I stayed at the Bangkok YHA Airport, which was nice and close to the airport. They sent a car to collect me. The woman on the phone said to look for a ‘blue car’. She wasn’t wrong. It was blue. ELECTRIC BLUE souped up hot rod. Awesome.
The room was basic, but clean and had its own shower and toilet. Silly me forgot that I should bring towels to a hostel. Oh well. It had aircon and nice pillows. I also arrived on the King’s birthday, so the main street was well lit up with flashing lights and birthday wishes. It was pretty, so I went for a walk after I turned on the AC to cool things down for my return.
I went for a short walk around the area, took heaps of pics and then went home to have a nice drink of Crown and coke, courtesy of Duty Free.
The next morning, I had the most processed, sugary breakfast EVER. The hotel provided 'breakfast'. LOL. Crackers, cookies and a sugary drink. Awesome.
The hostel had Wifi, which was great. I did some research into entry into Lao, since I am an idiot. Passport photos? USD? WHY DID I FORGET THAT PART???? *sigh* BUT…the staff was fabulous and drove all over suburban BKK to find a place open at 830am to take passport photos. They are HILARIOUS. See?
Made it to the airport, checked in, was dinged 700 Baht since I left the airport as a departure tax. Jerks. Grabbed a bite to eat and a beer before the plane to Vientiane, went to the gate and headed to LAOS!!!!
After a nice, short flight to Vientiane, I got my visa at the border. Why Canadians have to pay $42USD for a visa when every other country pays $30 or less is beyond me. Jerks. This alone may push me to get my Aussie passport/citizenship so that I can go back to Laos cheaper.
I cleared customs and the Visa people, grabbed my bag and headed out. When I walked out the doors, I saw the most beautiful sight…EMMA WAS THERE!!!!! She is one of the most beautiful people, inside and out, I have ever met. I was so so so happy to see her.
We grabbed a taxi to hers and dropped bags off. We sat out back in her gorgeous yard and fabulous house and had a BEER LAO!!!! BEER OF THE GODS!!!!!!!! I was so happy. We talked about life, got caught up on things and just relaxed. It felt so good. I may have drank my first beer too fast....
We eventually went into the Spirit House, which is a fabulous cocktail bar in Vientiane. I love it. They make THE BEST cocktails and have some great tapas. Ginga, the manager, asked us to test cocktails for him. OMG YES PLEASE!!!! We had MANY cocktails and Ginga provided more tapas. The aranchini balls, dried beef, fish sticks and Asian bruschetta were yummy yummy yummy!!!!
After that, we went to the Chokdee café, which is a very nice beer bar in Vientiane. I am sure I offended Grégoire by having a Tiger draft beer. Meh. After that, we went home and I offered up the Crown Royal and Canadian Club I brought from Duty Free. I may have been a bit wasted. Oops. I also forgot that I was the only one on holidays. Sorry, Emma!!!
Day Two: I woke up at 4am, which is 7am in Australia. I was AWAKE but hurting. I tried to go back to sleep. I played Angry Birds on my Playberry for a bit and then read. I dosed off and on, only to be awoken by the roosters and the dogs. I must have fallen asleep because when I did wake up, Emma and Grégoire were gone.
I eventually caught a tuktuk into town. Sadly, he took me to the wrong Joma café so it was a bit of a double whammy and I felt very confused and hungover in the hot sun. My bad for not having my map more handy and knowing where I was going. 70,000 kip lesson well learned, DOH! I finally made it to Aria for their all-you-can eat pizza and pasta. CARBS!!!! I met Kelley and her dad, Tucker. They are lovely!!! We had a nice time and the carbs helped the hangover.
After lunch, I wandered about in Lao and found wifi, Beer Lao and a place to sit before meeting Emma and going back to her place. I also went for a massage, but there was a mix up and she started giving me a facial. Oops. We had plans to go to a Xmas party that night. We went back to hers, ate snacks, chatted and just relaxed til it was time to go to the party. The party was nice with very pretty decorations and free-flowing booze and food. We didn’t stay long as Emma was tired, I was still hungover a little (as well as tired from being awake since 4am) so we left. Being at that party made me want to live in Lao more, since the house was just gorgeous.
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