Vientiane

I had a relaxing day today my last in Vientiane at least until it is the end of my trip and its time to go home.

I went to see Haw Pha Kaew today, it was a Royal Temple built in 1565 ordered by the king to house the Emerald Buddha.  Of course it was destroyed in 1828 and rebuilt, supposedly to the original plans though there is doubt regarding this, in 1936.

Today Haw Pha Kaew is a museum holding many Buddha sculptures and other items.  It was interesting to walk around but for the first time there were bus loads of tourists rocking up and doing the rounds of the temple with their respective guides.

I Went for a walk to see Wat Si Muang, it looked like a short walk on the map, it did not turn out to be all that short still it was a nice walk but I think I’m becoming all Wat’ed out and this is only the start of my trip.

Still there is a couple of things left for me to see when I return to this city.

I asked the receptionist at my hotel were the bus station was so I could book my bus to Vang Vieng and he looked at me and said he could book me a private car.  Now knowing what type of hotel I’m in I knew that it would be expensive but I was curious so I asked him how much he thought it would cost.

He looked at me and thought about it with a very serious expression before, and I have to give the man credit he kept and absolutely straight face and told me it would cost $200 USD.  For my part I laughed and asked where the bus station was he gave me directions then asked if I wanted him to arrange the private car.

I said ‘No thank you I’ll take the bus.’

Now under the circumstances I thought the thank you was a nice touch.

I took myself off to the bus station which I found without much of a problem and the busses are a little, um, run down.  Still the price was about $2 USD.  There was a sign thanking people for travelling with Lao bus….. the bit at the end was what caught my eye it said “....... good luck!”

You know that really inspires me with confidence in the busses in Laos.  I ended up booking the Tourist bus which they assure me has air conditioning and for the massive sum of $5 USD they even throw in a bottle of water.

I’m down on the banks of the Mekong again.  Predictable perhaps but it is such a pleasant way to end the day.