As much as I enjoyed my time in Bangkok I didn’t really want to spent too much time there and left it after a few nights. To get a train ticket was super easy. No queue at all and the girl working at the counter was speaking english as well. Out of curiosity I ordered a first class ticket to Khon Kaen. Trip duration nine hours, cost of it about 40$.
I got my own compartment or at least I was thinking the second bed might not be sold. At 8pm I was ready at the station and shortly after I inspected my tiny room. A bit old fashioned and not rally much space for baggage but there was a sink and huge beds. Seriously, the beds are small double beds. You could easily share it! Later on a english-thai couple were demonstrating that. Yap, they took over the spare bed after their roomies didn’t want that a couple is sharing a room. Somehow I can understand if you think that he was a mid aged european guy and she a mit twenty thai! girl!
My arrival was early in the morning around 5am. A station with straight tracks running through it. While I was looking for a place to stay some locals started to ask me to help me out. The first person couldn’t help me but he called around a friend which further on called a family member able to speak english. It was just after 6am. No, I didn’t get refused but she couldn’t help me neither. So she went back in and after a few minutes another girl came out. And that one just got woken up to help me! I couldn’t believe it!
The only reason I came here was to see something else than the majority goes for in Thailand and to slow down the journey to Laos. Roi Et is a small town near Khon Kaen not very well known among tourists. But it shall have the tallest standing Buddha in the world. At this place I recognised the first time buddhist nuns. Instead of the orange fabric they got white ones.
Back in Khon Kaen I had a walk around the night market and finally ended up in an expat bar. On the way home I had a look into one of the most popular places which was kind of a club with life music. The impression: Very loud music, watery drinks and crazy people:)
The morning after I had to hurry to get my train to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. 35Bahts or 1$ for a three hour third class ride on a local train. Well, it was not the nicest ever but didn’t change the fact that the views were amazing. The rail way is terminated on the Thailand site. Therefore you have to go to the border by yourself. The tuktuk bringing me there overcharged my quite a bit. However, I could save the money at the Laos border since Swiss citizens are together with Luxembourg citizens the only ones from Europe getting a visa free entry into the country. Strike:D
Everybody else pays at least 40$ to the custom. Furthermore, I didn’t have to queue for immigration. Instead I walked straight through, bargained the price for the next tuktuk and tried to get it cheap this time.
Vientiane is a laid back town which doesn’t really gives you the impression of a capital. Life is slow and people friendly and relaxed and so are the few tourists staying there. Even if the number of people living here is small it feels like the density of temples is much higher. Meanwhile I saw quite a few of them but somehow there were two I really liked here. Pha That Luang is one of the most important of the country and with its wall around it also kind of different to others I saw.
Another site had countless little niches in the walls of the temple and side buildings and all of them kept at least one tiny buddha. And for sure there were also bigger ones around it.
Another new thing to the temple was the markets around it. First time I saw they were selling tiny birds int little catches. At the beginning I was thinking they eat them. Lucky them, they just release them into the wild which shall bring luck as I got explained.
One of the biggest landmarks in the city is the Patuxai Gate. Built to honour all those who were firing for independence against the french. Looks a bit like the Arc de Triumph in Paris but has its own style on the top.
Vientiane doesn’t really offer much. Although, its worth to stay for a few nights to relax and to enjoy the laid back street life of the city. There are a certain amount of tourists but not as much as on the other site of the border. And a big part of the internationals are just here to extend their Thailand visas. And the others will most likely go to the north like I did.
