Home » Laos » Vientiane

Disconnected in Vientiane

Posted by Stuart at 06:14 PM on April 19, 2004

I noticed that I didn't post anything for the last few days and then I realized that I hadn't even been near a computer the entire time we were in Vientiane. It was nice to be disconnected for a while, but when I saw how many emails I had this morning, I knew it would take me a while to catch up.

The Lao Aviation flight south from Luang Prabang to Vientiane was as hot as it was on the way north. (It was the same plane, with the same broken air conditioner as far as I could tell.) For the next couple of days we did the usual Vientiane thing: massages, eating som tam and drinking Beer Lao on the Mekong, visiting the "steam shack", and eating at the Scandinavian Bakery every morning.

Perhaps the most special part of this trip was a motorcycle ride just outside of the city to visit a few silk weavers. A friend of Ted's designs and exports Lao weaving and he showed us some of his beautiful and highly detailed work. I learned a lot about weaving, but I think I would have to study it for quite a while to learn all of the intricacies of the art.

It was an incredible week, with only one downside. On the last night in Vientiane, I got sick (again). A trip to a Lao hospital gave me enough medicine to make the flight home. A trip to a Bangkok hospital gave me enough medicine to cure me (I hope).

But even stomach ills included, it was a wonderful trip. Now that I am back in Bangkok, I feel like I had been away forever. It was definitely a great experience.