Laos Day 1 - The Journey to Vientiane and First Impressions

I traveled to Laos today. In order to continue to stay in Thailand legally, I needed to travel to a Thai consulate to change from a tourist visa to an education visa, which I received because I am studying the Thai language. Vientiane, Laos has the closest consulate to my home. So after a 10-hour(!) overnight bus ride to Udon Thani, another 1-hour bus ride to the border at Nong Khai, and a shuttle across the Friendship Bridge, I was processed in by several unsmiling guards and find myself in Lao People's Democratic Republic, where I took yet another minibus to the capital city, Vientiane. My initial impression is that I'm blown away by this city. Due to its past colonization by several countries, most notably France, Vientiane has a cool European vibe to it that Chiang Mai does not. Don't get me wrong, I love Thailand, my new home. But it's quite proud of never having been colonized, and is pretty closed off to outside influences. (Well, maybe Bangkok is different, but I don't know too much about it.) Take music, for example. In Thailand's bars and clubs, you'll hear either (1) Thai music or (2) covers of 5-year-old Jason Mraz tunes. Over and over and over. (Nothing against Mr. A-Z, of course, bu there's such a thing as too much.) In Vientiane, I spent a pleasant couple of hours in a sultry wine bar, enjoying music I've never heard before and some very good wine (another thing Thailand doesn't have!). Also, Vientiane has affordable international cuisine and does not have the dreadful stray dog problem that Thailand has. I am sure part of it is due to the communist government - for all I know, they rounded up all the stray dogs and gassed them en-masse. But so far, I'm having a ball and wondering what's not to love?

Stay tuned for days 2 and 3 when I meet a fellow EFL teacher and we leave the capital city to see the "real" Lao!

Care for Dogs Foundation

Lately I've been spending 1-2 afternoons a week volunteering at Care for Dogs Foundation. Care for Dogs is a large indoor/outdoor dog shelter about 40 minutes from my house. They house about 150 dogs at any one time, and they do everything from sterilization and rehoming of street dogs, to feeding temple dogs, to rescuing dogs from abusive or neglectful situations, to giving medicine and necessary surgery to homeless dogs and dogs whose families can't afford the care. The poor doggies have been through some terrible situations, and some of them are in horrific conditions when they arrive at the shelter. But most of them still love humans sooo much, even after all the terrible things we've done to them. I regularly find myself gingerly petting some scabby or hairless or disfigured dog after it hesitantly approaches me, unsure of what I might do to it. It's heartbreaking. But these dogs are the lucky ones, since they are at the shelter! All the other thousands of dogs left out on the streets and in abusive homes are the real concern. It's pretty obvious that I'm a n00b, though... whenever a dog gets adopted, everyone at the shelter is so happy because it's one less dog to feed and care for. Meanwhile I get sad because it's usually a dog I became attached to!

Naturally, the shelter accepts donations, or you can sponsor a dog. While they are not a nonprofit organization in the USA at this time, they are working on gaining that status so hopefully that will increase donations and we can help more dogs!

A visitor is coming! You can't sneak into this place...

Shelter dogs happy to see me

Medicine time

Nap time in the shade

 Puppy!

Mr. Friendly

More pictures here.