Best Mall in Town

Thursday, Aug. 12, 2010--Vientiane

Due to my napping, I didn't make it to bed until midnight last night. But I was able to sleep until almost 9:00 this morning. It made today a much better day. There were rain showers early in the day, so I stayed on the computer for a while. Finally, I left at 10:45 heading for what the tourist office said was a mall with a cinema showing international films. I thought maybe I might choose a movie to see and eat at the food court.

The mall is on the edge of town, so it took me about an hour to walk there. On the way, I saw some interesting sights. At the market I passed, there were baskets of fried larvae selling as snacks. At one store, there was a cage with grown dogs in it; that's usually a sign that they are being sold for cooking as food in this part of the world. At a restaurant I passed, there was a whole, large pig on a spit (a large metal pipe) cooking over a fire.

Well, this is not Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc. The mall here happens to be what we would call a mini-mall in the U.S. It is a large, open building, but there are no real stores. Instead, there are many market-like stalls which are operated by individuals who lease space. The cinema has only two screens. One of them was showing The Karate Kid as their international film. It wasn't one I wanted to see, so I skipped it. The food court was actually a large tent in the parking lot with food stalls like the ones that are located on sidewalks in the rest of town. I ate a fried rice mixture which was a small portion that was over-priced.

The walk back was in the heat of the day. I took a different route just so I could see something new. But I was so sticky and hot by the time I got back to the hotel around 13:45. It was a relief to drink a cold bottle of water and sit in the air-conditioned room.

I returned to the same sidewalk place where I ate last night for my dinner. This time I ordered Pad ta pao which was a stir-fry of various vegetables served over rice. While there, I talked to an Indian man. His wife is Laotian and owns the restaurant. He has lived here for 13 years and operates a business involving glassware. He was talking about what a wonderful place it is for conducting business with low taxes and people eager to work for low wages. He seems to think the country will take off economically as investors decide that China and India are becoming too expensive. However, the Laotian man from Australia who ate with me last night told me he has no investments here and would not invest here due to the problem of the bribes that must be paid regularly to officials. Maybe the difference is attitudes is due to the fact that the Indian man was already used to paying bribes in India and does not see that as anything unique.

Thunderstorms were in the area. I walked around some after eating, but I didn't get far from my hotel. Eventually I returned to the room and sat on my balcony watching the new arrivals going up and down the street trying to find rooms in the guest houses.

If all goes well, I think I will leave tomorrow morning for Vang Vieng. If it is raining, I'll stay here, though. But I think it would be better to arrive there on a Friday and get a room than it would be to arrive there on a Saturday looking for one. It is the most popular backpacker spot in all of Laos.