Little Red Dave: I will retire to Vientiane

The morning after the night before and everyone was a little worse for wear and, in some cases, possibly embarrassed. The beer went more to my stomach than my head so I was fne but I hadn't slept that well. Still, Thai trains are clean and comfortable and I lay in the dark with my earplugs in and was relaxed by the gentle shifting of the train beneath me.

Breakfast was runny eggs eaten with a spoon and delivered by highly amused attendants in the dining car.

We sat and watched the countryside fly by until we reached the Thai border.

Photos: Thai countryside taken from the train

There's no man's land between Thailand and Laos so we left Thailand at one crossing and then took a local train across the Mekhong to the Laos side.

Photo: Crossing the Mekhong

The Lao border was bureaucracy gone mad with much flurry, confusion, inefficency and the sheer joy of watching sleazy English guy get sent packing because he didn't have enough spare pages in his passport. He tried cajoling, yelling and bribery and none of it worked. If I believed in karma, this would be it at work.

Finally issued with visas for USD30, we headed off into downtown Vientiane and fell in love. Between the laarb, Joma Bakery, the relaxed feel, the easy to navigate city and the wonderful foreshore, Vientiane is, in the slightly anachronistic word of our Khmer tour leader, Jay, our "cup of tea" city.

Sometime you walk into a city and realise you could live there. Vientiane is one of them.

We had a relaxed afternoon town and then watched the sun set over the Mekhong from the foreshore where locals jogged, played, did aerobics and had games of football in the river's tidal zone. Then it was a few beers and noodles at a local sunset bar then off to bed.