An Expedition to the wilds of the Rugby World – Day 7 - Vientiane
Created | Updated Feb 10, 2003
Wednesday 25/9
By the time I had woken up, packed and had breakfast it was time to catch the bus out to the airport for our flight to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. A small tip for the unwary; whilst the airline check in area is air conditioned, the rest of the airport isn’t, until you pass through customs, so it is probably a good idea to wait for the rest of your group in said area, rather than melt. Any attempt to sneak back in to the air conditioning will be stopped by a rather stern looking, if polite, security guard, unless you can sneak in while her back is turned.
The flight to Vientiane was uneventful. My first impression upon disembarking from the plane was that it was bloody hot. Once again we had no trouble clearing customs, which I hadn’t expected in a communist country. Joberg was in front of me in the line. I watched him hand over his two passports to the customs officer who looked at them, stapled them together and handed them back to him without saying a word.
We were met on the other side by our guide Mon, who had the most wonderful sing song voice. His catchphrase “please tell me” was to become very familiar to us over the next few days. As we drove to our hotel Mon pointed out to us that on the other side of the Mekong river it was Thailand.
We were staying in the Lane Xang hotel, which used to be the flashest place in town (it even has a lift). Our rooms weren’t anything special but what was is that it has its own swimming pool. To make things even better it also has a poolside bar / restaurant. I don’t think anyone would find it too hard to work out how we spent the rest of the afternoon.
I had arranged to meet Steve, my contact from the Laos Buffaloes Rugby Club, at our hotel that night. We had raised so much money in fines at the Kangaroo Court that we could already have a team dinner. Steve took us to a fantastic restaurant around the corner from our hotel which was (possibly) called the Doc Choy Dow. We ate and drank for a few hours for not very much at all, even including an expensive bottle of wine Netball, Case and Bob L ordering for their table.
Steve was sitting on my table and mentioned that he didn’t come here very often as it was a bit touristy and too expensive. He also told us a bit about Laos and the Lao people. I remember him telling me at one point that Laotians made terrible communists because their hearts really weren’t in it. As a general rule they are a very laid back people, which I found easy to believe given that Steve was probably the most laid back person I had ever met. He had obviously spent his many years here trying to fit in with the locals.
After the meal Steve guided us all to the Chess nightclub. The band started playing Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit. Vinnie and I both had to get our photos taken with the band playing in the background.
I accompanied Steve back to the hotel to sort out our travel arrangements for getting to the game and he dropped me back at the nightclub. Unfortunately, just about everyone had headed off to another bar. One of the women on the door said she would arrange a lift for me. She returned five minutes later with her car keys and drove me to where everyone else had supposedly gone. When I tried to pay her she said it was alright as her brother was playing rugby against us the next day.
As I was about to enter the Pub on the Rock I ran into Dirty and JR leaving as there was nothing much happening. We wandered off to look for a more lively watering hole. Everything seemed pretty quiet as we wandered the streets, not knowing exactly where we were. Dirty was starting to lose his sense of humour as we couldn’t find a decent bar, any of the others or our hotel so we could orient ourselves. Eventually we ran into them back at the restaurant where we had eaten dinner. As this was now closing, we headed for the nearest bar, which was empty when we arrived, but since we had picked up a few other small groups along the way we had now gained critical mass for our own party.
This bar also closed or ran out of beer (possibly both) and we again found ourselves wandering the streets. We eventual jumped into a couple of motorcycle taxis and asked the driver to take us to a nightclub.
Futures was packed full of locals dancing to techno music, with a smattering of tourists. I can’t remember exactly who was there (I have a photo of myself with Fatcat, but no recollection of him being there) but eventually there was only Dirty, Vinnie and myself left. I was talking to two Irish guys at one point who wanted to know if I thought Brian O’Driscoll was the greatest outside centre in the world. They weren’t too happy when I told them that I thought he was very good but not necessarily great, as yet. However things were much better once I told them that I thought Keith Wood was the best hooker in the world.
At closing time I shared a taxi with the other two guys back to our hotel and was mercifully unconscious before Jimmy had returned to his room and started ‘singing’ at the top of his voice, sometime around four in the morning.
By the time I had woken up, packed and had breakfast it was time to catch the bus out to the airport for our flight to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. A small tip for the unwary; whilst the airline check in area is air conditioned, the rest of the airport isn’t, until you pass through customs, so it is probably a good idea to wait for the rest of your group in said area, rather than melt. Any attempt to sneak back in to the air conditioning will be stopped by a rather stern looking, if polite, security guard, unless you can sneak in while her back is turned.
The flight to Vientiane was uneventful. My first impression upon disembarking from the plane was that it was bloody hot. Once again we had no trouble clearing customs, which I hadn’t expected in a communist country. Joberg was in front of me in the line. I watched him hand over his two passports to the customs officer who looked at them, stapled them together and handed them back to him without saying a word.
We were met on the other side by our guide Mon, who had the most wonderful sing song voice. His catchphrase “please tell me” was to become very familiar to us over the next few days. As we drove to our hotel Mon pointed out to us that on the other side of the Mekong river it was Thailand.
We were staying in the Lane Xang hotel, which used to be the flashest place in town (it even has a lift). Our rooms weren’t anything special but what was is that it has its own swimming pool. To make things even better it also has a poolside bar / restaurant. I don’t think anyone would find it too hard to work out how we spent the rest of the afternoon.
I had arranged to meet Steve, my contact from the Laos Buffaloes Rugby Club, at our hotel that night. We had raised so much money in fines at the Kangaroo Court that we could already have a team dinner. Steve took us to a fantastic restaurant around the corner from our hotel which was (possibly) called the Doc Choy Dow. We ate and drank for a few hours for not very much at all, even including an expensive bottle of wine Netball, Case and Bob L ordering for their table.
Steve was sitting on my table and mentioned that he didn’t come here very often as it was a bit touristy and too expensive. He also told us a bit about Laos and the Lao people. I remember him telling me at one point that Laotians made terrible communists because their hearts really weren’t in it. As a general rule they are a very laid back people, which I found easy to believe given that Steve was probably the most laid back person I had ever met. He had obviously spent his many years here trying to fit in with the locals.
After the meal Steve guided us all to the Chess nightclub. The band started playing Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit. Vinnie and I both had to get our photos taken with the band playing in the background.
I accompanied Steve back to the hotel to sort out our travel arrangements for getting to the game and he dropped me back at the nightclub. Unfortunately, just about everyone had headed off to another bar. One of the women on the door said she would arrange a lift for me. She returned five minutes later with her car keys and drove me to where everyone else had supposedly gone. When I tried to pay her she said it was alright as her brother was playing rugby against us the next day.
As I was about to enter the Pub on the Rock I ran into Dirty and JR leaving as there was nothing much happening. We wandered off to look for a more lively watering hole. Everything seemed pretty quiet as we wandered the streets, not knowing exactly where we were. Dirty was starting to lose his sense of humour as we couldn’t find a decent bar, any of the others or our hotel so we could orient ourselves. Eventually we ran into them back at the restaurant where we had eaten dinner. As this was now closing, we headed for the nearest bar, which was empty when we arrived, but since we had picked up a few other small groups along the way we had now gained critical mass for our own party.
This bar also closed or ran out of beer (possibly both) and we again found ourselves wandering the streets. We eventual jumped into a couple of motorcycle taxis and asked the driver to take us to a nightclub.
Futures was packed full of locals dancing to techno music, with a smattering of tourists. I can’t remember exactly who was there (I have a photo of myself with Fatcat, but no recollection of him being there) but eventually there was only Dirty, Vinnie and myself left. I was talking to two Irish guys at one point who wanted to know if I thought Brian O’Driscoll was the greatest outside centre in the world. They weren’t too happy when I told them that I thought he was very good but not necessarily great, as yet. However things were much better once I told them that I thought Keith Wood was the best hooker in the world.
At closing time I shared a taxi with the other two guys back to our hotel and was mercifully unconscious before Jimmy had returned to his room and started ‘singing’ at the top of his voice, sometime around four in the morning.
