I wrote this at a hotel with peeled eyes, blood-shot as they already were, I fought off sleep for the fear that a ghost-child might decide to sleep beside me (as per my new-found friend who has seemed to have developed a fetish for scaring the wits out of people).
Anyway, my then current location (if we can call it that since using then and current in the same sentence seemed illogical) was Laos - Vientiane, Laos to be more specific. Since I was residing in Bangkok, Thailand at that time, I took the midnight bus going to Laos. It took us almost 11 hours to get there. The quoted time of course, includes the mandatory stop on both countries' (Thailand and Laos) borders where you will need to get your passport stamped. After that, a quick stop-over at the Immigration Office and then off to the hotel. As soon as we got to the hotel, I told my friends that we should make the best of the trip and discover the quaint country as soon as possible but sadly they have other things in mind at the moment. Since we just arrived, they have opted to chill and fiddle with their lappies instead. As a compromise (since I didn't stop bugging them), we decided to take the hotel's tour at 5pm around Laos.
Fast forward to 5pm (since there really was nothing much to say about the time before that), the other guests of the hotel were not yet ready and I was starting to get irritated. The hotel staff wanted to wait for the others so to save gas as well as to earn more income. What time did we leave? 7 fu*!ing pm! I hated waiting and anyone who has made me wait in the past has been listed in my little black book of insignificant beings.
First stop was Mekong River and I was so disappointed. This was what we paid for? This was what we waited 2 hours for? It was after sunset so I was not able to capture great shots of the river and I couldn't get a decent shot of the park with people running around and my co-guests bugging me to take a group shot using Iko.
After several failed shots of the statue, I decided to give up, dragged my friend to walk some more so I can take better shots of the park. Sadly, I only had a few good ones as it was dark and I badly needed a tripod to help me get a clear picture. After walking a kilometer's length of the Mekong River, the group decided to pass by the little temple near the Night Market. The temple was not that impressive since I have been introduced to other temples before. Besides, my mood was not helping as well. So thereafter, I relied mostly on the Night Market to perk me up and tested my bargaining skills which I thought has gone rusty. I was able to convince the lady selling Laos dollies to sell three of them for 100 baht. The trick of the trade was: ask how much, haggle and if they do not agree with your price, pretend to walk away (trust me, it always works!) After I stashed my new goodies safely in my sling bag, my friend and I decided to walk farther along and fortunately, no more wears caught our eyes or else we would have ended up out of bounds with our budget.
By 9pm, most of us were complaining of starvation. So the leader of the pack (the supposed itinerary creator) brought us to a pub where we were surrounded by other foreigners enjoying cold beer during a hot weekend. Call me an old lady but I was probably the grinch that night. Other than the time I consumed playing pool, everything else left a sour taste in my mouth. The smoke in the place was making my cough worst and like what I said, I was in such a foul mood that I could not force myself to party. The ending, I convinced my friend to come with me downstairs so we could just wait in the van and chat. FYI, we had to wait for one more hour for the others. Yes, the agony of waiting again.
On our way home, two of the hotels' guests decided to extend the party all the way to the hotel by inviting two local girls whom they befriended in the pub. I was itching to tell them to buy rubber for their own safety but decided otherwise because I secretly wanted them to be rewarded with any kind of sexual disease since they were having difficulty keeping their pants zipped. We were supposed to drop by Patuxai Gate of Triumph but these two jackasses were itching to get it on and have convinced the group leader to go to the hotel immediately as their lady friends were on a motorcycle right behind us. Imagine my dismay (my eyes could not stop rolling) when the group leader said yes, partnered by the howls of support of the other guests.
When we arrived at the hotel, we immediately went to our rooms and I told my friend that on Day 2, we will not take advantage of the hotel's crappy tour.
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