tuk driver tried to scam us a little and get us to get our visa’s from travel agents along the way so he would get a commision. We wouldn’t have it and he reluctantly dropped us off at the bus station where we were to await a bus that would take us through Thai Customs, over the bridge, and then drop us of at Laos customs. » Read the rest of the entry..

We awoke at 7:30 am, yay! We made it past 3, and 4 and 6 am. However, I did wake up many times as I was sweating while I slept. We had a cool fan and a breeze from the window, but a comforter! not a bed sheet. I am going to have to learn to sleep without any covers. Alas, I had a shower, it was a sandal’s on kind of place, only because the last occupant had his/her shoes on and they left muddy footprints everywhere. The shower had the option of hot, but I chose luke warm. I used my quick dry towel as there were no towels in the room, something to get used to I’m sure. I asked at reception for a towel and was given one, so that Kirk could also shower.

For breakfast Kirk had an egg and cheese omlette and I a “sexy omelette” (basically an omelette with chicken, onions and barbecue type of sauce in it). We also had bacon (just not the same, not even like precooked bacon). I think will stick to cooked thai dishes for breakfast. The omelette was good but nothing like my Dad’s or like the rest of the thai food we have had so far at our guest house.

After a leisurely morning we rented bikes from our guest house and travelled around town. A super way to see the town, cool breeze, and great sights. Lots of kids waved from their homes or on the street and said allo (hello). Very friendly. We were off to see the town and maybe find the sculpture park. We didn’t locate the park (as our map had no street names) but we saw life in Nong Khai. See the gallery for some pictures of oxen (cows?) we saw crossing the road. » Read the rest of the entry..