The Vientiane Catch Up.

After we landed back in Vientiane we went to find a guest house. TT's which we aimed for was full, so we went to one down the road for the night. We explained to TT's about the possibility of staying a month or so if the volunteering thing happened, so they booked us in for the next day.

That night we went to the fair that they now have set up along the Mekong. Lot's of side-shows and stalls, running basic games like spin-the-bottle, throw a dart at the balloon, and throw the washing-up bowl over the bottle of cooking oil! Banging sound systems battled for air space. The biggest being at the bumper cars, which would have not looked out of place on the stage of a Monsters Of Rock festival. A huge stack of bass bins, which caused doors and windows to rattle from miles around. Even the tiny little kiddies train ride had a six foot high speaker stack system, that would have left any potential rider with hearing problems for days afterwards.

One thing we had to go and see was the Wall Of Death. Something that has been long banned on Health & Safety reasons in the UK, watching some guys ride a motorcycle around a vertical wall had to be seen. We felt a little uncomfortable at the warm-up act, which was a bloke making some primates ride little push-bikes around the arena. After that through, watching these guys speed around and around the vertical wall of the arena was both fun and scary. The whole structure swayed as the shot around and around.

We then saw a similar structure, with a huge banner of some acrobats. This was one of those revolving rooms, theyt have a name that I can't remember. I remember going on one at Hull Fair once, essentially a huge up-turned barrel that spins at high-speed, so that you stick to the sides. These guys did an acrobatic act, where they stood on the spinng vertical wall doing various moves, to huge rounds of applause all round.

Apparently we have not missed the Boat Racing Festival as we had thought, this fair is all part of a nine day event, so a good time to be in Vientiane.

Next day, one day off the CDEA meeting we went for a wander around. One destination was Friends International, a charity working with street children. Tamo the French worker was pleased to see us, although he was preparing for a high level meeting he took timne to talk to us. He explained that they required a minimum 3 month commitment from volunteers. We explained about the meeting with the CDEA, and said we didn't know the level of commitment they required from us, but would get back to him when we knew.

We then headed for a new market we'd discovered, just behind the Bus Station, which is just behind the Talat Sao market we'd been to previously. Another huge sprawling thing, we wandered through for a good while. Sam wanted a top with sleeves for the meeting the next day, simply as sign of respect. Nothing doing there, so we ended back at the Talat Sao where we'd been before. After a lot of digging around she managed to get one that didn't have a logo splashed across the front.

While wandering I spotted that you could buy your Buddha. Both the Thai's and the Lao men often wear images of the Buddha in little see-thru cases, on a chain around their neck. I've seen these things around a lot, and have quiet fancied one, and having now seen that they did my Buddha (carrying alms), I wanted one even more. Sam hadn't got me anything for my birthday so far, so said I should get one if that is what I wanted. We negotiatied, knocking them down from around 60-70 quid, to about 30-35 quid. I'm not a jewellery wearer, never have been. But these Buddhas have caught my eye, and edging my bets, hoped that it would bring us luck and good karma.

Now there are rules involved in wearing these things. Swimming in them is OK, but no bathing. Never wear it during sex, and don't wear it while on the toilet. All these things are dissresectful, and going to knock any good karma you have built up, out of the window. These rules I learnt from Howard Marks, who learnt them from a tuk-tuk driver friend of his in Thailand.

That night we bumped into an American girl we'd shared a tuk-tuk with from the Bus Station when we landed back in Vientiane. We spent the rest of the night in the Full Moon Restaurant, chatting right up until 11.00pm. The time had shot by, we needed to hit-the-hay and get good nights sleep, as we had the meeting with the CDEA that next day.