Only a four hour journey to our final destination in Laos the Capital City of Vientiane. Luckily this time with being back on the main traveller’s route the bus was full of backpackers and you know what that means. Yes that’s right no sick bags required. The journey was fine but like every journey we have had there is always a story.
Having missed most of it with having the i-pod in Kate brought me up to speed. In front of us for the journey were two young girls and two guys from America and one of the guys having found a Cosmopolitan Magazine opened up a live vocal sex quiz between himself and one of the girls. This was no holds barred for the full four hours and it left nothing to the imagination. By the time the bus arrived in Vientiane we knew everything there was to know about this poor girl’s sex life and I am pretty sure 95% was untrue nearly wetting myself once my ears got into the swing of the conversation. I can tell you nothing can possibly shock me anymore. I just love these bus trips...
Getting off the bus we did meet Rob and Kelly from Brighton a couple that we had travelled from Chiang Mai to the Laos border with three weeks earlier. They were sat on the bus in front of the sex quiz masters and what a giggle once we realised we had all heard the same conversation.
With a couple of hours trying to find some cheap accommodation with the city being more of a mid-range sort of place we did eventually check into Youth Inn 1. Again only 60.000 Kip per night but this time pretty awful a tiny sweat box with dirty shared bathroom and a fan that didn’t quite blow a breeze. It was going to be a couple of hot hot hot nights.
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| Youth Inn 1, Not Bad from the Outside |
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| The Sweat Box! |
Not much really to report on with our time in Vientiane. A couple of days getting ready for crossing back into Thailand, the usual street food, book swap’s, laundry and blogging. We did explore the city and take in some local sights as well as visit the Mekong River at a different point again where you look across at Thailand which is just so unbelievably close. We even found a pub called the Hare & Hounds where we managed to watch the English Premier League while having a beer with Rob and Kelly.
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| Out to Explore the Streets of Vientiane |
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| More Cracking Wiring in Asia. My Bro would be Proud... |
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| One for the boys at home. How did this get here? You know who you are... |
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| Thailand in the distance over the Mekong River |
Vientiane has a rich history and the name translates as Sandalwood City and is pronounced Wieng Chan. Getting a little tired at this point of our travels and looking forward to the luxury of seeing family in less than a week we did find the energy to visit a few more sites in Laos. These included the Fa Ngoun Statue, Presidential Palace and Nan Fountain.
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| Fa Ngoun Statue |
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| Nan Fountain |
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| The Presidential Palace |
We also made our way to Patuxai which is Vientiane’s replica of the Arc de Triomphe, which was built in 1969 for some great views overlooking the capital before heading even further out to Pha That Luang. Pha That Luang is a striking Golden Temple and is seen as the most important national monument in Laos. With being pretty much templed out at this point some of the city’s offering were still great to see.
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| Patuxai |
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| Great views from the top |
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| Pha That Luang |
BEERLAO DARK, PILSNER STYLE, LAOS, 6.5% ABV
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| That's nice. BeerLao sponsored benches around town |
The award winning BeerLao Dark lager has been brewed by BeerLao Brewing Co in Vientiane since 1976. The colour comes from using roasted malt’s and the beer pours a translucent golden dark colour with a frothy tan head. The aroma to pleasant with a solid pilsner and caramel malt scent that’s sweet to the nose with a longing bitter hoppy finish.
The beer has a lovely balanced taste with a smooth caramel malt flavour over a base of nice pilsner malts. It’s very easy drinking with the 6.5% ABV and holds a velvety sweetness, medium mouth feel and longing hoppy dry bitter finish. It has good carbonation and is a pretty damn fine dark lager with the ability to challenge some European Vienna Styles.
Overall BeerLao Dark is a great beer and probably one of my favourites so far. Plenty of consumers were drinking the dark instead of the original BeerLao Pilsner which gives it plenty of positive testimony especially when some people we drank it with were beer drinkers from Cologne, Germany.
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| Check out the T-shirt. Huge supporter... |
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| BeerLao Dark. Thirsty just looking at the picture |
http://www.beerlao.la/
A RANDOM VISUAL OF MORE BEERS BREWED IN LAOS. WE WILL TASTE THEM ONE DAY!!!
Having run out of time on the beer front I thought I would take some snaps of the ones that I have missed while in Lao. This is sort of a preview before we return in the coming months. It also shows how embarrassing being a Travelling Beer Specialist can be when you stand in somebody’s shop posing for pictures while holding bottles of beer before placing them back into the fridge, buying water and walking out. That's called taking one for the team!
BEERLAO GOLD
LANE XANG LAGER
ABC STOUT
Laos has been an amazing place to travel with many experiences we will never forget from the French Colonial Heritage to the Secret War, Breathtaking Landscapes and of course Tubing and those incredible bus journeys. Overall it has been a much needed time for relaxing which is helped by the slower pace of life.
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| Please Don't Rush Little Mini |
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| Our usual exit strategy. Sit on bags and wait |
North Laos complete in just three weeks we look forward to returning to see the South and hopefully visit the BeerLao Brewing Company Brewery.
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