Vientiane, Laos

My Visit to the Laos International Hospital

That Luang Temple

The view from the Patu Xay monument

Kier and I in The Patu Xay square

Leaving Vietnam was hard, but Ha Noi was pleasantly dreary the morning we fled for the airport, so it made the transition easy.

The flight went smooth and customs gave us no hassle upon arrival into Vientiane. Visa's were issued and stamped in less than a half an hour, so overall this was the easiest entry we have had to date.... minus the additional money that we had to spend ;-) We car pooled with two other travels from the airport into the town center to make it cheaper and after a few hotel jumps we found a reasonable room just off of the main district.

The first day was a bit of a blur because I (charissa) haven't been doing as well.. and well sleep deprivation along with sleeping pills, antibiotics and painkillers can fog your mind a bit. Lucky me though, the second day here we decided that I should go to the hospital.

Against every rational bone in my body (concerning 3rd world countries and Medicare) it went smooth. The doctor spoke English and after an examination, hooked me up with all the goodies I needed to get better. The rest of the day and some of the next we just rested and took it easy so that I could recuperate and kier could catch up on more sleep as well.

So the last two days have been on an upward slope. Kier and I, despite the sweltering mid day heat decided to rent a motto yesterday to see more of the city. We climbed the Patu Xay park monument, saw the That Luang temple ( a huge gold like structure) and checked out the morning market.

The morning market was full of all sort of things: electronics, jewelery, food and a diverse selection of hand made goodies and all sorts of things we like ;-) But despite my frivolous wishes we will probably only buy a bedding set (hand made and quilted) and a few trinkets for the babies... depending on how much slush fund we have left ;-)

So far the Laos cuisine has been fantastic and people are amazingly friendly. To beat the heat we finally switched rooms last night for an air con room, after 3 days on the top floor with only a fan, we thought we'd splurge ;-). We have been living off of fruit shakes and loving it ;-)

Hope everyones doing well, we know that both our families have had a few obstacles and hard times lately and we just want you to know that we love you all and you are in our daily thoughts.

Take care and Cheers ;-)

Charissa and Kieran

P.S. Dad I love you and I am glad that you are ok, it was so scary to hear about the accident, HUGS*