Don Khong to Vientiane

22/10/12 - 23/10/12. We woke up early to visit the morning market and see the sunrise. At the market several locals arrived on the island by boat and set up stalls in a field. Among other things we saw cockroach kebabs (alive), frogs attached together in groups of  4 or 5 (alive) and small birds, put in double plastic bags to be transported by their buyer (almost dead, I would say). I wished I had bought them first to free them and let them fly away. We stuck to some dried venison for our breakfast.

Our boat arrived to take us across the river to the mainland. We then had a 3hr minibus ride back to Pakse for the final time. We had booked a sleeping bus to the capital Vientiane, but it didn't leave until 8pm, so we had some time to kill, so we went for a herbal sauna and traditional Lao massage. A few cracks and clicks later we were nicely relaxed for our journey. We just had time to squeeze in a burger (which was very welcome now that our appetites were back).

The "Sleeping Bus" was an experience.  Thankfully the bus wasn't full, so we had a "double" each to ourselves... the doubles being a whole inch wider than the singles. What followed was 10 hours of bend after bend of accelerating, hard breaking, constant horn honking and tensed muscles to ensure we didn't fall off the bunks and into the aisle. We did get free chocolate and a bottle of water though. 

Our arrival in Vientiane at 6am was a relief.  We calmed our nerves with a coffee and a croissant in a lovely french bakery, which got Flora's seal of approval and It was so good we had to go for seconds round, a Croissant Aux Amandes this time.  Le Banneton (the bakery’s name) was the place that she dreamed of finding in London and found 8000 miles way from home... Thanks to the French colonisation.

After checking into a guest house on Rue Nokeokoummane, we hired some bicycles to explore the capital. A day was enough to visit Patuxai, Wat Si Saket and Haw Pha Kaeo.  On our way, we saw the presidential palace, the French embassy, the catholic church (maybe the only one in Laos), That Dam, the riverfront market (for food and drink) and fair (where Dave won a bottle of ice tea for busting 3 ballons with 3 darts for 2000 kips). I also tried and wasn’t so lucky as I didn’t spend enough time in a pub playing darts in my life. We also popped in an Tourist Information Centre to get maps of northern Lao and some good tips from a Japanese-born Laoan guy for the rest of our time in Lao. I (Flora) got told off  by an other member of staff because I asked for some information in English as a Frenchwoman and the guy was proud to say that he had French teachers in the old days… he was a bit more friendly after that.