Jon the Traveller

… Bored.

1. See more wats – some are impressive considering they are reasonably new given Laos turbulent history;
2. Tour the Laos National Museum – I thought I’d seen the end of museums that deny you the chance to go photo-happy;

3. Walk to and climb Patuxai. This is Vientiane’s very own Arc de Triomphé, built using concrete donated by the Americans for a runway. The views from the top are not quite as awe inspiring as those you can see from the French original, however they are still worth the climb;

4. Wander the wonderful prome – no wait, for some reason unknown to me, the Thai and Laos governments have turned one of the best things about Vientiane into a building site and now it looks awful. As Siobhan said its ruined one of the best ways there was to pass time in the city, no more can you chill with good Lao food, beer and a book and watch the world go by.

5. You can also get visa’s here for any number of countries in and around the region. For me this meant a trip to the now moved (thanks for publishing the move very widely…) Thai Embassy/Consulate, although the touts are the same (same as EVERYWHERE it could be argued), offering services that only the stupid would fall for, from copying your passport at inflated prices, to filling in the near child-proof visa form.

After getting past the touts and into the embassy I was allotted number 718 and hours of waiting began, with them closing at around the 300 mark. However this, as a friend pointed out, is Asia they keep offering numbers even though they know they’ll NEVER meet that target. So I went away and came back much earlier the next day – turns out Wednesdays are a quiet day there, and handed my stuff over. Then went away without having to pay a penny. Go Go the last two days of the free 60 day visa!! Collection the following day is so easy as long as you kept your number from the day before.

Apart from meeting Siobhan and passing the time comparing tales of substance abuse over several beers, the rest of my time in Vientiane passed like old people screwing – far too slowly. In the end I got an overnight sleeper bus to Pakse and moved on. The pace of life in Vientiane is just too damn laid back after all.

6.  Leave.

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.

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.