Visa Run - Vientiane, Laos

After Samui we headed back to Bangkok for a good nights sleep, woke up and headed for Laos. Luckily Nicole didn't read the part in Lonely Planet that said not to travel on Loas Air due to something about safety records until after we were safely on the ground. Never the less, there couldn't have been a more welcoming day when we arrived.

After checking in the guesthouse we headed down the street to check out the sunset and grab some dinner next to the Mekong River.


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This is when we realized that Laos just maybe the cheapest place on the planet. The next morning Andy withdrew 1,000,000 Kip from the ATM on the way back from his adventure to drop off his paper work at the Thai embassy (which would have been a dissaster if not for his trusty Tuk Tuk driver at his side) and they were ready to explore the capital city for the next 3 days. Along the way he spotted some strange fruit that was unfamiliar, so he picked some up for Nicole for breakfast.

The strange fruit didn't cut it, so they were in search of breakfast. This is when Nicole finally found her Pho. Pho in Vietnam was on the list of SE Asian todo's but since Andy's Tuk Tuk driver had told him earlier that day that Laos and Vietnam actually share a home, he figured they would go ahead and knock it off the list early.

A small asian man came to us and said that we could either have noodle soup or noodle soup so we opted for the noodle soup. Despite the name of the restaurant the pho was great.


After brakfast we were off to see the sites. We did a drive by on our Tuk Tuk of Patuxi.



Then we were off to find the most significant national monument in Laos- Pha That Luang. Supposedly it was built to house one of the Bhudda's ribs in the 3rd century B.C. Our Tuk Tuk driver gestered that he knew right were it was. When we got there we were a little disappointed but took a photo anyways.



Apparently there had been a slight communication issue but after we ran into one of the Tuk Tuk driver's English speaking peers, the destination was clarified and we headed off to the real That Luang.













Fabulous wine and dessert at a French bakery.

Our last night we went to Bor Pen Myang, a rooftop bar over looking the river with traditional Lao dancing.
Before we headed to the airport we had to get in one more REAL SE Asian sandwich.

Now that we both had Visa's it was time to head back to Bangkok and find a place to live before starting work.