vientiane

I'm wearing my new t-shirt. It's predominantly white with two-tone brown and beige stripes down the left and right sides, along the latter of which is written the word, 'quiaoguang.' I assume this is the name of the fashion label that produced the t-shirt. Looking back, I got a bit carried away with my birthday treats yesterday: after having a cheeseburger and chips, the t-shirt of course, two cakes (a caramel slice - finally found one - and a lemon slice), and an ice cream, I also added a Traditional Lao Massage to the list of extravagances.

I had an interesting conversation with a local guy yesterday near the Presidential Palace. Pointing at the Palace, I told him, looking for confirmation, that this was the house of the President of Laos. He told me I was mistaken. It was not the home of the incumbent Premier, he said, but rather the place where all visiting Presidents and Prime Ministers stay when they are in Laos. He added, get this, that the current President just lives in an ordinary little house in the city, just like everyone else, and has no special Palace or State Apartment at his disposal. I found this quite fascinating, but then I guess this is a Communist country.

Thinking about it, I was a little premature in describing Vientiane a couple of days ago as being the same size as Kessingland. It is bigger than this, although not by much. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say Vientiane is around the same size as Lowestoft (in Suffolk), accepting that here there are more people crammed into the same space.

It has also come to my attention that Vientiane has some rather strange and unusual cars on its streets. There are no end of Volkswagon Beetles about the place; they seem to be everywhere, and lots of old 70s cars, old Datsun's and the like. I've also seen a couple of flash motors which seem far too expensive to be here: a luminous yellow Porsche Boxter, and an old Ford Mustang. On my first day here, a London 'black cab' taxi drove past me at a junction (it was green not black). I've no idea how it made its way over here, especially given the well-known reluctance of London taxi drivers to go south of the river. It's quite a fare from Shaftesbury Avenue to Laos.

Today is the climax of the Vientiane Boat Racing Festival, so I've been by the river watching the competitors battle it out. I've been extraordinarily lucky to be in Vientiane this week. Because of the festival there is a party atmosphere, stalls and people all over the place who wouldn't normally be here, and a jovial fun feeling predominates.

I've had one last hunt around the city, and now I'm ready to go. I've just been to Wat Ho Pha Keo for a look around. During my first couple of days in Thailand I went to see the famous Emerald Buddha at the Grand Palace (I think I blogged about it?). It turns out - I found out this afternoon - that his original home was in fact Wat Ho Pha Keo here in Lao, and he is of Lao nationality not Thai. He was unceremoniously nicked by the Thai army some years ago, who took him back to Thailand and built him a new and more ornate Temple in the Grand Palace grounds.

I'll be catching a bus north tomorrow morning, first thing. Destination: Vang Vieng.