- and Nong Khai, which actually is in Thailand, just over the Mekong river from Vientiane.
We spent a few days here, saw some good things, and met up with Torun and Randvei too. The first night we found a brightly coloured coffee shop called 'Sabaidee' (Hello) and it immediately became a magnet for us each time we saw it. The best place we visited was Buddha Park, which has a sister park (the original) across the river. Huge statues with amazing detail, fashioned with concrete and steel reo, and quite beautiful. The scale of the structures and the collection was most impressive.
We got across the Friendship Bridge (built by Australia, Thailand and Laos) and immediately knew we were in another country - strange to see how different it can be just a few kms away - huge shiny shopping malls, atms(!), and fashion. we rented dodgy bikes and went out to see the buddha park, which was better than the first, but it kind of blends in together in my memory. Oh, Tone just reminds me - the artist responsible for the hundreds of massive sculptures is mummified, and on display, too. Along with many photo-portraits of him, all fading, but with eyebrows and hair darkened with a black texta on every one. One other photo was of a bloody golf ball-sized mess in a bandage. We guess it was the thing that killed him. strange to keep the photo as a gross reminder, though.
We organised our trip to cambodia from here, booking the early bird bus to Khorat, and told we could jump on a bus to the border crossing. we did. two hours to wait, and we passed the time feeling hot, a bit sick, but recooperated with cool drinks and chips. yeah yeah oh yay.
Made it to the border quite late, and really didn't feel like making the effort, as we'd heard bad stories about the border town on the Cambodia side, so we found a hotel there on the Thai side. We got through the border ok the next day (The e-visa was great - little sceptical, but it was all good), and a share taxi to Siam Reap, 150km and 3hrs. The country here is flat. endless rice paddies dotted with palm trees, fishermen and boys, and women working the fields. pretty, and dusty. overcrowded scooters, vans, buses, anything on the roads, are so common it's not noticed anymore. still, i estimated they can fit 17 or more into a tarago sized van. brillant. with plenty of room on the roof!
cheers!
Angkor Wat soon!
