Vientiane

On Thursday morning a tuk-tuk picked us up from our hostel to take us to the bus stop. Twelve of us were crammed on the back and Colin and 2 other guys had to stand up, holding on to the rails, as the driver sped down the little roads. When we got to the bus stop a big bus was waiting for us, although we'd booked a mini van, but we were told to get on despite the driver not being able to talk enough English to tell us for definite that we were on the right bus. Once our bags were on and we'd settled into a seat, we heard that the bus was going to the airport and no mention of Vientiane city centre. So we got off to find out what's happening, but felt reassured that we'd get to Vientiane by this bus, as almost everyone else on there were in the same situation as us, so got back on. Apart from this confusion at the start, the journey was alright and this time it was 3 hours like they said it would be. We did stop at the airport, which we found was only a few km's outside of town and the next stop was Vientiane town centre. There was a Chinese lady on the bus with a little baby (maybe 3 months old) and when we got to the airport I got off the bus to get some fresh air. The lady got off too and looked around nervously. Next thing I knew the baby was in my arms and she disappeared off. He was a very good baby, didn't make a peep and although I didn't mind holding him, I was a bit worried that his mom had gone off somewhere, never to return and Colin and I would have a little traveller joining us. Colin, looking down from inside the bus, was even more nervous than me and wanted me to keep my eye on the mom. She did come back and though the baby didn't cry when he was sitting by me, he cried a bit when his mom took him back.
We came to Vientiane to explore the city and see the many beautiful temples and also to get visas for Thailand (we're only allowed 15 days at a time in Thailand if we cross the land borders, but in Vientiane we get a 60 day  Thai visa for free). Once we had taken our passports in, we had  to stay 4 days in Vientiane. We've seen a few really old and pretty temples called Stupas, Wats and Thats. We also went up a building that was a replica of the Arc de Triomphe, which we thought was beautiful, but the inscription on the wall desribes it as ugly and a "concrete monster". There's also a lot of new buildings being built here and I imagine that in a few years time the city will look totally different and be much more developed.
We've enjoyed our time in Laos, it wasn't somewhere we originally had on our schedule, but due to recommendations we decided to come here afterall. It's a very relaxed and laid back country and being here forces you to chill out too. There isn't all that much to do in Laos, but it's worth a visit if you're in this part of the world and plus you can get a Thai visa which saves you doing border runs mid way through your trip.
Next we head back towards Bangkok for Christmas and are really looking forward to seeing Les, Eileen and Kelly. We have a couple of extra days so we'll stop off somewhere on the way.