VIENTIANE (again)
So....back in Laos capital again after the 12 hour bus journey from Pak Se, as previously discovered any journey advertised as a 'sleeper' appears to do the trick so although I was awake at 7.00 when I arrived I actually felt OK enough to go out and start my random wandering for the day.
To be honest, as far as the city itself goes there's not an awful lot to report more than my first visit, but as it's the last place I'll see in Laos I have found more things to do that seem to eat up the day without me knowing.
Not so much else to report really, although after much prolongued abuse of alcohol and nice food I took the only sensible option that anyone would do if worried about weight gain - getting my overgrown mullet cut off!!
My Laos haircut was quite an amusing experience in itself, as well as the benefit of losing 2 stone without exercising (meaning beer is still OK)...to get it cut I had to nervously wade through a 15 year old catleogue of David Hasselhoff lookalikes to pick the style that my man/woman (really not sure!) hairdresser was going to copy!
My initial fear of 'psychiatric patient' sideburns and 90 degree angles was actually misplaced and to be fair was actually well worth the $6...and for those who know that's been the cheapest haircut I think I've ever had!
Today I also did something i thought I may never actually do and went to the shooting range to fire a gun!
In a country like Laos that can be both developed and undeveloped at the same time I was wondering what to expect of the shooting range....either a high tech air conditioned laser scoring centre or an abondoned field where the guys run after and pick the bullets up once you've fired them!
Gladly it was more the former than the latter, and felt secure in the knowledge that there were no holes in the walls and no stray bullets would be pinging around the place!
Despite wearing aviator specs and giving it the 'Beverly Hills Cop' large ones it actually transpires that I'm a terrible shot and completely missed the target with 3 of my 10 bullets!
A good experience nonetheless, although I won't be rushing back to prove my lack of hand-eye coordination again!
Leave for Hanoi in a day or two, so will be updating next from a new country....nice!
(Pictures to follow once I actually remember to bring my camera with me to internet cafes!)
So....back in Laos capital again after the 12 hour bus journey from Pak Se, as previously discovered any journey advertised as a 'sleeper' appears to do the trick so although I was awake at 7.00 when I arrived I actually felt OK enough to go out and start my random wandering for the day.
To be honest, as far as the city itself goes there's not an awful lot to report more than my first visit, but as it's the last place I'll see in Laos I have found more things to do that seem to eat up the day without me knowing.
Not so much else to report really, although after much prolongued abuse of alcohol and nice food I took the only sensible option that anyone would do if worried about weight gain - getting my overgrown mullet cut off!!
My Laos haircut was quite an amusing experience in itself, as well as the benefit of losing 2 stone without exercising (meaning beer is still OK)...to get it cut I had to nervously wade through a 15 year old catleogue of David Hasselhoff lookalikes to pick the style that my man/woman (really not sure!) hairdresser was going to copy!
My initial fear of 'psychiatric patient' sideburns and 90 degree angles was actually misplaced and to be fair was actually well worth the $6...and for those who know that's been the cheapest haircut I think I've ever had!
Today I also did something i thought I may never actually do and went to the shooting range to fire a gun!
In a country like Laos that can be both developed and undeveloped at the same time I was wondering what to expect of the shooting range....either a high tech air conditioned laser scoring centre or an abondoned field where the guys run after and pick the bullets up once you've fired them!
Gladly it was more the former than the latter, and felt secure in the knowledge that there were no holes in the walls and no stray bullets would be pinging around the place!
Despite wearing aviator specs and giving it the 'Beverly Hills Cop' large ones it actually transpires that I'm a terrible shot and completely missed the target with 3 of my 10 bullets!
A good experience nonetheless, although I won't be rushing back to prove my lack of hand-eye coordination again!
Leave for Hanoi in a day or two, so will be updating next from a new country....nice!
(Pictures to follow once I actually remember to bring my camera with me to internet cafes!)
posted by aboutabwoy at 11:43 AM
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