lao day 1: london - bangkok - vientiane

to clear up the lao vs laos issue. i've come to believe that laos is a franco term and that lao is correct. it also helps me justify my obsession that little bit more. everything and everyone says lao and they are therefore all mine. take the following evidence.
=
a.


b.


c.


d.

(lao rice wine, aka lao lao)

e.


vientiane was quiet on the saturday night that i arrived. noone was around, even when we arrived downtown. the city was totally dead. the population grew by about 10 people the next morning. favourite sight of the night: the neon-lit church (sorry no pictures). ps, i'd like to imagine they sent jesus off with a neon-crucifixion despite what all the pictures seem to imply...

day 2: vientiane - vang vien
neither alexis nor i were that interested in vientiane. we spent the morning walking around and looking for things to be excited about but in the end it boiled down to the two of us looking at each other every once in awhile and saying, "we're in lao. oh look, there's the mekong," or "we're in lao. man that's a pretty temple."
that afternoon, we got on the bus to vang vien, which is northwest of vientiane. the bus was actually pretty nice. we did stop off somewhere for a short bathroom break and they were cooking what i can only imagine was some former live animals' intestine. it looked as appetising as it sounds. it didn't help that there were mangy cats running around everywhere. it obviously wasn't cat intestine because there was too much of it but anyone who knows what r.o.u.s. stands for can just nod with me.
when we arrived in vang vien, it was already late. we found a hostel and went to find food. as we approached the centre (read: the intersection), it seemed that restaurant options came down to the place with the day beds playing episodes of friends, the other place with the day beds playing episodes of friends or the one place with the day beds playing episodes of the simpsons. i do exaggerate a little... there were other places... but this stuff: ...
seemed like a pretty standard purchase in this town so the daybeds just seemed a natural way to end the day.

the main point of this city seems to be the calm waters. the mountains are close so big boats can't get through. instead, tourists can hop on a rubber tire and spend the whole day tubing and stopping off for food and beer lao. not a bad way to spend the day.

more to come...