Trip to Vientiane

This last week I took a trip to Vientiane to renew my visa.  I decided against some suggests by Bob to take the night bus so I would miss the least amount of time with the team. My bus was scheduled for Wednesday night at 7:30 so naturally it left at 8:30. The reason Bob told me not to take the night bus is because there had been some stories of the driver getting hyped up on Meth to stay awake on the drive.  I just assumed that my driver was better high.  10 and a half hours later I arrived in Vientiane alive and warn out.  I sat next to a nice Lao girl named Lua who was going home to see family.  We talked and joked she laughed at my Lao.  Across the isle was a Lao woman with a child who must have been about 4 and didnt get her own seat.  Throughout the night she would adjust blankets or fan her child periodically hitting me with whatever it was she was using as a fan.  This never seemed to get old.  Later on she dropped her phone and I picked it up for her because I am an idiot.  She of course said nothing and needed my help putting her seat back again said nothing.  Politeness is lost on the Lao such as being on time.
Bob was nice enough to meet me at the bus station and take me into town.  Vientiane is the largest city in Laos and sits just a short drive from the "Friendship Bridge" to Thailand.  Vientiane gave me the same feel of Saigon in Vietnam.  It is more of the business capital and more financially booming capital city rather than the sleepy tourist focused city of Luang Prabang.  During my stay I saw a surprisingly few number of foreigners there.  I checked in and took a much needed nap before heading out to renew my visa. 

Sirivanh, is Bobs assistant and is a former olympian.  She ran the marathon in Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000.  Her claim to fame is that she was the final finisher in Sydney when a large portion of runners dropped out and got a standing ovation from the crowd. She was my tour guide.  We were dropped off at the visa renewal spot and got that over with then she gave me a quick walking tour of the city center before she biked off. She told me that someone Googled her so I did and here is the link to her Wikipedia page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirivanh_Ketavong.

I walked around the city after getting lunch and took some pictures.

 This is a photo down one of the street in Vientiane showing how much more urban it really is.

 I wish I hadn't eaten right before finding out about the Laos Festival. 

 Looking down one of the main streets the food festival is on the left and the large building is the Cultural center built by the Chinese.

 The Presidential Palace which I thought I would get to tour. Sadly I was mistaken.  They locked me out.

 Another main thoroughfare which was six lanes wide and the arch at the end is the Victory Monument.

This is the That Dam (Black Stoopa) which is in the middle of the city and the US Embassy is about a block away.

During my walk I tried to do the tourist thing.  I hit the presidential palace but couldn't go in.  I saw the national museum which I hate to say needs some work.  They have some models which I think a 3rd grader made. These models were supposed to be representations of maps and layouts of cities but they were just paint wildly thrown onto a mound of clay.  The best part was the tour started with dinosaurs. 

Around 4:15 I made my 6 block walk to the Chao Anouvong Stadium where the Vientiane team was practice and I ran with Sirivanh.  We talked about running and coaching she is the assistant coach for distance.  I now understand the hierarchy for coaching the national team.  On the top there is Sitysai who works for the sports committee and oversees everything track related.  This is Mr. No's boss and the man I had spoken to on the phone about getting blocks and equipment for LP.  He is a really nice guy and we would talk in more depth later on.  Right below him is a Foreign coach primarily Cuban because they have a strong connection (might it be communism).  This connection is also the reason many Lao coaches go over there to learn their trade.  She is a nice older lady who doesn't speak much English or Lao but is learning.  She was selected by the government not someone who is involved in track and field.  Below her is a series of Lao assistant coaches. Each one with their own specialty.  When I first showed up I was blow away by a few things.  First all of their athletes looked like pro athletes.  They seemed to be the biggest Lao in the country.  Second the field was beautifully manicured.  Unlike our athletes which look like high school kids and the stadium which has about foot high grass in the shot put pit. 

 This is a view of the stadium from one corner.  Not my greatest photo sorry.

This is the front entrance to the stadium which houses some of the specific sports committees.

To my relief I found out that the reason some of the athletes looked like pros was because they are the national team and not the Vientiane high school team.  Also most of their assistant coaches still competing, in good shape, and would do some workouts with the team.  This made me feel much better about my team. 
Speaking of my team we have been making great strides.  The team tries hard and these few days I was away Tom took over coaching and I found out that he was the only coach there.  I sent him the workouts and he said they went well.

The next day was spent checking out getting everything ready for the trip back another long night bus.  This time Sitysai had given me a set of blocks, shot puts and a few discus to take back with me. Bob had given me signs for CLI and a set of golf clubs.  I came down with 2 bags and left with 6.  Luckily this was Laos and no one cared.  The trip back was much more rough because the guy I was sitting next too kept fighting me for leg room.  Most of you all know this person they are the one either on a plane or at a ball game who take up more then their allotted space which is clearly defined by the indent between seats.  We jockeyed for space all night and I had a poorly design cup holder jabbing into my other leg. This was an un-winnable war and I lost  by not getting much sleep and a bruised leg from the cup holder.  I was happy though that this Methed up (yes I just created Methed up) driver seemed to like speed more so I made it back ahead of time left 8 pm and arrived at 5:30am.  Just in time to sleep for a few hours before starting my day.

Fact: Chanta's husband is a great man because he woke up and picked me up this morning.  Either he is a great man or Chanta has complete control over him.