Vientiane

View from my room

I made it to Vientiane! Yesterday, it took me about 5 hours to get from Bangkok to Vientiane via 2 other Lao cities. I arrived at the domestic terminal and waited. The other intern, Emily, was supposed to meet me at the airport, but I didn't see any sign of her. Then I realized she probably assumed I was arriving at the international terminal, so I headed over there and found her and our driver!

It was almost freaky meeting Emily. We are both grad students (not undergrads, as many State interns are). We both taught English in China for a year. We both graduate in December. I'm sure there are more crazy similarities.

We are both living at the City Inn, which is a hotel more like a serviced apartment. My first room had a problem with air con, which with the humidity here is not good, so I moved to another larger room with lovely cool air con. I don't know if I will stay in this room, but it is huge (I think as big as my 2 bedroom apartment), with a large living area and 2 bathrooms, a tea kettle, microwave, 2 mini fridges, 2 bathrooms, and big windows.

Yesterday, Emily took me on a short walk around our hotel. She showed where the Embassy is, which is a few minutes walk. I will start work on Monday. Then we walked through the night market, and eventually found  a place to grab some dinner. I got pad thai, which was a perfect small dinner.  I took the most satisfying shower of my life before falling into a deep sleep.

Breakfast here is included and includes an assortment of fruit (I love the papaya here), hot dishes, and bread. Because of the French influence here, there is a lot of good bread, like croissants and baguettes.

I like Vientiane so far! It is extremely humid, which I am obviously not used to. I don't know how the Lao people don't look sweaty all the time. It seems fairly easy to walk around. It is a quiet city (especially compared to Guiyang, where I lived in China, the loudest place I've ever been). This morning I walked down the street and it was very quiet and chill. Many places were closed (it's Sunday here).

There are a lot of foreigners here (also, compared to China where I got stared at a lot). Also a lot of English. Lots of food and massage/spa places. Some French writing. It is very green with lots of trees. As I flew into the country, I noticed a lot of rice paddies, short buildings, and short trees. This is not a huge city with tall buildings, and is still being developed.

I am excited to start work tomorrow and meet my co-workers. It is nice to have Emily to help me, and someone to tour around with who has already been here for 6 weeks.