Another month, another trip to Vientiane. This time it was for a couple of weeks while our annual audit was being performed. The positive side of the trip was that it was very nice being in Vientiane and not having to rush to fit everything into just a few days.
While I was in the office Andrew roamed around the city – in the cooler mornings – returned to the hotel for the hotter part of the day and generally met up with me for lunch. He walked a lot of kilometres and slept well most nights.
There was also lots more eating out – some old favorites and some new finds. Including a craft brewery, where we were the only customers -but very nice beer.
When we went up I wasn’t sure how long I needed to be in the office. Eventually, 2 weeks seemed like things were under control, and further work could be done remotely.
May is a mixed month in the region. It is still relatively hot, and the rainy season just beginning. So we decided to have a few days at the beach on Koh Samet on the way back to NZ. The best place in Thailand at this time of year is the gulf of Thailand, Koh Samui etc, but to get there involved a flight or a reasonable length ferry crossing. So we decided take an easy option and revisit Koh Samet, 150km south of Bangkok, where we had not been since 2012. It is a great destination, not a compromise at all.
Plans locked in, we returned to Bangkok for 1 night. We stayed in Ekkamai area. It is close to the bus station and we could leave our suitcases at the hotel to be retrieved when we came back to Bangkok. In the hotel lift Andrew confidently swiped the access card – but eventually found he was swiping the hand sanitising gel dispenser rather than the lift sensor. The other people in the lift didn’t seem to have a sense of humor and did not smile.
The 3 hour bus trip to the pier at Ban Phe was very easy – we had even booked our seats online beforehand for the exorbitant price of …about NZD $10 each. For that, we got front row bus seats, a bottle of water and a McDonalds chicken burger! We were a bit perplexed when the bus stopped about just under an hour into the journey and the attendant went into the McDonalds – we thought she was be a bit cheeky getting something for her and the driver during the trip. Instead she came out with 20 chicken burgers for the 20 passengers on the bus. It happened also on the way back to Bangkok – we were less surprised this time. Given the cheap price we upgraded ourselves on the return journey and purchased 2 seats each – so extra room to stretch out. That caused a problem for the attendant when it came to the burgers, as she wanted to give us 2 burgers and we really only wanted 1.
At the pier town of Ban Phe, we waited in the air-conditioned rooms of the Samed Group of resorts before our jet-boat trip to the island. The boat ride out to the island was barely 10 minutes. Again, same as in Cambodia, I had booked the resort farthest away from the pier, but this time there was a slightly shady path as we carried our backpacks in the hot midday sun. Ao Prao Resort was very nice and very empty. This year, according to one of the staff, there were almost no guests compared to the same time last year. It was quiet in the restaurant and on the beach. We had selected a cheaper room, which meant climbing some stairs – but honestly it wasn’t a big deal and each day it reduced our guilt by increasing our heart-rates temporarily in the move between beach and room and beach and restaurant.
We had one morning with intense thunder, lightening and tropical torrential rain, but it cleared and that was the only weather impact on our trip. It was the 1st time, anywhere in Asia, where we put out feet in the sea on the 1st day (at about 13:00) and decided the seas was far too warm to swim in! It was like a hot bath, the swimming pool was much cooler. But the other days the sea was so nice, sandy seabed and floating in the calm sea. The only disadvantage of this side of the island was that there were no local vendors/beach cafes , so we did have to eat in the resort restaurant. That wasn’t a punishment as all the food was very good- good enough to entice Andrew to order the fish on the next 2 nights after some plate envy on the 1st night.
Andrew was also a great help to the ground staff, picking up leaves in the pool. Who knows how they coped after he left. Maybe that is why we got a nice staff wave as we departed.
Back to Bangkok. And I got my favourite of Khao Soi. Hom Duan is one of those recommended venues for the dish and the complex flavours lived up to their reputation. It was our 1st time there and we will go back one day and try some of the other delicious choices – or maybe have some more Khao Soi. Our flight to Sydney always leaves early evening and so we finished our last day in Bangkok with our traditional final lunch of xiao long bao at Din Tai Fung, before heading to the airport. Small pleasures.
And a word of caution: eating the blue macaroons in the Air France lounge will turn your mouth an unnatural shade of blue.
