lao paris

september of last year, i went to vientiane, laos. it was one of those spur of the moment trips, as i thought at that time, i've seen much of bangkok already. so i booked an orient thai flight from bangkok to udon thani. from the airport, i boarded a taxi (100 baht) to go to the bus terminal. from udon thani's bus terminal, the bus brought me all the way to vientiane. the bus ride was about 1.5 hours and cost 80 baht. there were of course the immigration stops, first in thailand side and then after crossing the friendship bridge, the lao immigration. unlike crossing the immigration from aran, thailand to poipet, cambodia, no such touts this time, so the immigration counters were easy breezy affairs.

upon reaching vientiane's bus terminal, i took a tuktuk that brought me to thanon samsensenthai, where the new lao paris hotel is located. i called it my own little home during my two days in vientiane. located in the heart of vientiane, new lao paris hotel might be seen by others as too old and rundown. to me however, i liked its old, colonial feel. the room was big, clean and comfortable. no problem with the aircon at all. the staff were very nice and accommodating. the breakfast was french baguette, some butter and strawberry jam, plus two sunny side up fried egg. what i also liked about this hotel is its proximity to a lot of tourist spots such as wat ho pra keo, wat si saket, national museum, among others. it's also quite close to mekong river, where local pubs and night eateries are located. overall, i think i gave a 7.3 rating to this hotel in agoda.com.