Vientiane: Welcome to Laos

The next morning I got a taxi through my hotel to the airport.  Even though I prepaid at the hotel he still tried to get me to pay as I left, even though he stopped for smokes along the way when he knew i barely had enough time to make my flight.  I got to the airport 30 minutes before my flight left but somehow made it through immigration and security to get on the plane.  I'm not sure why the hotel thought I would have "plenty" of time to make my flight.   The flight was quick and in a blink I was in a country I didn't think I was going to make, Laos
I stupidly packed my passport photos and US dollars in my checked bags, which I was not supposed to see until after getting the Visa on Arrival.  The people at the airport were really nice though, and they kindly escorted me to the baggage area to get my bad and retrieve the needed items from it, then back to customs.  I took a taxi and got dropped off in the center of the backpacker district in Vientiane, the sleepiest capital city of a country I have seen.  The traffic was calm and casual--quite a contrast from Vietnam.  I decided that I would first check to see if I could get a night bus to Luang Prabang for the same day, since Luke and Jo are already there and tomorrow would be the 30th.  Otherwise I would have to stay a night in Vietntian and arrive late on the 30th or early on the 31st.  The first place I went into said it wasn't availble, but then I tried another and they made a quick call and said it was, so I got the ticket, left my bag and had a half day of hanging out in Coffee shops in Vientiane.

I just stayed in the touristy portion of Vientiane.  It was really cute and kind of quiet.  There were a lot of Western like shops, but nothing that was actually from the West.  Like True Coffee, a hip modern-ish cafe with "Turbo" in front of most of the coffee names, a nice variety of frozen drinks (to complement the warm climate), and fast internet that was worth the price.  I found a lot of the restaurants offered Korean food, so I stopped in one with the intention of getting Bi Bim Bop, but the pictures of the Laos garlic and chicken rice made me change my mind.  I saw some people from my flight, Korean, and gave them an "Anyoung Haseyo".

I got to the bus station with a lot of time to spare so I had a beer in the lobby.  Then I went outside to load my luggage and met a girl from the Phillipines, Cristina.  I soon found out she was a huge fan of Supernatural, which we agreed to watch on my laptop during the ride, but once we got on, we found out we had assigned seats.  I had to sit next to a very effeminate Laotian Micheal Jackson who seemed to be trying to cuddle a bit with me in his sleep.  The bus was so crowded that some people had to sit on stools in the aisle.  It was easily the worse bus ride of my life.  13 hours in a seat that I couldn't fit my legs properly in, but was boxed in on my left by a cuddling pop sensation and on my right by an old man who was swirling like water going through a drain in a stool.  The old man probably had it worse though--I mean, he did have leg room, but I don't see how he could sleep.