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The next morning we wandered around
the colorful market trying to soak up the last of our visit
to charming Luang Prabang. We threw our packs on and then
climbed into the back of a pickup truck taxi and headed to
the airport for our short flight to Vientiane. We took off
amidst skies boiling with juvenile thunderstorms. Shortly
after takeoff we were glued to the airplane window. Trying
to fill our eyes one last time with the golden temples surrounded
by bright green jungle and the colonial architecture along
the banks of the Thai-iced tea colored Mekong River. I supposed
the kids we had met were having a nice swim under the hot
sun.
Arriving in Vientiane as the red sun
was setting on the horizon over the Mekong River in Vientiane,
the heat seemed drier here. We spent an hour searching for
a family owned guest house. As we didn’t want to be
wandering around the streets of Vientiane with our packs on
our backs at night we settled for a place. Hardly the worst,
but barely acceptable by our short list of selection criteria:
1) no roaches 2) quiet 3) clean bedding 4) hot water. Later,
in search of food, we stumbled across an over-priced western
restaurant and treated ourselves to decent attempts at our
favorite comfort foods.
 The
next day we rented bicycles to explore Vientiane. We pedaled
along the streets of the city, sneaking peeks at everyday
life in this slow paced capital of Laos. We stopped by schools
and peered over the walls to watch school children at play
and we parked our bikes to explore a few Buddhist temples
after following novice monks into their compounds. At one
point we stopped at a police station to watch in amazement
as the police, wearing only shorts, played a version of volleyball
unlike any we had ever seen. Two opposing teams of two barefooted
men barely 5’4” tall kicked a wicker ball over
the net to their opponents. The amazing part of this was they
could actually jump up and “spike” the wicker
ball down from above the net….with their feet! Bump
with the head, set with a foot and spike with the foot over
a net placed six inches above their heads. Impressive feat
of acrobatics. It gave us a new respect for the local police.
Note to self: no fighting with local police in Laos. As the
sun was setting we passed by dozens of women gathered in a
central square to perform aerobics. Not the tai-chi kind but
full on jazzercise. The entire scene seemed out of place so
we moved on and several minutes later we had parked our bikes
and sat on the dusty river bank to watch the very red sun
set over the Mekong River on our last day in Laos. A fitting
end to our visit to this beautiful country.
Travel Tip: We were disappointed we
didn't make it to Vang Vieng. For those considering a trip
to Laos this is an up and coming adventure destination for
caving, climbing and rafting.
Update: On February 22 we learned
of another gun attack on a bus on the road to Vang Vieng and
again in mid-April. For an intense story about a father and
son caught in this violence on the same stretch of road in
1995 check out this story: www.dailyinfo.co.uk/polcaus/becvar.html
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