I have finally left Bangkok and gone on to the next country--Laos. Laos was not originally on my itinerary, but so many people I met have said good things about it, I decided to go. It is easy to get there from Bangkok, and I needed to get out of Thailand because my visa is running out. (When I go back to Thailand, I automatically get another 30-day visa.) Plus, I was getting a bit stressed out by things going on in Bangkok, and Laos is definitely a low-stress place.
Friday, 8/1 to 8/7
I hung out in Bangkok for this period. Nui came down from Chiang Mai on the first and left Bangkok on the 7th. We hung out most of the time. He used to live in Bangkok, but I actually took him to some places he had never been before. Another friend of his was in Bangkok for a few days as well, so we hung out with him.
I got a couple of calls from people in the states this week--Vikram and David C. in California. By the way, my cell phone won't work until I get back to Thailand. Not much point in trying to get a new number for Lao, since I don't plan on being here very long.
Hanging out with Nui, I discovered kamikazis. The bar we go to sells them by the pitcher pretty cheap. The first night we had a couple of pitchers, we ended up at an underground club with some friends of his. (He knows almost no one in Bangkok, but almost everyone in Chiang Mai. Lot's of Chiang Mai people make it to Bangkok.) It wasn't a great club, but it was an interesting thing to do once. Since the place servers liquor after hours illegally, it is a very clandestine affair. You walk down an alley, knock on a dark, locked, gated door, and an old woman lets you in. You go into the belly of this huge building to a large room with no windows, so no one can hear the music or see the lights (not that there was much light.) When we left, we had to wait for the owners to make sure the coast was clear. They had a set of surveilance cameras set up to watch for cops, and we could see the monitors as we waited to leave. We exited to another alley where there were people setting up for the morning market. (It as about 5am.)
The next night, we went through 3 pitchers of kamikazis. That was a very strange night of unusual places and hide and seek through the sidestreets of Bangkok.
Nui had intended to go with me to Lao, but when he discovered that the road would be twisty (he gets motion sick) and that the flights were more expensive than we thought, that didn't happen. After searching for discount airfares, we got in a canal bus (much to Nui's dismay.) The canal stank, and we had to pull up a tarp on the side of the boat to keep the smelly water from splashing on us. I thought it was like a hilarious amusement park ride. I think Nui was amused in spite of himself. Afterwards, we went to Swensen's to have an earthquake, which I had promised him in Chiang Mai but could never manage.
It turns out that Nui and his friend Jack know my friend Randy--you may remember him from the Milford Sound portion of my New Zealand travelgue. Randy was in Chaing Mai several weeks ago and hung out at the bar where they work. Randy went to Saigon, so I sent him to Lost in Saigon to find Thien, but I found out the bar had been closed down, and Randy got kicked out of the country after his first day in Saigon due to a visa snafu. He went back to Bangkok and got there the day after I left. Doh!
Friday, 8/8/03
I decided in the morning that I needed to get the hell out of Bangkok for a while, so I bought a train ticket to the Lao boarder and got on the night train.
Saturday, 8/9/03
I arrived at the Loa boarder, went over the bridge to Vientiane, going through all of the visa/customs/immigration beurocracy.
Vientaine is a pleasant, sleepy, small town. I can't believe it is the capital of a country.
I walked around Vientaine (it is small enough that you can do that.) A pleasant stroll along the Mekong and through the central area. For you Illinoisans, Belleville looks like a big city compared to Vientaine.
I had dinner at a very nice French restaurant. Very cheap, very good.
In about an hour I take a bus to Vang Vieng further north in Lao.
Later,
Sid
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