Hazy moon last night, haze over river this morning. Light rain, enough to
cake sandals in mud before takeoff. Heading south west towards Vientiane. Laos
is a notably much slower pace than rest of South East Asia - and a welcome
break after the chaos of Cambodia. People seem shyer, less likely to approach,
almost diffident about serving you in shops (although we pulled into side road
near a military post to wait for Guy to catch up, and man in uniform with a
weapon over his shoulder had no problems gesturing for us to move on). The capital Vientiane was a pleasant surprise -
not the usual crowded small roads and alleys full of markets, stalls, people
and vehicles, but wide streets, huge stately buildings, and traffic actually obeying
road rules.
Found visitors centre and helpful English speaking man marked a city map with
hotels with parking, garages for vehicle repairs, central post office, and
freight depots - should keep us busy for awhile. Booked into Riverside hotel
with balcony overlooking the Mekong.
Lunched (“sorry not have burgers”). Changed to
Travel Sim to call Thailand about our repaired camera (delays in sending
parcels through post due to customs/import tax mean it may not arrive before we
leave ) then found that the Laos sim locked me out... no more phone or emails
until resolved. I recalled the fellow in Savannakhet had ended up selling me
the sim out of his own phone during the frustrating explanations and
demonstrations, not a new one with pin/ puk numbers on a card. Next hour and
half spent trying to find Unitel dealer in city to unlock phone, finally gave
up and bought new sim from Beeline. Went on to post office where we were expecting a parcel from Australia. Surprised by number of people looking at us and beaming - then discovered an enlarged photo of us was attached to the address label - we were well and truly authorised to pick it up!! Amazed to
find our chairs and fans had arrived from Australia intact although they'd been
opened/ inspected by customs (and a more circumspect bathing suit for GirlRob!) Bless good friends like the Maxwells! Located
freight companies and checked the prices/ procedure for shipping items home... the
camp ovens etc can cost anything up to $AU650, more than they are worth. Enough
for one day, on to find mechanics tomorrow.
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