May 21, Vientiane, Laos

No photos to post yet. I may be able to do that along the way, or I may have to post them all upon my return.

The border crossing between Nong Khai and Vientiane was so easy. Preparations paid off, I think, as I knew how much to pay for a tuk tuk to the border post, and how much to pay for another tuk tuk from the border to Vientiane, about 20 km north. It only took 15 minutes to get our Lao visas at the border, and then another 20 or so to get through the immigration check point. It was very straightforward: Get stamped out of Thailand, ride a bus across the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge (15 baht, 10 baht for the ride, 5 baht because it was Sunday), get in line, fill out a visa application, pay $31 ($30 visa fee, $1 more because it was Sunday), go through immigration and -- bam! -- you're in Laos. We found a guest house ($10 a night) and headed out on a walking tour of the city, including a climb to the top of Vientiane's own "Arc de Triomphe," allegedly made with concrete that had been intended for a new airport.

The people here are so laid back, it's easy to get around, and on Sunday, not much is happening, anyway. The roads around the Arc de Triomphe -- called the Victory Monument, or Patouxay) have four or five lanes in each direction, seemingly typical of communist regimes around the world, building grand avenues for cities that have minimal traffic.

Coming down from the monument, we headed to the morning market, where we took shelter from the rain. When it became apparent it wasn't going to stop, we went back to the room to take a nap while waiting for it to dry out outside.

The afternoon found us at Vat Sisaket, with more than 2,000 images of Buddha. Shelly pointed out that they were all in various degrees of gold leafing, which made us think of the Roadblock on the next-to-last episode of the Amazing Race. We then wandered over to the Mekong and walked along the river until we found a bar and restaurant. I had read that Beerlao is particularly tasty, and it was. And at 8,000 kip -- about 80 U.S. cents -- for 640 ml, it's cheap, too. The rain just kept coming, so ended up having dinner there, too, all of which was very spicy. Perfectly so for me, too much so for Shell. After three big bottles of beer, we were bushed, and were asleep by 8 p.m.

We're so old and married....