anyway, we've got lots to do today...and tat's to visit 2 of the most important tourist attraction places in Vientiane!
both Keiko & I woke up early today... 1hr ealier than the rest, becoz keiko wanted to see the sunrise over the Mekong river... so i also woke up early to keep her company.. =D
so we freshen up and head to the Mekong banks tat's very near to our guesthouse. hahaha.... and upon reaching the banks, we heard loud and up-beat music blasting from some radio.... then we saw a group of women (young & old) do aerobics! hahaha... interesting... coz i never tot that Laos people are into maintaining good health... hahaha.. i guess i stayed too long in the 'mountains' tat i've got such thinking. =P
anyway the both of us stood there and see the ladies doing their stuffs for a while before walking along the banks (a short walk only lah)... but there is nothing much to see... the scenery is not really as nice as compared to the Mekong scenery tat we saw in Luang Prabang... hahaha.. i guess that's the problems with low-land areas... the scenery are not as excellent as sceneries in the highlands. we managed to capture a few photos of the sun-rise... nothing majestic though.
then we went back to the guesthouse to do our gongkyo and also to carry out bags down to the reception area.... coz if we were to leave our bags in the rooms... tat will be counted as staying in the guesthouse for another day...
hahaha... luckily we only stayed there for 1 night... save me the trouble of unpacking and packing my bags...
after tat we took a tuk tuk to Pha Tat Luang. wah....when u see tat temple(??). The reason tat i put questions marks abt this structure is becoz it seems like a temple but then its also the national icon of Laos!! hahaha... yup! and i can say tat i truely understand y its the national icon... coz when u 1st see it the 1st thought tat comes to your mind is "Goodness! is it real??" hahaha... think u'll be wondering y this qstn. bcoz, the temple is so golden!! its casted with gold all over and when the sun shines on the temple, it juz reflect the sun rays... so golden and shiny... hahaha...
and surrounding Pha Tat Luang are some other temples... and u'll see monks clad in their orange robes sweeping the floors of the temple. and these temples are equally majestic... yeah... amazing... tat pple can build such huge and wonderful structures.... and another thought also struck me how much the Laos pple must have spend to build such majestic structures. =P
anyway after Phat Tat Luang, we were so hungry... coz we've not taken our breakfast yet... hahaha... so along our way to Patuxay, we were keeping a look out for shops or streets vendors selling food. and keiko & harumi bought banana chips to munch... hahaha... juz to have a little food in the stomach 1st, then we happen to come across a row of shop houses tat sell food!!! (FINALLY!!!) and we juz sat down and ordered our food... hahaha... i ordered egg noodles with beef... and it was really huge bowl... but the veggies served were raw... and they've also served me some herbs (hmmm... i dun like to eat herbs raw). i din add them into my noodles... but the noodles tasted awesome... (hahaha... when u're famish, anything taste wonderful to u!)
after filling our stomach with food, we set off for Patuxay. Right! so what is Patuxay all about?? well if u see it from far, for a moment u tot u're seeing the Arc de Triomphe (tat famous gate in Paris)... but upon close inspection, u'll realised tat its almost similar but at the same time very very different. hahaha... yeah... its got the outlook of the western archetecture, but the carvings and paintings on this structure are very Buddhist.
Laos used to be under the French ruling in the past, tat's y this structure is westernised.
in front of Patuxay was a round fountain... hahaha... sort of fountain... but at tat time the fountain was not working and in the man-made pool, lots of people were inside... and u kno wat they were doing? they were cleaning the fountain... and u can see lots of black stuffs floating on the surface of the pool.... its like they've never clean the fountain for years!!! truely disgusting... when we climbed to the top of Patuxay, we were able to see part of Vientiane! =D
After Patuxay, we went to Talat Sao to do..... (drum roll!!!)
yup! we went to do shopping again!!! hahaha..... we gals mah.... so shopping is a muz lah... cannot miss it where we go mah. =P
along the way we saw That Dam, its a stupa tat's situated in the center of the city... and this stupa is stripped of gold... and its other name is the black stupa... hahaha... interesting. =P
anyway today's talat sao is so different from last night's talat sao... hahaha... be coz last night we went to the Talat Sao mall instead of the market... hahaha.. we were so blurr.... anyway tat day then we know tat the Talat Sao market is juz behind the Talat Sao mall... so... naturally u can't see it... and somemore the Lao security guards we approach were not able to understand or speak English... so its ok...anyway today we were able to visit the biggest market in Vientiane...and do our last min shopping there!
after walking for a while and getting what i wanted, i sat down with a coffee shake and waited for the rest. while i was sitting there, a lady joined me and we started chatting. hmmm... apparently she is also on holiday... but she is travelling by herself and she is a fellow s'porean. yeah so we were trading stories of our travels... then once the rest were back (and they managed to change the remaining Kipp to american dollars) we set off... we went to buy sandwiches which will be our dinner on the train and also to check my mail to see if the service apartment in Bangkok has replied me.
surprise of all surprise! they replied me and they've got vaccanies on 25th!! hahaha... so we were able to stay there for 2 nights!
so once we reached our guesthouse, we rested for a while before a tuk tuk came and picked us up at 3.30pm. and we took the tuk tuk with 3 other americans, 1 european guy and a swiss lady. it took abt 1/2hr to reach the lao-thai border.. where we're to clear our customs there. and my goodness! the customs at the Lao border is super super chaotic!!! the pple were juz pushing and cutting the queues...and its useless to stare at them thinking tat they will feel guilty and follow the queue...
and once we've gotten our passports chopped, we had to board buses that will bring us to the Thai border customs. and that town is called "Nong Khai". however we cleared the Thai customs, our journey has not ended yet... coz we've got to travel in a pick-up to the train station where we'll be able to board the train. hahaha... so u can say its a super interesting and also eye-opening experience...and most of us sat at the back of the pick-up (except nobuko,harumi & toshiko. they sat in the passengers area in the pick-up) with all the heavey baggage! yeah... and we talked with the other travellers and made frens with the Swiss lady.
She told us tat she is heading to Bangkok where she will be staying for 3 days before heading home... and hahaha... she bought some bamboo looking hat... but tat's not a hat, instead its something that the Laos people used it to cook their sticky rice! =D
anyway when we reached the train station, we started looking for the carriages tat we'll be in...as we've got different carriages and beds.
and luckily me & harumi are in the same carriage and her bed is juz across mine. keiko & nobuko are in another carriage while toshiko is by herself. when we got onto the train, we did not see any beds at all... hahaha... so we were wondering where are the beds.... until a Thai national told us tat someone will come and prepare the beds for us. hahhaa... then we juz sat there and talk and eat. =D
really 1 guy came and helped us to prepare the beds... and its something very interesting... and i think the thai pple (train pple) are happy and amazed to see us gals travelling by ourselves and having the courage to lao-thai border... hahaha... not to say tat its dangerous to do that...
they told us tat the train was fully booked... and the train will be stopping later at Udon Thani where more people will be getting on.... hahaha.. i guess tat's the reason y the train was still quite empty then... and y we were not able to get the lower deck beds. hahaha. =D
and in fact the train with sleeping compartments interest me coz i initially i tot tat it would be like the trains in Switzerland, where there will be cabins in each carriage. and in each carriage there will be 4 beds... but never thought that there are no cabins.. and beds are lined on both sides of the carraige. hahaha... so i was amazed when i saw the guy preparing our beds. =P
then around 8pm (coz our train set off for bangkok at 6.30pm), the train stopped and this time round lots of pple came onto the train. and the people sleeping below me & harumi is an elderly couple. they are very nice people...and offered us the fruits they brought... and told us tat they are on their way home. then sometime around 9pm i decided to call it a day
and told harumi tat i'm sleeping coz tomorrow i need my strength... hahaha... tat's wat i did despite the fact tat it was so noisy coz our beds were at the connection to another carriage... so constantly pple will walk pass and u can hear the noise from the railway tracks... but i can't be borthered already... i need to sleep... so yeah tat's wat i did... =D
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