Day 220 - Queen of Laos

We ate breakfast this morning with the owner of our guesthouse. As we chatted, the subject of monkeys came up, and it turns out the family running the place has a monkey as well. This particular monkey has been around for 4 or 5 years, and has developed quite a reputation a s a misogynistic little monkey. When we went to visit him, he immediately hopped on the guesthouse owner's shoulder and began 'grooming' his hair, looking up periodically to give me the evil eye.

To prove the monkey's fearsome reputation, the guesthouse owner had me grab his wrist. Immediately the monkey puffed up his fur, bared his teeth, and began hooting. I was very grateful for the sturdy tether keeping his teeth and claws at bay. A few soft words from the owner and a plump banana were all it took to calm him down. That and me feigning complete disinterest in either the monkey or Cz, the Turkish fellow also with us, or the owner of the guesthouse.

The monkey had so entertained us that we nearly missed our boat to the mainland to catch the bus to Pakse. When we arrived at the 'bus stop', really a storefront with a garage, our 'bus' turned out to be a Toyota van that had seen better days. Feeling a little dubious we clambered aboard. It coughed and spluttered its way into Pakse where we were deposited at the bus terminal at 1:30. Our bus to Vientiane wasn't scheduled to leave until 8:00PM. We wandered around for bit, totally disenchanted with the town. We read and played cards for a while, but mostly sulked. Finally, we broke down and hailed a tuk-tuk to take us to Delta Coffee, supposedly the source for some of the best coffee in the country. Not only do they roast the beans in house, but they actually grow their own coffee on a nearby plantation. Contrary to the rest of the town, it did not disappoint. To be fair, where we had wandered were the fringes - I'm sure the town center is far more pleasant.

By the time we finished our coffee and early supper, we had just enough time to walk back to the bus depot and use the bathroom before meeting our VIP night bus to Vientiane.

She was the drag queen of buses. Perfectly airbrushed, she towered over the more humble vehicles, batting pink-curtained eyelashes at anyone who cared to look in her windows. On the lower levels, the extra VIP passengers got whole beds. Us lesser mortals had to content ourselves with reclining seats, but even those had blankets and little doilies on the headrests.

Shortly into the journey a man came down the aisle bearing bottles of water and warm dinners - which even had a dainty cilantro garnish across the top. We were most impressed. We were less impressed with the not one, but two karaoke televisions blaring Lao pop which seem to be the staple of Laos buses. Mercifully, the TV's were turned off from about 10:00PM to about 5AM.

And there wasn't a single chicken, goat, or person sitting in the aisle on a plastic stool in sight (the other staples of SE Asian buses).