My favorite part of flying is the take off from the runway. I like the feel when the tires touch the runway on landing, but am a little relieved when the plane has made a successful landing. Hopefully the landing gear works and the tires don't flatten as it touches the horizontal runway. Today I'm looking at the "Vertical Runway". It's straight up, 7 stories high, not horizontal along the ground like the plane lands on.
 
I ended up spending 9 days in Luang Prabang . One of the great things about the way I travel is that I can change my plans to suit my mood or needs at the time. I liked Luang Prabang, Laos. I had a lot of fun with my new friends Thomas and Tadeo. They each went their separate ways a few days ago.

The hostel here put up a Christmas tree for us westerners. They are mainly Buddhist and Christmas is not one of their holidays, but the hostel decorates for us.

I was sitting in the lobby the day they dug the artificial tree out of storage. The Laoations wanted to put it up. They asked for my help and advise on decorating it. "Are we doing it good, Larry?" they asked. I told them it was looking fine, just don't forget to put me a present underneath.

THE PASSPORT
Two nights before I left Luang Prabang, I was walking down a small street in the town, This was a small side street I had not walked through until now.

It's very strange to hear your name called in a far away country . This time it is an Irish couple I met in Thailand. They have just arrived in Luang Prabang and I am walking past their hostel. They saw me and called out my name.

They are stressed out. Gavin took their passports and money belt out of his bag and laid them on a seat on the bus, looking for something in his daybag. They discovered it when they went to check in to the hostel. There is not an Irish Embassy in Laos. Without their passport they cannot leave Laos, but cannot stay past their visa limit either.

It's quite a dilemma and I stay and talk to them for awhile. I am the only person they know here and it was just fortunate that I walked by. The hostel manager has called the bus company to report the lost passports and money, in hopes the driver has found it. 

I tell them I will stay around until they have something figured out. We discuss what they will do without passport. How will they get new ones with no Embassy for Ireland in the country? How long will it take when they do figure out a way to get one . Will they get a new one before their 30 day visa expires? Their ATM cards were also in the money belt. They have enough money to last a week or so maybe, but then will have to figure out how to get more.

After about 45 minutes the hostel manager comes outside where we are talking and tells them the bus driver found their passports and will bring them to the hostel. All of a sudden they are all smiles and so relieved. The bus driver rides up on a motorbike in 15 or 20 minutes while we are still standing outside near the street. The passports and all the money are safe in the money belt.

I had spotted a restaurant along the river bank while out walking one day. You cook your own meat on a grill. It is a buffet style. Eat all you want. But the sign says if you do not eat all you take, you will be charged more.

We go eat at the restaurant with another traveling couple from the hostel . It's a great nght and good celebration for my Irish friends after their heart-stopping ordeal. A passport is the one thing you do not want to lose in a foreign land. Especially when there is not an Embasssy from your country anywhere in the country you are in.

The next couple of days we have time to hang out together some. Then, they head for Vang Vieng, Laos and I head on to Vientiane, Laos.

THE RIDE
 I was picked up at the hostel by a tuk tuk around 6 in the evening. I booked the bus ticket the day before at the hostel to Vientiane. Last night, when I booked, the guy at the desk told me I would be taking a sleeping bus overnight. This morning, however, he informed me the sleeping bus was full and I could take a sitting bus. That was fine with me, as I  seldom sleep on busses or in cars or on planes anyway.

There seems to be a lot of confusion at the bus station. I am told to wait in a seat until time for the bus to load and I will be given a seat number . Just before time for the bus to leave, the agent comes and tells me to follow him. He shows me a sleeping bus. There are no beds left. 

SE Asia has a reputation for overbooking busses and vans. Then they fill them to capacity with cargo and people sitting in every little spot. One guy said he was asked to hold a big box of plasticware one time while riding on a long distance bus. He had to hold it on his lap the entire trip. Although many of the locals were told to hold pieces of cargo, the box he was given was the largest and the last to get dropped off. He was the only foreigner on the trip, coincidence that his box was the largest and last to get delivered?

People, mostly locals, are sitting in the aisles between the beds. There is room for one more on the floor, if I want the space. Actually, there is no such thing as room for one more. They just squeeze you in somewhere. The other option is to wait until tomorrow.

 I can't wait until tomorrow . I have an appointment at the U.S. Embassy to have pages added to my passport, and my hostel is already booked for tomorrow. I take the floor space. 

I need to enter Vietnam by December 17th. But, first I want to have visa pages added to my passport at the U.S. Embassy in the capitol of Laos, Vientiane. So, I ride the overnight bus for 12 hours, sitting on the floor.

My spot ended up being right behind the driver. The aisles are filled with cargo and people sitting on the floor with their bags. I got the only small space left. The driver's helper is sharing his front seat with a monk and 3 other Laotians. 

I can see out the windshield all night, which is nice. I can't stretch my legs out too far, though. A long-legged person would never be able to ride like this. I sit cross-legged most of the way. Occasionally I stand up for a few minutes but cannot move anywhere. The bus stops every once in a while for the 'roadside toilet stops' . 

At one point the driver stopped the bus on the narrow mountain road and ran across the road. There was one of the altar things on the side of this dark, mountain road. It seems out of place here, on this dark mountain road. In the middle of all this wilderness sits this lone altar in the dark.

The driver burnt some incense and did the respect to Buddha thing, then ran back to the bus. Everyone else just about was sleeping, I think, and didn't see this. Right then the road started such tight switchbacking that often the bus would have to stop to allow another bus or truck to make the turn coming toward us. He would see light from a headlight at the bend.

Sometimes the other vehicle would wait for our bus to make the turn. I guess the drivers know how difficult this road is to navigate in the large busses and stop to get some good luck from Buddha before tackling it. The busses or trucks move at a snails pace on these roads . That's why travel in these countries is so slow. They don't have the interstate highway system here like we are used to.

In these countries, there is not much use in getting irate and upset. The standards here are just not like in the U.S. I see the villages and typography of the land as we travel over the mountains. I can tell this trip would have been a beauty to do in the daylight. If I am back this way again, I will take a day bus through here, for the scenery.

VIENTIANE
14 hours later, we arrive in Vientiane and my night of sitting on the floor has come to an end. I hire a tuk tuk to take me to my hostel.

I am let out of the tuk tuk at the Sihome Hostel. Steveoh, the young manager, is German. He was born in Germany but grew up in Sweden. So, although he is a German citizen, he is more Swedish. 

The hostel has just been open a month or two and he and his staff are very enthused about making it a special place to stay . They are a lot of ideas of what they want to do here. By the time I left Vientiane a week later, he had brought in graffiti artists to paint the walls inside and outside the hostel with various images.

Vientiane itself was cold and rainy the first couple of days. It's a small city as far as capitols go (754,000 in 2009), but is a nice place to hang out in. I enjoy the river area. Every night there is a large night market along he river and on the banks there are large aerobic classes each night. In most cases Laos has been a clean place. At least, the places I have been. I like the little round barrels Vientiane uses throughout the city for trash. They look like metal but are plastic. You can push the sides in with your hand. I guess they are built to be lightweight for the city trash people to dump. As is the case in most Asian cities I have been to, there are many Buddhist monuments and temples in the city. I didn't actually go in any in this city but took some candid shots as I walked past a few .

THE VERTICAL RUNWAY
I see it in the distance. I am just walking around the capitol city of Laos, Vientiane. I don't have anywhere I'm going. I'm just going. I'll get lost before the day is over, I always do. But, in the process I will learn a lot about the new city I am in. As I start to cross a busy street, I see something in the other direction, a long ways off. It seems to sit either at the end of the busy street or maybe in the center of the street. I change directions and head towards it. It rises up 7-stories tall. It's been nicknamed "The Vertical Runway" by the locals. It's another example of government mismanagement.

The Patuxai Monument, nicknamed the 'Vertical Runway' resembles the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. I remember seeing it years ago. Patuxai means Victory  Gate or Gate of Triumph. 

During the Vietnam War, America heavily bombed the country of Laos, attempting to destroy the supply lines north Vietnam had running through Laos . After the war ended, the U.S. gave funds to the Laos government to build an airport for the Laotian people. Instead, the money and cement intended for the airport was used to build the Paluxai Monument. The people nicknamed it "The Vertical Runway".

The monument has 5 towers that represent the five Buddhist principles of "thoughtful amiability, flexibility, honesty, honor and prosperity." 

They began to build it in 1957 but never completed it, because of the wars and turbulence in the country. Today it is used as a place for the locals to relax and tourist to visit.

It's in the middle of town and I found it while out walking around the city one of the first days there. I climbed the steps to the top (7th floor) and got some great panoramic views of the city.