Jon the Traveller

Saw this place on Travelfish and in my Lonely-Planet so checked it out after trying a few other cheaper places, however with so many arrivals in town when I got here, they were full. The Riverside however was not, probably due to it being a touch on the expensive side:

180000 Kip per night for an aircon double or single room en-suite;
100000 Kip per night for a fan double or single room with en-suite.

The rooms themselves aren’t very big, but the beds are amazingly comfy which was good news for my back as so far on this trip the beds have not been that great. They have cable television with BBC World News, so I could get my Auntie Fix!

As far as location goes, its a stones throw from the frontage along the Mekong – however the promenade area is undergoing a massive regeneration/construction project, so do not expect to see much – and close to the rest of the main traveller amenities – bars, restaurants and the like.

They offer some travel services, in addition to free wifi in the lobby and a car service should you require it.

Biggest downside for the majority of travellers is the cost, however in Vientiane elevated costs seems to the norm, so its not a reason to be put off staying here.

Tags: Laos, Review, Riverside, Vientiane

It’s not quite 4pm yet, but I have firmly entered what Douglas Adam’s coined “The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul”. The part of a Sunday afternoon when:

that terrible listlessness which starts to set in at about 2.55, when you know that you’ve had all the baths you can usefully have that day, that however hard you stare at any given paragraph in the papers you will never actually read it, or use the revolutionary new pruning technique it describes, and that as you stare at the clock the hands will move relentlessly on to four o’clock, and you will enter the long dark teatime of the soul.

Being stuck in Vientiane – possibly the most laid back capital on the planet – on a Sunday with nothing to do as there is nothing open has brought me closer to the “long dark…” than I have ever experienced before, and I have had some awful Sundays.

Seriously kill me now.

Tags: Laos, Teatime of the Soul, Vientiane