Day 20 (11 May 2011) What do dinosaurs and casinos have in common?

ANSWER: They are both found in Savanaket!

Savanaket was a 5hour ride from Vientiane. Could have been faster if not for the fact that the roads were so confusing in Vientiane, and our GPS was going bonkers in there.

At least the roads in the South of Laos were relatively smooth, flat and straight. No more crazy fire and hell offroads like those in the Mountainous north.

Oh yes before we forget, a note on Laotian petrol. There are only 1 choice of petrol in Laos. We've no idea how many Ron the petrol here is, but it works just fine. Even Gasohol in Thailand has no adverse effects on our bike's performance at all! It must be BMW engineering. When we return home, we're gonna start pumping Ron 92 petrol.

Another misconception we must clear. Before coming in to Laos, we were advised by friends to purchase some canned food, energy bars etc lest we can't find food, and are forced to eat rodents or roadkill. So we obeyed and bought some canned food in Thailand before crossing over. But guess what! Food is in abundance here. Every corner there is food. Even in the most ulu parts of the mountains, there will be some sort of foodstall where u can buy food and drinks. So do not make the same mistake as we did.

Last tip for Laos - Bring a mask. It will come in useful in the dusty offroads, and in Vientiane.

We spotted a dinosaur in Savanaket!

The 3rd Friendship Bridge (Laos to Thailand) being built in Thakek. The first two are in Vientiane and Savanaket.

We stayed in a Hotel who's name we cant pronounce.

20USD a night. Basic rooms. At least there are sheltered carpark lots for some of us.

A visit to Dinoland! Did u know dinosaur remains have been found in Laos! Some of the fossils were unearthed in Luang Prabang, but most of the dinosaurs were unearthed in Savanaket. 

That solves the mystery of the Potholes in the roads leading to Luang Prabang! They must be dinosaur footprints.

Oldman laughing at some thing older than he.

A dinosaurs toe is larger than youngman's leg.

Some dinosaur fish.

Miscellaneous bones..

Another dino to human comparison

A dino themed roundabout in the heart of Savanaket.

There are hardly any restaurants in Savanaket, except in the casino. So in our bid to find clean food for Mr Lao Sai, we had no choice but to pay a visit to the casino.

Since Thailand doesnt allow casinos, this casino at the Thai - Lao border was constructed to fulfill the Thai's gambling needs.

This Casino is much nicer than the one at the Chinese border, and it is very very very crowded. Busloads of Thais come here by the minute. Its the Genting of Laos.

 
Free limo service if u lose 1m baht.



Because of the collective wisdom of the Bochapoldmen, we multiplied 3000baht to about 10 000baht.
Enough for us to buy some clean food in the Casino restaurant.

Warning: 8 hours in a Casino felt like only 5mins. Time flies in here. Its really addictive.

Day 18 and 19. (9 and 10 May) 3 nights in Vientianne and Lao Sai again!!

Vientiane, the capital of modern Laos.

 Lets start off with the first impression we got of Vientiane. Its extremely polluted. On the way in to the city centre, we breathed in at least 10000000000000000000000 tons of dust. Our helmet visors were caked in dust, and not surprisingly we all kinda felt sick after our journey. For future bochapoldmen, please wear a mask when riding in Vientiane.

Second impression we got, Vientiane is a Land of Humongous Architecture. It must be some kind of communist thing I guess. We were searching for the Presidential Palace in order to get our bearings. And we found at least 3 buildings that was grand enough to look like a Presidential Palace! So it took us quite a while of going in circles to find the real Presidential Palace.

Thirdly, unless u are old with white hair, do not eat from the roadside stalls. The 2 young man ended up with diarrhea. Only oldman's stomache was spared. Some how...

We checked in to AV hotel. Reasonably priced at 60 USD for the Presidential Suite, it has bike parking lots and clean toilets and a balcony for you to dry your riding gear, and free WiFi

And a jeep for you to pose in..

Ok now for some shots of the grand communist buildings.

Lao National Cultural hall.

The Real Presidential Palace

Some Pagoda.

Lao Museum

The Patuxai - is a war monument in the centre of Vientiane, which was built between 1957 and 1968. Patuxai is dedicated to those who fought in the struggle for independence from France.

The United States had given Laos money to build a new city airport. However, the Laotian government of the day used the money to build the monument instead. As a consequence, the monument is sometimes referred to as the "vertical runway".

Can't remember what this is..

but we mistook it for the Presidentail Palace.

A huge Parade square.. This picture doesnt show how large it is, but trust me its HUGE! Its so vast u could accelerate from 0 to 200kph and back to 0 across this parade square and still not reach the other end.

Even their medium sized Pizza is HUGE.

a communist car..

Dried up Mekong River Separating Vientiane from Nong Khai (Thailand).

Smile!

King Chao Anouvong.

Laotians worshiping their king.

Like the Thais, the Laotians respect their Kings very much.

 
Breakfast after a night of vomiting and lao saing..

Sending in our machines to wash...

Cost us less than 1SGD. I think we tipped the fella more than what he charged us.

Anyone wants to earn $2? Easy money...

Even though youngman has fallen ill, we will still press on! Savanaket, Pakxe and Cambodia here we come!

Day 17 (8 May 2011) - The mysterious Plain of Jars. And the capitol city, Vientiane

We woke up early cos we've booked a tour to visit the Plain of Jars. Oldman and youngman had a great sleep, however Jimm did not! He was freezing to death, cos he didnt realise that a quilt blanket was provided to us.

Freezing coldddd...

Even little kitty is freezing.

The Plain of Jars. This is a megalithic archaeological landscape in Laos. The Plain of Jars is dated to the Iron Age (500 BCE to 500 CE and is one of the most fascinating and important sites for studying Southeast Asian pre. No one really knows what these jars are for. Human remains have been found in these jars, so some speculate that they might be graves.

To find out more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_of_Jars

Plain of Jars

Hmmm....what inside this jar? gold? money?

A jar with a lid.

We have to be careful to walk in the areas marked by this white marker. This indicates the areas that are bomb free.

Entrance of a cave

After spending a couple of hours in the Plain of Jars, it was time to leave.

We plan to either go to Vang Vieng or Vientiane depending on the road conditions and time constraints.

Spectecular view of the Mountains of Laos

Slash and Burn by farmers

Botak tree..

 

The cows own the roads in this part of the country..

Help Im swarmed by cows!

We reached Vang Vieng in 4 hours or so. It was a very touristy town. Lots of teenagers fresh outta school getting drunk and wasted. So we decided to give Vang Vieng a miss. We filled up our tanks with petrol and headed towards Vientiane.

Soon, the storm clouds gathered and it started to rain heavily! Certain sections, the roads were so slippery, we could not accelerate at all. The moment we twist the throttle, our bikes fish tail. There are no road markers either and the roads are once again littered with pot holes.

It was perhaps the scariest ride in our lives..

Nonetheless we reach Vientiane safely

Yay, Vientiane at last.