| | Having gotten totally bored with Europe, felt glad to be back in Asia. I've been in Bangkok twice in a year now! Quite a relief to be paying for things that would cost 10 times more in Germany! Got in around 1:30, but didn't get to downtown til 3:30 given Bangkok's fabulous traffic. Met up with karn and stayed at his place a couple nights. European cities might be nice to look at, but they'll always lack that something that makes places like Bangkok so exciting and dymanic. Come to think of it, the only country I found really fascinating on my Eurotrip was Albania.
Didn't really do much except watch Batman and a Cosplay event on Saturday. I was trying to decide between going to Phuket or a quick trip to Laos. Ended up choosing Laos, since it's rainy season and not really in the mood for seeing more of "those" kind of tourists.
Got a sleeper to the Thai border town to Nong Khai. The rail link was supposed to have been extended 20km north to the Lao capital of Vientianne by now, but knowing Laos, nothing has happened yet. The second class sleeper was quite a change from the cattle train I took to Cambodia last time! And this might just be the best sleeper I've taken! All airconditioned, with just two levels of bunks on each side, facing forward, unlike those triple deck bunks of Chinese or European trains. My 10 hour train ticket was even cheaper than the ticket from Hong Kong to Guangzhou! Although my train was oldish, at least it had soap and sitdown toilets unlike even the soc alled new trains in China, which are usually poorly maintained!
Once in Northern Thailand, got a tuk tuk to the border, bus across the no man land's bridge, and another tuk tuk to Vientianne center. Laos visas are bought on arrival, I found it interesting how Vietnamese and Chinese (the dirty Asians) only have to pay $20, US and EU citizens pay $35, but Canadians have to pay $42? I guess Canadians aren't universally liked.
Despite being as developed as Cambodia, so far the roads have been pretty good, unlike that shit road to Siem Reap and this country has proper gas stations too! Vientianne is incredibly clean compared to Phnom Penh with proper sidewalks everywhere. I'm also amazed by the lack (mostly) of touts and the absence of pushiness of shopkeepers. No wonder why everyone says Laos is the highlight of Southeast Asia.
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| | Posted 8/3/2008 11:10 PM - 20 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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