IndoChina - Laos and Thailand - January 2012

We left Hanoi on a Thursday afternoon (26 January) on a flight to Vientiane (26 January).  Quite uneventful except for the quite shocking green leather upholstery in the Lao AIrlines Airbus A320 - that was really awful.  Upon arrival in Vientiane everything was much less frenetic than Vietnam - an efficient visa on arrival arrangement, regulated taxis to various hotels with fixed pricing, US Dollars equally acceptable for payment, traffic that obeys road signs and traffic lights - the traffic even stays on the right side of the road - how civilized.

In the evening we wandered down to the Mekong river where all the restaurant action seemed to be focused.  It was indeed such a contrast to the hustle and bustle of Vietnam and Cambodia.  We found a nice Indian restaurant where we dined for next to nothing, even the Lao beer was ridiculously cheap and good.  This was Thursday evening and there was an extensive market on the promenade adjacent to the river - primarily for the local people, as tourists here are not so prolific.

Monks at the Temple

The next day, Friday, we rented bicycles as that seemed the easiest way to get around town.  Funky old bicycles with little baskets on the front and again quite cheap.  We cycled on the banks of the Mekong.  The river bed here is wide and obviously at times there must be a lot of water coming down the channel, but at this time of year the water was a long way away and barely visible in the distance.

Buddhist Temple in Vientiane

Buddha Statues

We rode around town and took in three of the more interesting temples and the Laotian equivalent of the Arc de Triomphe, called the Patuxai. Vientiane is not a big city and by lunchtime we had perhaps seen a good part of it by bicycle - we had seen enough temples anyway.  

Patuxai, Vientiane

Thanks to the French influence there were a lot of fine bakeries with great French bread, croissants and the like.  For lunch we had another fine meal in one of these establishments and relaxed for the remainder of the day.

We had an evening train for Bangkok leaving from what I thought was Vientiane but what turned out leaving from Thanaleng some 30km away (can you say Thanaleng station and make it snappy in Laotian?).   The train into Thailand was kind of interesting - 2 or 3 carriages that  crosses the Friendship Bridge over the Mekong to Nong Khai in Thailand where the overnight train awaited to take us to Bangkok - no more than a 15 minute trip, and the train was mainly full of  backpackers.
We had a sleeper on the Bangkok train and this was much better than the one in Vietnam.  There was no restaurant car on the train so we bought one or two of everything edible from the station shop just to keep us sustained through the night.   In comparison to the Vietnamese train this was the ultimate in luxury.   There was even a nice little man that came along to make our beds.

Train Food Supplies

After a very pleasant and comfortable journey we arrived in Bangkok station just before 8:00 am.  As we were finding our bearings in the station, 8:00 came and an announcement was made and the Thai National Anthem was played.  Everyone stopped, stood up (me included) and stood to attention during the Anthem.  Very strange to see a bustling station come to a standstill and then immediately resume the chaos afterwards.  The Thai people appear to hold their king in high esteem - his picture is everywhere, including a nice big one in the station.   I have heard that disrespecting the King does not go down well in Thailand.

Respect for the King at Bangkok Station

We were staying at the Royal Orchid but failed to make it clear that it was the Sheraton Royal Orchid and there are other Royal Orchids.  Consequently we had a nice scenic tour of the city in the back of a tuk-tuk only to return to the station 10 minutes later and head off in the right direction to the ‘Sheraton’ Royal Orchid.  After checking in a getting cleaned up we headed off to the Chatuchak Weekend Market.  This was an impressive market with over 5,000 stalls selling an impressive array of handicrafts, clothing, foods and live animals.   The live animals area was the most interesting - you name it they probably had it there - cats, dogs, birds (some quite exotic like the Toucan), fish (little ones up to big Koi Carp), lizards, squirrels, ….  Quite disturbing in some ways too, as the animals were perhaps not kept in the best of conditions.

Bags of Fish at Chatuchak Market

Squirrels at Chatuchak Market

Squid on a stick

Then it was off to the Jim Thompson house - not exactly my cup of tea, but it turned out to be a quite interesting place.   Jim Thompson apparently pioneered the export of Thai silk to the US in the 50s and 60s.  He was an architect and his home in Bangkok is quite splendid.  He mysteriously disappeared without a trace in Malaysia in 1967 - his body was never found.

During our visit the Jim Thompson’s house it rained, it really rained, the heavens opened and it just poured down.  That increased the humidity and for the rest of the day I wandered around like a drowned rat.  I am amazed that I can be absolutely dripping with sweat just standing there and there will be some Thai person dressed in not particularly cool clothing and they look as cool as could be - how do they do that?
We experimented with riding on the river taxis in an attempt to get back to the hotel.  These are a great way to get around if you know which way to go (I didn’t) but it’s cheap and fun but you have to be a bit bold in the jumping on and jumping off, they don’t exactly wait around and they don’t exactly tie up close to the docks either.  The ticket collection seems a bit random too - if they get to you then you pay, if they are so busy taking money elsewhere then you have a free ride.

Canal Boats Bangkok

More street walking in the afternoon and then we caught a boat down the Chao Phraya (the main river in Bangkok) to our hotel.

That night we dined at the Oriental (the first hotel to be built in Bangkok).  A nice meal in the open air by the river and a very nice end to our Asian travels.
Early the next morning (5:00 am) we were off to the airport for the return trip back to the real world.   That was a shame as I was just getting used to the traveling thing.

As usual there are more photographs on SmugMug - the best ones are here, and all of the photos from Laos are here, and from Thailand are here.