Udon Thani, Thailand - Vientiane, Laos ( Day 8 18-Feb-2010)

It's a big day today as we are heading to Laos for the first time in our life! Morning call at 6.30am and we proceed to the bus terminal opposite our hotel at 7am to purchase our bus ticket to Vientiane. The bus ticket cost us 100bath each and departing at 8.30am. We had our very first Issan breakfast at a small stall inside the bus station. I was puzzled as the breakfast is something I've never try before in my life.....half boiled egg with pork meat & sausage, Toast bread with banana & sausage & black coffee. Nevertheless we enjoyed our breakfast so much. The Thai-Lao bus arrived on time and soon after we are on our way to Laos....approximately 2 hours from Udon Thani passing by Nongkai which is famous for it's Naga fire ball!

Our breakfast in Udon Thani

The Thai-Lao International Bus runs regularly between Vientiane & Udon Thani

We arrived at the border around 10.30 am and clear the immigration without much hassle and soon after we reached the capital city of Laos, Vientiane. After the bus stop at the bus terminal we hiked a tuk-tuk which is the preferred local transportation to our pre booked hotel (Aroon Residence). We arrived at the hotel at about noon time and it was a small yet cozy hotel with relatively good service. We check in and have some rest in our hotel before proceed to visit some local attractions as we will be in Vientiane for less than 24 hours! Therefore every minutes count and precious to us.....waste no time and we rock Vientiane!Tomorrow we will be heading to the backpacker's heaven town of Vang Vieng.

Remarks:- Its relatively save and easy to walk around the town area. If you don't mind walking around, most of the local attractions can be visited by foot. if you are lazy, hired any of the tuk-tuk available and the driver will act as your personal driver cum tour guide. If I am not mistaken we paid roughly 500 bath to hire the tuk-tuk from noon till evening.