Friday, March 03, 2006
Laos!
The girls decided to stay in Vietnam and hit the beaches, and we agreed to meet up in Bang Kok in a week so we could all greet the arriving Rachel Smyth together. In the meantime, off to Laos!
Peter and myself spent two full days traveling through Vietnam before getting to Laos. This here is the bus that was to bring us to Vientiane, the capitol city. To get to this bus, we had to walk the two kilometers that is the Vietnam/Laos border, dodging JCB's and cranes driving around what is essentially a big building site. During the walk we were confronted at every turn by money changers who's only words were YOU WANT MONEY CHANGED MISTER!??! I HAVE DOLLARS DONG KIP BAHT!!! It seemed to take hours...
Vientiane is possibly the most laid back city on earth. See all those people rushing around with many urgent things to do? Me neither! Definitely a place to retreat to when you suffer that mental breakdown. We arrived at 2am however, which meant that every guest house we went to was locked up for the night. It took us another 1 1/2 hours to find a place to sleep!
This is Phat That Luang, the main Buddhist temple in Vientiane. A huge structure painted gold, it makes for a very impressive sight. The gold covering really reflects the sun though, and I was nearly fried.
Peter, showing his respect to the many ancient statues of Buddha. We love other cultures!
Buddha however, doesn't. I caught this snap of him waiting in the shadows to savage passing Christians, Muslims, Jews, and miscellaneous (Apu: Hindu! There are 700 million of us!). The bowl contains the very souls of his victims.
Happy days! Rachel flew in and team adventure is complete! Peter is clearly the happiest of the group to see Rachel.
deliriously happy....
Peter and myself spent two full days traveling through Vietnam before getting to Laos. This here is the bus that was to bring us to Vientiane, the capitol city. To get to this bus, we had to walk the two kilometers that is the Vietnam/Laos border, dodging JCB's and cranes driving around what is essentially a big building site. During the walk we were confronted at every turn by money changers who's only words were YOU WANT MONEY CHANGED MISTER!??! I HAVE DOLLARS DONG KIP BAHT!!! It seemed to take hours...
Vientiane is possibly the most laid back city on earth. See all those people rushing around with many urgent things to do? Me neither! Definitely a place to retreat to when you suffer that mental breakdown. We arrived at 2am however, which meant that every guest house we went to was locked up for the night. It took us another 1 1/2 hours to find a place to sleep!
This is Phat That Luang, the main Buddhist temple in Vientiane. A huge structure painted gold, it makes for a very impressive sight. The gold covering really reflects the sun though, and I was nearly fried.
Peter, showing his respect to the many ancient statues of Buddha. We love other cultures!
Buddha however, doesn't. I caught this snap of him waiting in the shadows to savage passing Christians, Muslims, Jews, and miscellaneous (Apu: Hindu! There are 700 million of us!). The bowl contains the very souls of his victims.
Happy days! Rachel flew in and team adventure is complete! Peter is clearly the happiest of the group to see Rachel.
deliriously happy....
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Its just as sunny here in Dublin at the minute but very very VERY cold. Last night was the coldest night in a decade in fact.
Simon your speeling is nearly as bad as mine.
I am very jealous right now. I just bought a lovely dress and I can't wear it because no one will see it under my layers and layers of jumpers, lab coat and other assorted things for keeping me warm. Very jealous indeed.
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Simon your speeling is nearly as bad as mine.
I am very jealous right now. I just bought a lovely dress and I can't wear it because no one will see it under my layers and layers of jumpers, lab coat and other assorted things for keeping me warm. Very jealous indeed.
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