I awoke early and headed towards a café near Namphu (the fountain, which I never saw on). I ran into several of the people who I had gone kayaking with a few days before. It was nice to sit with some fairly familiar faces and chat. I was envious of their adventures, and wish I had more time to explore Laos as well as time for Cambodia. I still would like to go to Vietnam as well, despite all the bad word of mouth it is getting from travelers I meet.
I spent the rest of the morning sauntering towards the Thai consulate to pick up my passport. I explore the Talat Sao (the morning market). There was just about everything you could imagine there. It was a serious of long building with shops in vendors inside and in between the buildings. It was sometimes hard to tell if you were inside or outside, but usually the floor or dirt and puddles gave it away. In some areas between the buildings, a shade covering had been created with low hanging burlap and plastic bags, tarps, and other found plastic products; the result was that yes it was shady but the lack of air flow made the heavy hot air almost stifling. The noodle stalls had piles of buffalo and cow intestines to add to your soup, the fabric vendors had a dizzying area of designs, raw silk was available in giant bags, CD’s, mattresses, shoes, watches, after a while my head started to spin. Across from Talat Sao is a large new mall that is largely empty. Apparently it just opened the week I was there, and while almost all of the space has been rented out, the vendors hadn’t had time to move in before the grand opening. I am curious to see how the mall affects the morning market in the months to come.
The day turned out to be the hottest day I experienced while in Laos, and I had to stand out in the sun for about an hour outside of the consulate. I went back to Thailand with a tan that rivaled those who had spent the break at the beach.
