December 14th, Monday
I woke up extremely early and headed out to plan, write my diary and get going. I talked to the front desk manager and booked 2 tickets for Vang Viene on the 9:30 VIP bus that would be leaving the following morning for me and Conrad.
Then I headed to a cafe and sat down with a cappucino and ordered a tofu salad for breakfast. 2 nice Malaysian Volleyball officials came and sat down and chatted with me. They told me if I ever wanted to go to Malaysia they would show me the way, and asked me questions about my travels.
I made it to an internet cafe and was frustrated because I felt like I had so many emails to send in order to plan the rest of my trip, but in reality I wanted to be out sightseeing. I had to email The Gibbon Experience (http://www.gibbbonx.org/) because it is a very popular thing these days. It is in northern Laos and you get to sleep high up in the canopy and swing through zip lines and sleep in the houses with real Gibbon monkeys. I decided this is a once in a life time opportunity and tried to get a trip booked. The sad part about it is, I won't be able to see Cambodia on this trip. I have my heart set on going there at some point in my life, but with the time constraints and the fact I am traveling up Laos, it will be too difficult to make it down again to Cambodia and then to Koh Tao in time to get my PADI and back to Bangkok for my flight to Seoul on the 9th of January.
After I had sent out email after email I met up with Conrad and we headed to lunch. We walked along the Mekong and found a cute little tree house and had a beer served by the cutest little boy. He was about 4 years old and was serving guests and clearing tables while his mother smiled and helped him. I let him take photos on my camera, and he had a great time shooting photos of his shy little sister, the river, the baby kittens sunning themselves, and Conrad's monkey faces.
We went to the next restaurant down the road and had lunch. I ordered a delicious green chicken curry and an iced latte. We decided to go to a tourist attraction after that, but we were both so full that we opted to take a tuk tuk to get there.
We went to a place called the Patuxai, which is a giant arch that was made in 1957. It resembles the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and has some inspiration of "Kinnari" a bird women of some sort. Supposedly, USA donated the concrete to Laos with the intention for them to build a runway, but instead they built this arch, so it is said to be nicknamed the "vertical runway".
We shot photos and went to the top of the arch which gave a beautiful view of the city. Many different foreigners were crowded around this area and we met some boxing athletes that we took photos with. Afterwards, we walked back to the area of our hotel and I went back to use the computer again and try to sort out my plans.
For dinner, we searched our Lonely Planets and finally decided on a restaurant called Full Mooon Cafe. We sat inside amongst the cozy southwestern decore, and I ordered the Spicy Laos Salad and a Bloody Mary. Our food was delicious, although extrememly spicy! We both were trying to drink as much water as possible as the tears fell from the corners of our eyes.
We walked around the city, but everything was done about 11, so we ended up watching a lame but entertaining Mike Myers movie in which he plays an indian love guru of some sort and then fell asleep ready to head out early on the journey to Vang Viene at 930 the following morning.
I woke up extremely early and headed out to plan, write my diary and get going. I talked to the front desk manager and booked 2 tickets for Vang Viene on the 9:30 VIP bus that would be leaving the following morning for me and Conrad.
Then I headed to a cafe and sat down with a cappucino and ordered a tofu salad for breakfast. 2 nice Malaysian Volleyball officials came and sat down and chatted with me. They told me if I ever wanted to go to Malaysia they would show me the way, and asked me questions about my travels.
I made it to an internet cafe and was frustrated because I felt like I had so many emails to send in order to plan the rest of my trip, but in reality I wanted to be out sightseeing. I had to email The Gibbon Experience (http://www.gibbbonx.org/) because it is a very popular thing these days. It is in northern Laos and you get to sleep high up in the canopy and swing through zip lines and sleep in the houses with real Gibbon monkeys. I decided this is a once in a life time opportunity and tried to get a trip booked. The sad part about it is, I won't be able to see Cambodia on this trip. I have my heart set on going there at some point in my life, but with the time constraints and the fact I am traveling up Laos, it will be too difficult to make it down again to Cambodia and then to Koh Tao in time to get my PADI and back to Bangkok for my flight to Seoul on the 9th of January.
After I had sent out email after email I met up with Conrad and we headed to lunch. We walked along the Mekong and found a cute little tree house and had a beer served by the cutest little boy. He was about 4 years old and was serving guests and clearing tables while his mother smiled and helped him. I let him take photos on my camera, and he had a great time shooting photos of his shy little sister, the river, the baby kittens sunning themselves, and Conrad's monkey faces.
We went to the next restaurant down the road and had lunch. I ordered a delicious green chicken curry and an iced latte. We decided to go to a tourist attraction after that, but we were both so full that we opted to take a tuk tuk to get there.
We went to a place called the Patuxai, which is a giant arch that was made in 1957. It resembles the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and has some inspiration of "Kinnari" a bird women of some sort. Supposedly, USA donated the concrete to Laos with the intention for them to build a runway, but instead they built this arch, so it is said to be nicknamed the "vertical runway".
We shot photos and went to the top of the arch which gave a beautiful view of the city. Many different foreigners were crowded around this area and we met some boxing athletes that we took photos with. Afterwards, we walked back to the area of our hotel and I went back to use the computer again and try to sort out my plans.
For dinner, we searched our Lonely Planets and finally decided on a restaurant called Full Mooon Cafe. We sat inside amongst the cozy southwestern decore, and I ordered the Spicy Laos Salad and a Bloody Mary. Our food was delicious, although extrememly spicy! We both were trying to drink as much water as possible as the tears fell from the corners of our eyes.
We walked around the city, but everything was done about 11, so we ended up watching a lame but entertaining Mike Myers movie in which he plays an indian love guru of some sort and then fell asleep ready to head out early on the journey to Vang Viene at 930 the following morning.
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