Near the Mekong River.

After a street breakfast we take a taxi to Bangkok Don Mueang airport for our Air Asia flight to Vientiane, Laos. Air Asia is a gift to travelers since their fares are rock bottom cheap and they communicate South East Asia with pretty much everywhere in the region.  Arrival in Vientiane is as smooth as it can get. The landscape is green, neat and beautifully set up; coming from busy Bangkok, Vientiane feels like a predeveloped town, in the positive sense, that is before massive amounts of cement and construction suffocates the place; it's a very relaxed town at a slow pace, luckily it does not feel like a capital city. People are gentle and kind. Backpackers here are more like travelers: quite and respectful to the place, I certainly did not see any loud party crowd. French is the most heard language. although locals seem more fluent in English.
A tasty pat thai and a spice Laosian salad - make sure you ask whether it is spicy -, delicious coconut water and fruit smoothies keep you going before a stroll on the banks of the Mekong. Everything is so tantalizing and affordable that we get some Laotian girls to do our manicures: this is the first time in my long life I've ever had my nails manicured, topped with a legs and shoulders massage; this happened whilst the sun was setting behind the Mekong, and I was getting so relaxed that I couldn't open my eyes to watch the full sunset, although I could see a bit of it, and it was worth it. We had another delicious dinner at Makphet, a Laotian restaurant which helps young guys to find a career, and food was simple delicious, but for obvious reasons I will soon have to stop mentioning that word as it is becoming the normal.

One night in Bangkok

And finally the trip starts. A nice train ride to Madrid for a brief stopover with friends brings up an invitation to a wedding in Granada next June, nice surprise. Next day it is a long day flight to Bangkok via Hong Kong. I arrive so tired from the flight I can barely make it on the taxi to the hotel (either I'm getting older or it must have been the lack of caffeine since I'm a coffee addict). Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport is quite far from Bangkok so the taxi journey feels never ending. Then a well deserved nap is interrupted after two hours as we see from the window some old traditional homes burning down and the fire shooting up the sky; scary as it is we leave the room with all our luggage as it seems serious and we hear people leaving their rooms. I spend about an hour half slept in the street until the fire is put down, I start feeling more awake. So we go to Patpong market for a Thai food experience. We walk down the streets, there's so much going on around: beautiful fashion goods and souvenirs, massages, ladyboys ..., and food. I'm a foodie and South East Asian food is world known, best food in the world for many people. I had got a little taste already at the Cathay Pacific flight, which is nothing compared to what's waiting for me. Thai food is great, and street food in Thailand is just as good as the one you can have in a restaurant. I have a mango smoothie with the biggest yellow mangoes I've ever seen and then I try some seafood vermicelli (yes, I can't wait to go to Vietnam). I'll have pat thai when I'm back. I will have a well deserved rest before the next day to get my next flight to Vientiane.