I returned to Thailand after visiting Siem Reap for Angkor Wat and other Cambodian temple complexes. I then spent a number of days in Bangkok, doing very ordinary things - shopping for replacements for some items of clothing I have worn out; finding and going to the local Buddhist temple; getting a hair cut; getting to recognise and be recognised by a few individuals in the local supermarket; and generally tootling about, writing this blog, and doing ordinary things. Part of this was catching up on my blog postings and I am now back to publishing more or less contemporaneously with my travels, rather than the backlog of postings I had in non-computer form.
I then travelled to Vientiane, Laos by train from Bangkok. This turned out to be a bit of a endurance trial - firstly I got to the railway station very early as I had had to book out of the hostel early. Then the train was just over an hour late in leaving the station - there was evidently some problem that was affecting all the train leaving Bangkok northwards. The train conformed to my view of Thai trains - reliably unreliable. It took about 25% longer to get to the Friendship Bridge into Laos than timetabled, so got to the border at about 11:30. Travelling to my hotel finished off the journey - which had been 24 hours rather than the 13 1/2 hours it should have taken.
Vientiane is a delightful town. French colonial in layout, cuisine and architecture,. The local culture is relaxed to a degree that makes the Cambodian attitude seem frenetic and urgent, which takes some doing. All the major tourist sites are surrounded by formal, tropical gardens which are a riot of colour and are very, very attractive. It is also the only place I have been where one of the major tourist attractions in the city, the Patuxai Monument is described there as: "At the northeastern end of the LaneXang Ave. arises a huge structure resembling the Arc de Triomphe. It is the Patuxay or Victory Gate of Vientiane, built in 1962 (B.E. 2505), but never complete due to the country's turbulent history. From a closer distance, it appears even less impressive, like a monster of concrete."
As for becoming a millionaire - The Laotian kip is the lightest weight currency I have encountered so far. There are approximately 13,000 kip to the £. So I went to the ATM today and drew out about £80 - which makes me a millionaire in the Laos kip. And nearly dying while doing it. Well I had to cross the road to get to the ATM. In Laos there seems to be only one rule of the road/driving technique. This is "if you can't see it, it can't do you any harm. If you don't look you can't see." So you never look out for other vehicles, pedestrians, animals, just go where you need to go. A stranger reacting with this environment needs eyes in the back of their head; high speed vision rotating through 360o; the fortune telling powers of the psychics on Blackpool promenade; the reflexes of a cat; and the luck of the devil.