"WHERE'S THE EIFFEL TOWER?"

VIENTAINE, LAOS

Temperature: 38.8 Degrees Celsius

Track of the day: Hard day's night, The Beatles

"The monks are late," Alecs says glancing at his watch which reads 6:03AM. It's our last morning in Luang Prabang and we want to catch the monks receiving alms before heading to Vientaine. Alecs purchases some rice from a street vendor and when the line of orange clothed monks starts up the road he kneels and places rice in their bowls. Being careful not to use flash on our camera and to kneel below the monks (as I am female and must be below them) I snap photos and video of Alecs giving Alms. They continue to parade through the city with their silver pots to receive food from all the locals and tourists who do this every morning at the same time all year long. The vendor who sold Alecs the rice kneels beside him handing him 

more and more rice while he is unable to move at the risk of touching the monks. The last monk passes Alecs and continues down the road and the vendor tells Alecs he owes her money for another 10 plates of rice ontop of the two he purch

ased (nearly $50US). After negotiating with her for a few minutes they reach an agreement of 50,000 kip ($8) despite the fact that she forced Alecs into giving the rice to the monks (our first sneaky local we've met). Still feeling quite flustered and a little angry Alecs joins me and we continue onto the morning market. "I'll be sad to leave this place," Alecs says as we pass skewers of roasted rat. I nod my head and point out the stands of water buffalo heads, kidneys and lungs for sale. The winding streets of the morning market display a bazaar of the most fresh items including still flopping fish, pineapples, mangoes, every cut of meat imaginable as well as plenty of vegetables. When we have reached the end of the market we slowly walk back to the hotel and check-out. "I am coming to the bus stop with you," our guesthouse owner tells us as her driver loads a minivan with our luggage. Once at the bus station she takes care of everything and we are sad to say goodbye. "The fact that she made our experience at the bus station so smooth is alone worth staying at her guesthouse," Alecs says as we take our seat. While the bus is not moving, the air-conditioning kicks in, but the moment we

take off, the windows open and the AC turns off.  Luang Prabang is high in the mountains and Vientaine is low in the flat-lands so we wind through the mountains for the next 10 hours. Alecs and I watch the country of rolling hills, tropical foliage and bamboo villages pass by until lunch at a small restaurant en route. "Guys have it so much easier," I say to Alecs after using a squat toilet halfway between Luang Prabang and Vientaine. Alecs grins and hands me some WetOnes while we board the bus again. Soon the scenery becomes flat, the hills dissapear and rice fields replace bamboo trees. "I think we're here," Alecs says as the bus pulls into a large cement pad where teams of tuk-tuk's wait outside. We join six other tourists in a sangathaew (like a tuk-tuk but bigger) and ride to the centre of the city for $1.25 each. "I call the first shower," I say to Alecs as he locks our hotel room door.

 10 hours on a bus without air-conditioning made our skin sticky with perspiration and we smell of smoke and sweat. 

The next morning we head to a Pataxai, the Arc De Trio

mphe of Laos. "It's bigger than the real one in Paris," I say to Alecs as a tuk-tuk driver drops us off. Built in the late sixties, this was erected as a tribute to the one in France, but differs by it's Lao-style decor. Half woman half bird creatures line the top of the structure and we pay 40 Cents to climb to the top. We are rewarded for our efforts with a panoramic view of the city. "Where's the Eiffel Tower?," Alecs jokes while watching people below puttering around the manicured gardens and fountains in front of Patuxai. Lonely Planet describes Vientaine as the sleepiest

capital on earth and although much bigger and faster paced than Luang Prabang, it is considerably calm and slow moving for the biggest city in the country. "Let's go to that temple over there," I say to Alecs, pointing to the top of a gold coloured wat to the east. We walk through the scorching heat, our shirts wet with sweat to the shade of a large temple where novice monks sweep the ground with wicker brooms.  "Let's go into the city centre and find a place to book our bus to Pakse," Alecs says as we flag down a tuk-tuk.  We're dropped off in front of a large plaza and we quickly escape to the shade of a tall building to wipe the sweat off our foreheads. After nearly two hours spent talking and cooling down we venture back out into the heat to explore more of the city. We find a small shop to buy our bus tickets

in and then continue to JoMa Cafe for lunch. "Pepperoni Pizza," Alecs says excitedly as we scan the menu of the air conditioned cafe. We each have a slice of pizza and a mango shake for lupper (lunch/dinner) and head back to the hotel for the night.

Today we are most likely spending the day by the pool at the hotel and relaxing. Tomorrow we have the majority of the day for sight-seeing and then it's off to Pakse (13 hours on a night-bus) which is the jumping point for Champasak and Si Phan Don, our next two destinations.

Until next time so long, we miss you all.

Meg and Alecs in Vientaine