Friday, August 04, 2006
Patuxay - rising like a monster!
My three days in Laos are coming to a close. In a matter of hours I will be boarding a bus and heading to the border, where I will catch a train to spend my last few days in Bangkok.
Vientiane is a sleepy town. I spent most of my time chilling out and sauntering around. The most interesting sight for me was the Patuxay, which the Laotians intended to be their version of the Arc de Triomphe, but was never completed due to the countries turbulent history. The existence of the Patuxay is itself a little bit frustrating. The concrete used to construct it was donated by the Americans to build an airport runway. Instead the government used the concrete to construct this 'monster of concrete', which is what the sign at the bottom of the monument calls it.
There is not much to do in Vientiane. There is one movie theatre which mostly shows Thai movies. I think that Laotian film is restricted to such award winning socialist masterpieces as 'Heros of the Post Office' and 'Beer Lao: The story of a nation.' One interesting fact about Laos is that the largest taxpayer is the beer company. The government is truly hooked on beer. One afternoon James signed me into the exclusive Australian Club. I went for a swim, pumped iron to buff myself up for the ladies and sunned myself by the pool while reading my new book, Collpase: How Societies Choose to fail or succeed.
I also enjoyed spending time with my friend James. Yesterday evening we played a round of golf. For $6 we played a round and hired a caddie. In fact, you have no choice. If you want to play to have to hire a caddy. I shot a brilliant sixty. My caddy was lazy. Between James and I we had one set of clubs and two caddies. I asked my caddy to carry my very light day bag. She complained bitterly. I didn't really like the idea of having somebody waiting on me, but my thoughts were that (a) it wasn't heavy; (b) I was paying; (c) it was her job; (d) I was and did give her a decent tip and bought her a drink on the course. How hard is it to carry a light backpack?
Well now I must go and carry my backpack.
Vientiane is a sleepy town. I spent most of my time chilling out and sauntering around. The most interesting sight for me was the Patuxay, which the Laotians intended to be their version of the Arc de Triomphe, but was never completed due to the countries turbulent history. The existence of the Patuxay is itself a little bit frustrating. The concrete used to construct it was donated by the Americans to build an airport runway. Instead the government used the concrete to construct this 'monster of concrete', which is what the sign at the bottom of the monument calls it.
There is not much to do in Vientiane. There is one movie theatre which mostly shows Thai movies. I think that Laotian film is restricted to such award winning socialist masterpieces as 'Heros of the Post Office' and 'Beer Lao: The story of a nation.' One interesting fact about Laos is that the largest taxpayer is the beer company. The government is truly hooked on beer. One afternoon James signed me into the exclusive Australian Club. I went for a swim, pumped iron to buff myself up for the ladies and sunned myself by the pool while reading my new book, Collpase: How Societies Choose to fail or succeed.
I also enjoyed spending time with my friend James. Yesterday evening we played a round of golf. For $6 we played a round and hired a caddie. In fact, you have no choice. If you want to play to have to hire a caddy. I shot a brilliant sixty. My caddy was lazy. Between James and I we had one set of clubs and two caddies. I asked my caddy to carry my very light day bag. She complained bitterly. I didn't really like the idea of having somebody waiting on me, but my thoughts were that (a) it wasn't heavy; (b) I was paying; (c) it was her job; (d) I was and did give her a decent tip and bought her a drink on the course. How hard is it to carry a light backpack?
Well now I must go and carry my backpack.
