Vientiane, Day 1

Currency: Lao PDR Kip (LAK)
USD 1 = LAK 8,450; LAK 1 = PHP 0.0055

Didn't really have much chance to do any exploring as the whole day was just too crazy and hectic. The main places I've visited so far are the Lao Plaza Hotel, the Bank's Resident Mission, and the Ministry of Health compound. A few off-the-cuff observations:

1. Vientiane is a small city that feels like one of the smaller provincial capitals in the Philippines. The tallest building is the Lao Plaza Hotel where I'm staying, standing at a sky-scraping seven storeys. It's very clean and has a quaint smell of incense in the background, probably due to all the Buddhist temples dotting the city. It's also quite common to see saffron-clad monks walking around the sidewalks. Speaking of which, the city is very walkable-- everything is walking distance, the streets are relatively safe, and the city is well lit during evenings. I also don't see any beggars or street children loitering the streets, although I did see one (only one) taong grasa walking around.

2. There are many, many Western tourists in Vientiane, so many that it takes hours to get through the visa-on-arrival section at the airport. Most of the foreigners are undoubtedly on vacation as I am one of the very few non-Laos who is wearing a suit and tie in this swelteringly humid weather. The tourists are probably here because Laos can still be considered "exotic"; i.e., not so Westernised like, say, Bangkok or Manila.

3. Laotian people are very friendly. They are always smiling and accommodating. On the down side, they are so, um, relaxed when it comes to time. Filipino time is very punctual in comparison. Everyone operates in a very laid-back mode-- great when you're on vacation, not so great when you're organising a technical workshop.

4. I've had two non-hotel restaurants in Vientiane, both of them in the more posh restaurants:

4.a. Rashim's Indian Fusion, right in front of the hotel, serves the shrimpiest shrimp curry and the greenest palak paneer I've ever had-- no ingredient was scrimped. I paid LAK 70,000 for the meal-- not bad, considering the amount and quality of the dishes I was served.

4.b. I forgot the name of the restaurant, but it's a French restaurant that serves Thai and Laotian cuisine as well. I tried some local food: some chicken larb (cooked version) with sticky rice. The larb is basically minced meat sauteed with pepper, basil, and I think fish sauce served with lettuce and sliced cucumbers. The sticky rice is, well, sticky rice steamed (not boiled) and served in a bamboo basket. Although the rice is very glutinous (really a misnomer since rice does not contain gluten), it does not tend to stick to your fingers or the bamboo basket. I paid LAK 58,000 for the meal.

5. The French influence is strong in the architecture and cuisine. Buildings are a fusion of French and Laotian and street names, when written in Latin script, begin with rue. I also see a lot of street stalls that sell what look like Laotian fare served with baguettes. Hopefully I'll get to try one of these less posh Laotian food places before I leave (which is tomorrow evening).

Bangkok, T minus 30 minutes

This'll be a short post.

Two words set apart the TG lounge in BKK: free massage. They offer free Thai-style foot or neck/shoulder massages to their business class passengers. I got the neck/shoulder massage since I just got a foot massage last week.

On to Vientiane.

Manila, T minus 14 hours

Going to Laos tomorrow (well, later today since it's already midnight), returning home on Wednesday. I'm taking the MNL-BKK-VTE-BKK-MNL route flying on TG.

Usually I'd be pretty excited to go on travel by this time, especially considering I'm going somewhere not on the usual tourist path. But I'm not. Not really looking forward to being away from my Dear and Lucas. And I'm not particularly happy that this business trip will eat into our weekend, which is always too short as it is.

I'm also travelling with the boss, which should be enough to explain my lack of enthusiasm for this particular trip.

Well, at least the food promises to be good.

Singapore, T minus 1.5 hours: An SQ Birthday Party

Had a good chat with my friend dr.sbdink over lunch then back to the SQ lounge in Changi and took a much-needed shower since my last one was in Almaty. I correct my earlier post: shower rooms in the SQ lounge are also the room type that you can lock-- very important if you have valuables in your carry-on luggage-- although there is no toilet in the room. So on that small detail, and the Noodle Bar, the CX lounge in HKIA still trumps the SQ lounge. But just by a hair.

Just a few hours til I'm back home, Dear.

---

I spent much of my birthday on the plane, boarding in Almaty at 3am, spending five hours in Istanbul, one hour in Dubai, then by the time I landed in Singapore it's already 7am the next day. So I told this to one of the flight attendants in SQ when I boarded SQ491 in Istanbul, hoping maybe for some extra dessert. Well, they exceeded my expectations by a mile. First they gave me a small SQ teddy bear with my meal. It was a very nice gesture, which already made my day.

Around an hour after the meal service, the flight attendants (plus one passenger who got tagged along) went by my seat with champagne, a makeshift birthday card, and a well-drenched rhum cake and sang me happy birthday. They really put in some effort to make the card and decorate the plate for the cake, and were even apologetic about the outcome.

Of course I would have preferred to spend my birthday at home-- it would have been my first birthday after our marriage-- and was quite bummed by the whole situation of being away. I guess the crew at SQ419 picked up on this and tried to make my birthday that much more special and memorable. And they were very successful indeed.

To the Crew of SQ491 on 11 August 2009: thank you very much. It was truly sweet and thoughtful of you. You're the BEST!

Istanbul, T minus 2.5 hours

Well, I made it here. There was no hassle whatsoever in Almaty; in fact, they were pretty nice and professional. The airport wasn't so bad too, although there was no lounge for us travelling on TK. From what I saw, I don't get why ALA has such a reputation. But then again it did happen to a colleague at the Bank. Oh well.

On my way to SIN then home to MNL. Will probably have lunch with dr.sbdink in SIN then back to the airport for the flight home.

I can't wait to be back home with my Dear again.

Almaty, T minus 9 hours

I'm leaving Almaty in the wee hours of tomorrow morning, which happens to be my birthday. It's been an exhausting trip through remote areas of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, but it was a success and finally over. In a way I consider myself lucky-- I've visited places on the Silk Road that would otherwise have been out of my reach.

So far Almaty has been a nice experience-- nice mix of modern and Soviet architecture, relatively safe to walk around even at night, and a gourmet supermarket just a three-minute walk from where I'm staying. The weather has also been nice and warm, although every afternoon there are gale-force winds that are strong enough to unbalance me. Unfortunately, Almaty International Airport has a bad reputation of having officers who intimidate foreigners into giving bribes. I actually heard from the resident mission here that a staffer from Manila recently had to pay $100 in bribes at the airport. I really hope that doesn't happen to me.

Next update in Istanbul. Hopefully.

Almaty, Day 2

Currency: Kazakhstan Tengge (KZT)
USD 1 = KZT 150; KZT 1 = PHP 0.32

Arrived in Almaty, Kazakhstan, last night after a long day on the road. Kazakhstan is flat as Kyrgyzstan is mountainous. Will post landscape pics (of both countries) soon. See the pictures of Almaty here.

I'm staying at the Alma-Ata Hotel-- Alma-Ata was how the Soviets called Almaty. Built in 1967, the hotel has a fascinatingly Soviet feel to it from the architecture down to the furniture. At KZT 20,000/night, it's one of the cheaper hotels in Almaty, but I like it. I can almost imagine Soviet spies cooking up conspiracies in one of the rooms.

Almaty is basically a much richer version of Bishkek. Immediately you see the same Soviet-style buildings and layout, but beside these are Western boutiques, five-star hotels, and high-end stores. There are also a lot more high-rise buildings and construction, a building spurt due to Kazakhstan's oil wealth.

Almaty has a more varied collection of cuisines than Bishkek, mostly catering to European rather than Asian tastes despite the proximity to China. There is even a a high-end supermarket near my hotel-- the Stolichniy Supermarket-- which is most comparable to Mollie Stone's in the Bay Area (Rustan's Fresh would be the closest in Metro Manila).

It's definitely more expensive in Almaty that in Bishkek. I've so far had three restaurant meals in Almaty and the average price I've paid was KZT 1,500 per meal. Cheaper meals like some plov and meat can be had in Almaty for around KZT 500-- not really cheap but cheap enough.

I'm staying in Almaty until Monday, so I have yet to earnestly tour the city. But from what I've seen, I have to say... I LIKE! (Sorry, just had to put that in somewhere.)