To Vientiane: City riding

December 10, 2016

Last night I decided that I would head back into Thailand and spend a night in Vientiane before crossing Friendship Bridge #1. I made a reservation at a guest house, Ali Hotel, using Agoda, so that I would have a target and not need to figure out where to stay once I got into the city.

I got rolling at 7:30, after a breakfast of a banana, baguette, and instant coffee in my room. I didn't formally check out since I hadn't been given a key and there was no one around to let know I was leaving. I just left.

The morning was cool, but not as hazy as the previous day. The haze was in the distance, not impacting visibility.

Traffic was heavy already. The road is a major highway, but still didn't have any lane markings. It felt quite rural until I got within about 10 miles of the city.

I stopped and admired a temple, which looked better kept than the ones I'd been passing over the last few days.

A detail in one of the murals. Elephants seem to appear frequently in the stories in the murals.

I passed some industrial sites. It's encouraging to see that Laos produces something other than Beerlao! But I had some water bottled by the Coca-Cola plant later in the day, and it really tasted bad.

Coca-Cola plant next to the Chinese cable company sign. The red colors make it look the same.

Then the road turned into a divided highway and traffic got heavy. There was a narrower curb lane for motorbikes, but it was used a lot for parking. It wasn't anywhere near an expressway, with shops set up right to the curbs and stop lights. I felt like I inhaled a lifetime's quota of exhaust. But I made it into the city, passing the city gate.

Having done my research about luxuries in Vientiane, I headed directly to the Scandinavian Bakery for a late second breakfast.

Then I found my hotel and checked in, got cleaned up and went out exploring. I had some lunch (with the bad water) and visited the Sisaket Temple and Museum. It's a temple from the early 1800's that was damaged during the war with Thailand, and has been the subject of several restoration efforts. The latest is focused on the murals, which were painted on the plaster after it had dried, and have been damaged by the salt in the materials. It's a pretty temple and the grounds are nice. Vientiane has lots of Buddhist temples, but it seems that this one is worth restoring.

Si saket temple. Sometimes called "Vat" and sometimes called "Wat" here in Vientiane.

At Si Saket temple. All of those little arches have Buddha's in them, too.

I had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. Having decided that I'm not heading toward Vietnam, but down the Mekong, I thought I'd take advantage of the food options here. I went to a restaurant called iPho, not far from my hotel, and had some good spring rolls and some incredible sour shrimp soup. I can't describe how much I enjoyed it. And there was so much soup that I barely ate half of it. Of course, it did seem like today was a lot about eating.

The electrical wiring here will challenge the snarls in any Asian city!

Ali Hotel, 150,000 kip, booked through Agoda. Double room, self-contained with AC and hot shower. Other options are available at the hotel, shared bath or dorm. Problem: smoking area directly outside my room, both smoke smell and noise, but it's pretty noisy anyhow.

Heart

Comment

Link

Today's ride: 53 km (33 miles)
Total: 1,378 km (856 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	1
Comment on this entry	Comment	0