track our trek

we made it safely to laos friday night around 10pm. we flew an hour north from bangkok to udon thani, then took a minibus to the border town of nong khai, then another bus across the friendship bridge to the lao side. our flight from bangkok left rather late, so we weren't sure whether the border would still be open once we arrived, but we took our chances. no problems, we filled out our visa forms on arrival & paid an extra $1 apiece for "overtime" processing, and found ourselves in laos! a short taxi ride later, we arrived at our guest house in vientiane. a piece of cake despite our misgivings about arriving in new places under cover of darkness!  in the morning we caught our first view of the famous mekong river, which flows from china south through laos, vietnam and cambodia. we spent a day walking around the sleepy little capitol...the lonely planet doesn't lie when it says you can walk the whole city in less than a day! we visited wat sisakut, the oldest temple in the city, walked along the river, and settled into the relaxed pace for a bit...it was surprising how slow the pace is there...drivers napping in hammocks in the back of their songthaews! (songthaews are small to mid-size pick-up trucks outfitted w/ benches in the back for passengers.)