Amazing that i was able to sleep very well in the 'prison-like room' in the guesthouse!! hahaha... i guess probably becoz yesterday we were so tired tat i was able to sleep deeply. =P
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
By now we're so used to waking up super early in the morning. hahaha.... likewise for this day. Coz today we'll be heading down to Vientiane!! Yup! Vientiane is the capital of Laos... u can say tat's its exciting that we're heading to a new place...but also at the same time a little sad for me as i'm going to leave this wonderful town of Luang Prabang. =(
this day we woke up at 4.45am. hahaha... coz we're going to take a tuk tuk to the bus station tat is a a few km south of Luang Prabang city center. in fact tat day when we book our bus tickets, we were given 2 different timings of the bus. 1 was leaving at 6.30am and the other was leaving at 8am. we chose the earlier one coz we had to go and knock on the doors of the guesthouses in Vientiane for accomodation again... =P
anyway, once we loaded our stuffs onto the bus, the bus set off the winding mountainous road... almost all the passengers slept on the bus once the bus set off. i think besides the 5 of us, there were another 2 German ladies and 1 american lady ---- we were the only foreigners amongst the Laotians. and the bus took about 40 passengers i think... however, i was not able to sleep... hahaha...perhaps due to the constant twisting and turning... but rest assured, i don't suffer from car sickness... =D
and taking these bus really give an over dosage of Lao music or is it Thai music... hahaha...coz throughout the entire bus ride the bus driver juz keep playing the music again and again...until the music is really drumed into ur brains... hahaha.....
anyway luckily i did not sleep so i was able to admire the wonderful scenery that greeted us along our way to Vientiane. especially in the early morning, when the sun was juz rising.... because we were in the highlands, and it was cold in the morning, one is able to see a sea of clouds when we're on top of a mountains... and its juz like u're travelling in the sky but not really the sky... and its juz really amazing and beautiful to me! =D
then after travelling 2 1/2hrs on the road, the bus stop... hahahaha... and when it stopped we were surprise when we see most of the passengers getting off.. we thought we're got a toilet break... but the surprising thing was the bus stopped juz along the road and there is not a toilet in sight... as all over is juz grass and mountains... u can say in the wilderness... hahaha... but then when we got down the bus (but there were some pple who din get down), we saw some men, unzipping their pants facing the bushes and u hear the 'shhh' or 'whoosh' sound... hahaha... then it struck us!!! Yes! this is a toilet break... and everywhere is the toilet!!! hahaha.... and we saw some women heading further into the bushes to do their 'small business'. hahhaa... keiko, toshiko & me were curious so we followed those women (the germans also went) coz there got more bushes for u to hide and more polite to do ur business without pple looking upon u... hahaha... so i tot i'll also give it a go. i went and do my 'small business' 1st. keiko seeing it and don't think its wise to control as we don't kno when will be the next stop, also did her 'small business'. hahaha... yeah...we're the more adventurous ones... =D but at least now we can drink water... hahaha... =P
then everyone board the bus again... and after about 45min, the bus stop again... this time is stopping for us to get food. and we're in one of the villages in the mountains. and everywhere are the Lao people... not a single foreigner in sight (besides us on the bus lah).
we juz got down to stretch our legs and also buy some interesting food... hahaha... yeah u can say tat we're pretty greedy...
anyway we're not tat hungry.. (coz we're very smart, we bought sandwiches in Luang Prabang yesterday. and these sandwiches will be our breakfast. and the sandwiches are super big... so u can eat it in 2 parts. =P) but juz curious to try the interesting food there.
after tat we continue our journey again... by then, the bus was stopping everyone and then and more and more pple juz get onto the bus... until all the seats were filled up.
and the pple had to take out plastic stools and placed them along the aliase to sit down... and becoz the luggage area was filled with luggage, the pple placed their luggage (huge plastic bags u kno... those sort u see at pasar malam) in the aliase... so when u get off the bus, u got to climb over all these things.. hahaha..
interesting.. but also fustrating.. coz we were thinking 'shit! if this continue like this, we'll reach Vientiane late in the night!" and the Germans were getting worried and angry as time pass on...and finally they stop for lunch... and this was the 2nd toilet break... hahaha..sort of... and we ordered 2 bowls of noodles and share... we juz want to try... not really hungry. we only stop for 30min. after lunch it was back onto the bus... and as we travel along, i saw lots of villages along the way. and in all these villages, houses are perched pricariously on the mountain.
and u can see kids, carrying some sort of grass, and my guess is, these are to be used to make brooms, the roofs etc... but not sure...and u'll also see women carrying babies on their back and at the same time working in the fields, mountains etc. the pple are really really very poor... and 3 times i saw young people wearing their Hmong ethnic clothings playing some sort of a game. 1 row of ladies and 1 row of men facing each other and passing a ball between them.... to me it seemed like those sort of match-making games. hahaha... but i'm not sure... coz how come they are dressed in their finest standing under the hot sun playing a game? i was not able to take pictures of them in action...coz the bus drove by too fast...
by 12.30pm, we've already travelled for 6hrs, and the Germans got off. coz we've reached Vieng Ven, that's where the both of them were heading...
and in between, the bus will stop to let pple get on and off the bus... hmmm... it set me wondering... this is an Express Bus and u see these sort of thing... hahaha... but i guess tat's y the duration from Luang Prabang to Vientiane is 10hrs.
yeah... we finally reached Vientiane at 3.30pm... so we've travelled 9hrs on the bus...when we reached, we took a tuk tuk to the city center and each one paid 10000 kipp ( i think) so tat's pretty cheap.
we took the tuk tuk with the American lady and she told us where she stayed and where exactly are the guesthouses located... hahaha.. we could not make any pre-booking 1st because the guesthouses do not have email address...and if they do have, their prices are exorbitant.
anyway, we carried out bags and started walking and knocking on the doors again.. hahahaha... yeah we knocked on about 6 guesthouses before finally choosing the one tat the American lady stayed in. Coz she told us tat the rooms were not clean... coz most of the guesthouses were fully booked. hmm...so no choice lor... we juz took it... and we paid USD $2 for 1 night. hahaha... its very cheap.. but then the rooms were like prison cell lor... (pity i did not take a pic of the room).
toshiko, nobuko & harumi stayed in a room, but keiko & me stayed in the dormitory. in fact we shared the room with another lady... and she's from Denmark. we talked to her that night and we learnt that she has been travelling for 3mths and she've got another 3mths to travel around SEA before heading home! wah... i was envious of her.. hahaha... =D
because we'll be heading to Bangkok after Vientiane, we had to book our tain tickets. So we equire our guesthouse about the train tickets as we'll like to head down to Bangkok on 25th Dec.but shocks of all shocks there were only 3 train tickets on 25th dec. in fact i was very worried now... the gals were also worried... then i told them looks like we've got to change our plans... and asked if there are tics on 26th, but there weren't also. then asked for tics on 24th! Finally there are still tickets on 24th. in fact there were 10 tickets left! and all are upper deck in the 2nd class carriage! when we heard this, immediately we took it.... we didn't even think anymore... coz we're relieved to have tickets to get down to bangkok... else we'll be stranded in vientiane... and i din want to stay there longer than required.. coz we've got to get back to KL by 30th.
hahaha...once we've paid our train tickets, then we walked around looking for food and also shopping...
we headed down to Talat Sao... coz this is the largest market (shopping area) in Vientiane... tat's wat the guidebook said. but when we reach there, we saw tat the building was quite and all the shops were closed...hmmm... how come? then i think shit! today is sunday... perhaps the pple are westernise and they also rest on sun...and that also explains why the streets were so quite... u dun really see many vehicles on the streets... hahaha... anyway we were very disappointed and we sort of like complain tat Vientiane is so so boring as compared to Luang Prabang... hahaha.. in fact is true lor...anyway... we ate our dinner
and head back to our guesthouse to call for the day... coz tomorrow we got so many things to do... as we'll be heading down to bangkok in the evening...to technically we've only got 1/2 day to tour the city and shopping...
and yeah.. before we head back to guesthouse i had to send a mail to the service apartment tat we've book in bangkok, to tell them that we want to stay there for 2 nights... and i was really very scared tat they do not have rooms... and if tat's going to turn out true... i really dun kno wat to do... hahaha... we'll have to sleep on the streets then... but i juz din want to think... and told the gals to pray hard tat the serive apartment has vacancy.
anyway juz call it for the day and i'll check my mail tomorrow for the news... hahaha... hopefully its positive! =D
Some may be wondering why did we choose to go to Luang Prabang... and where exactly is Luang Prabang??
Hmm.... a short introduction of Luang Prabang....its a World UNESCO heritage site...becoz all the ancient temples that were built in this town are still very well preserved. and how come there are so many temples built in this particular town from the past?? becoz Luang Prabang in the ancient times used to be the capital of Laos, until one of the Kings decided to shift the capital futher south to the current capital, Vientianne. hahhaa... yeah some reading i did whilst on my trip... and in this very 'colourful' town, there are altogether 32 temples. in fact, the guidebook that i was holding described that 'the 1st thing we would notice of Luang Prabang is the colours' and its 'a very colourful town'. That time when i read this phrase, i was not able to understand... hahaha.. i tot immediately when i enter the town i'll see things like flags, colourful buildings... it was only when we went down to vientianne, then i seriously understand this!!! hiaz... a little slow i admit (myself lah) but at least i finally understand... hahahaha...anyway i'll try to explain this... coz its true that Luang Prabang is a colourful town, coz as we walked around that day doing our bit in sight-seeing, we saw numerous temples which are covered with gold or with lots of colourful glass affrescos. these colourful affrescos are painstakingly stuck onto the temple walls by the builders to make some sort of designs.
that morning, we woke up at 5.30am and quicly freshen up and walked onto the streets... hahaha... u might be wondering y did u all wake up so early again... hmm... simple... the reason was we wanted to watch and do our bit in giving alms to the monks!!! yup yup!!! tat's wat we did.. coz the monks will parade the streets at 6am. when we were on the streets, some pple came up to us and sell us a basket of fruits which have to be offered to the monks. tat's wat we did, we bought a basket and sat down on the roadside and wait. =P
sitting down with all the aunties... and we learnt from our guesthouse owners that the aunties wake up as early ast 4am to cook the rice so that they can offer to the monks. =P
and the weather was really cold.... and u see the ang mohs sitting at the roadside huddling in their windbreakers... hahaha... =P
when the monks appear on the streets in a single file, everyone became alert... and offer the food.
once the alms giving was over, we trode back to our guesthouse to do our morning gongyo before heading out again... and we went to the fresh produce market. and at this market, u dun really see lots of tourists...hahaha.. perhaps they were not able to wake up tat early?? but it was at this market that we bought our breakfast... as in try as many food as we want. coz the Laos food in the north is a little different from the south. and at the markets, u see pple, mostly women and young gals, laying out their wares and selling them... and at this market, u're able to haggle the price... hmmm..in fact as long as u purchase ur items along the streets and markets, u're able to haggle the price.
after our market episode, we walked down to a very famous and huge temple, Wat Xieng Thong. and the temple was really beautiful... and because i was only able to get limited information from the guidebook, and we decided to try and follow a tour group if possible. hmmmm but there was no tour group speaking in japanese or english or chinese... but we managed to befriend a Thai professor. and she talked to us and also explain quite a bit on the temple to us. hahaha... she is not working at the temple. in fact she was with her Thai tour group. seeing us and talking all the time and puzzling over some things, she explined a little to us.. and that explanation became chit chat and we talked for about 15min or so. hahaha.... and we also took picture with her. =D
one thing we learnt is that when the temple has some spiky thing on the roof top and if they are in the nos of 11, 13 and 17, that means the temple has been built by the king.. but if not, then possible that it has been built by other royal family or govnment officials. interesting isn't it?? =P
after that temple, we walked to another temple wanting to visit it coz its the oldest temple in Luang Prabang. and along the way, we passed a bridge made of bamboo that will linked the main town with the village on the other side of the river. but we did not cross it coz a couple of tourists told us that there was nothing over there... and somemore have to pay $$$ to cross the bridge. so we juz snap some pictures and sat there to rest and get a little sun. =P
then as we were walking, we happen to come across a silk village. being curious, we went and take a look at it... and my my... it became an educational tour for us!! 
hahaha... i mean we know how silk are being made... but do u kno how to tell the difference of silk? i mean the silk grade?? hahhaa... we learnt it then! the lady boss was very nice and friendly and she explain to us... i juz felt paiseh tat we did not buy anything from her shop. anyway, she told us that there are 3 different kinds of silk grade and u can tell the grades by feeling...and the 3rd grade silk is the outermost of the cocoon, 2nd grade is the middle portion of the cocoon and the best grade is the innermost of the cocoon... hahaha... very interesting right? and they haf been in the silk business for many many years... and its like transffering of business from greneration to generation. Think the lady boss is the 3rd generation.
then we continue walking again... and along the way, we were so tired and hot that we looked for a shop and sat down to cool off! one thing great about Luang Prabang is that when u're in need of a cold drink, there will definitely be a stall that sells fruit shakes around a corner! and these shakes are really terrific! and they really do it on the spot with lots of fruits (depending wat u order lah). thinking abt this make me drool... i really miss the shakes! muhahahha... =P
after we came onto the main street, we realised tat we were back to the main street where our accomodation was... and seems like we miss the street that allow us to reach the temple... sianz... then being hungry, we bought out lunch... which was a huge omelette with lots of veggies inside... hahaha...Laotian omelette... very very nice... then we went to eat something special... 1. banana and sticky rice, 2. mango and sticky rice... hahahaha... coz we wanted to see if it taste the same as the Thai version. when our desserts came, we were shocked! it was completely different from the Thai version. Coz the desserts were served in a bowl and the rice is not like solid form.. instead its been cooked like porridge... hahaha... but the desserts tasted very nice but also super super sweet... hiaz... one thing about the people in the indochina area is, they love sweet things... so when u order things like desserts, they are usually very sweet. =(
after our desserts we went for Lao massage! hahaha... very interesting and also very relaxing... so all of us have aching bodies as we've exerted our bodies to the extreme... with all the walking, trekking, and short hours of sleep etc.
after tat we wonder around the town again... and we broke off into 2 gps. Toshiko and Nobuko went off to check their mails while Keiko, Harumi and I juz walked around and we came across 2 boys playing a game... hmmm sort of like bowling but not really bowling... anyway they called us to join them... and they were very very unsatisfied with the way tat we played... hahaha... but it was interesting... and whilst we were playing some Laos people look upon at us and chuckling away.. seems like we played very badly huh...
that night, some more walking around the selling food and shopping area to see if we've got anymore things to purchase... and i bought some prok jerky and water buffalo meat.... and they tasted great!
as this is our last night in Luang Prabang liaoz... hahaha....after tat we head back to our guesthouse with beers and snacks. before going to our respective rooms to pack and hit the beds... hahaha....
