So I decided to spend the weekend in Vientiane. It’s been a couple years since I was there last, and Thai Airways is selling RT tickets to Udorn Thani for 2,500 Baht, which is cheaper than Nok Air, and less than a quarter of what it costs to fly directly to Vientiane.

Of course, saving money costs time in this case. You have to take a van from the airport in Udorn to the bridge at Nong Khai, but it’s a good road and an easy drive. A busload of Vietnamese school kids hits Lao immigration at the same time, so there’s a bit of a wait, but I still get to my hotel in time to freshen up before dinner.

I’m staying at the Tai-Pan, which was my second choice. The ‘good’ rooms at the Inter City were taken. On second look, I’m kind of glad I didn’t get the Inter City. The outside is looking very run-down. However, a few doors down from it is a new hotel called the Lao Orchid, which looks quite nice.

My room at the Tai-Pan is comfortable enough. The bathroom has been recently re-done. It’s not posh, but it’s functional and clean. There’s also high-speed internet in my room, which was unexpected, and I didn’t bring my laptop. There’s some PC’s in the lobby you can use for $2 an hour. The quality was faster than the leased line in my office in Bangkok, so the hour lasted me my whole stay.

Not much has changed in Vientiane. This has to be the slowest-paced capital city in Southeast Asia. I did note that they were laying tracks from the Friendship bridge when I arrived, so I guess some day you’ll be able to take a train from Bangkok to Vientiane, although I can’t say the idea appeals much.

Saturday morning I visit the morning market, which is mis-named since nothing is open at 9:00. About a third of the market has been torn down. I don’t know what the plan is, but a lot of shops have moved into the new ‘mall’ next to the market, which is really just an indoor version.

I head out to the Buddha park, which is about the only ‘major’ sight I haven’t seen. It’s this large park on the banks of the Mekong filled with concrete statues of Buddha along with some gods and creatures from Asian mythology. Very surreal.

Back in town I head to Makphet, a training restaurant run by the same organization that operates Friends in Phnom Penh. I try the chicken salad, which turns out to be an adaptation of the popular Lao dish “larb” but made with shredded chicken breast and lots of bean sprouts. It’s the most delicious meal I’ve had in a long time.

After lunch, I look around some of the shops. Although there’s a lot of junk, and a lot of ’souvenirs’ that really come from Vietnam, there are a few good items, especially textiles. I even run across a few real antique shops. I buy a silk shirt from a shop near the fountain and then stop in at Jomo’s for a coffee and a chocolate chip cookie.

Sunday morning it’s back across the bridge and home to Bangkok.

Photos of the Buddha Park can be found in the gallery. An updated guide to Vientiane is now on-online.

Love them or hate them, airports are a practically unavoidable part of the modern travel experience. They’re almost always our first introduction to a new city, or even a new country, and let’s face it, they don’t always make a good first impression. You arrive disheveled and disoriented after up to a full day of travel, only to be faced with confusing procedures and persistent touts.

Unfortunately, the official web sites of most airports aren’t much help. If they even exist, they’re often out of date or don’t even attempt to answer the key questions that travelers seek answers to.

To help you navigate the maze of policies and procedures around Asia, I’ve created Asia-Airports.com. The new site presents information about each airport in a simple format that I hope makes it quick and easy to find the details you need to help you plan a trip.

To start with, Asia-Airports.com covers more than a dozen of the most used airports around Southeast Asia. More will be added in the near future.