Tour Of Laos, Day 2

We woke up on the train, and arrived in Nong Khai at about 8:00 a.m. From there, it was a 5 minute tuk-tuk ride to the border where we were checked quickly out of Thailand (except for Dave, who accidentally overstayed by 2 days, taking about 20 minutes of red tape to clear up).

We were then taken across the border — the mighty Mekong — by shuttle bus and dropped off at the Lao border crossing, where we proceeded to spend about an hour in the heat waiting for our visas.

After that, when we were finally stamped into Laos, we hired yet another van to take us the 30 miles into Vientienne, where we were dropped off at our hotel... only to find our reservations meaningless, as the hotel was full.

Fortunately, as is true in all places in southeast Asia, 50 feet down the road was another hotel that was even better than the one with no rooms, for less money.

So we got our rooms, took showers, and then walked as a group (minus Caroline, who hates all human contact, and went off on her own for most of the trip) down to the river and had lunch at a food stall there.

Then, we all went our separate ways. Kailosh and Pascal went wandering. Pui, Da, and Pot went shopping. Justin and Raht went back to the hotel. Rick and Dave went to a sauna, while I went and had a foot massage.

Then, in the evening, minus Kailosh and Pascal (and Caroline, natch), we went to La Terasse, my favorite restaurant in the world. We all stuffed ourselves on five-star French cuisine.

From there, we wandered to the Samlor Bar, where we had some drinks, and then (in a pouring rain), Pui, Pot and I caught a tuk-tuk back to the hotel, leaving our friends behind.

(Oh... I forgot to mention, Pot managed to survive this extremely long day with a stamina and patience belying his age. He only lost it once, in the restaurant, but otherwise managed to bear up quite well overall.)