We woke up this morning at 5:00AM to get to the airport for our flight from Vientiane to Bangkok. We arrived in Bangkok at about 8:30AM and were on the road to to the hotel by 9AM, then we got to experience some of the legendary Bangkok rush hour gridlock. I’m glad we’re flying to Bali on a Sunday morning, we shouldn’t see that again.

Our last day in Vientiane was spent checking out some of the sights like the presidential palace and some of the other big temples.

We also had to do fun stuff like get out laundry. I do like dropping laundry off and coming back later and it’s all clean and folded. They charge by the KG of clothing. For a mere $15, all of our laundry is done and they didn’t ruin a thing!

There was a wine shop in the town I wanted to go back to, and it was good to see it was still there. There’s  a lot of rare and expensive wines. I’d hesitate buying from such a place due to Chinese counterfeiting of expensive wine, but it’s still fun to look at the labels. The last time I was there you could sit down and drink some wine, they wenre’t having that on this visit. We’re not sure if they stopped doing it, or just didn’t want us there.

We went down the road to a French bakery instead, and while Theresa was standing outside of it, a local passer-by spat on her. We’re not sure what that was about, but it does happen from time-to-time when you’re in a foreign land. I’ve experienced it in Peru and Vietnam, but you just have to remember that whatever feelings that person has for you, they’re likely part of a very small minority.

“Shake it off” – Taylor Swift

There’s a central fountain square (I guess it’s round) called “Mix Vientiane” I think. There’s 5 or 6 restaurants that you can order from, and everyone eats in a central outdoor area. There’s always a couple of guys on guitars singing low key North American music. Caellum really wanted to eat here, so we did. I was in the mood for Japanase and Caellum tagged along for the ride. He had a good bit of sushi and sashimi, but I kept the sake for myself.

Theresa didn’t enjoy her meal as much, so we stopped at a place call Sputnik Burger on the way back to the hotel. Since I like burgers, I figured a second dinner was a good idea. Outside the restaurant they have a VW beetle that has been cut in half on their patio. There’s a couple of seats inside each half for you to sit and enjoy your food. It’s a nice little touch to attract the tourist type people passing by. The burger was good too.

I love Laos, it’s a country with amazing people and sights. We’ll be back in the future, as I’d like to go back to Luang Namtha, Muang Sing and see Pakse. If you’re ever planning a trip to Thailand, Vietnam or Cambodia, try to make time to visit at least one city in Laos.

We’re now at our hotel in Bangkok with not much planned for today. We arrived early and our room wasn’t quite ready. We enjoyed a great breakfast and I did some work.

We’re staying at the Peninsula Bangkok, which should be quite nice. We’ve stayed at The Peninsula in Chicago and that is Caellum’s favourite hotel. They always do an amazing job of making children feel welcome.

We have some Caellum kids stuff planned for tomorrow, nothing too deep for him while we’re here in Bangkok.