Vientiane, Laos 1969

Re-post from NamSouth 2007.

Via memory jog from Rich T

Vientiane by Night

"The brothels are cheaper than the hotels, marijuana is cheaper than pipe tobacco, and opium easier to find than a cold glass of beer."

Bill Lemon and I flew to Vientiane for a week's break in the autumn of 1969. And, yes, being the bad boys we were, we most definitely visited The White Rose and Madame Lulu's mentioned above......among quite a few other fine establishments.

From the airport, we took a cab to the hotel. We always stayed at the oldest, grandest French hotel we could find in our wanderings, though the name in Vientiane escapes me now. Air America was there in full force, and we met a pilot who had everything possible in 22 carat gold. Even his comb, which was quite extraordinary, since 22 is much too soft to work well as a comb. He introduced us to his favorite gold shop, and he definitely put us on to the right man. The owner was a Frenchman who had been born in Hanoi sixty odd years before, but had come South in 1954 as many others did. He lived in Saigon for a good period before he came to Laos. He had lived in Indochina all his life, and was married to a most beautiful, and gracious Vietnamese lady of about the same age. We were quite envious. He had the sales procedure down pat. As soon as we walked in, he broke out a bottle of Scotch, and kept our glasses full while we were there!

I bought a Patek Philippe watch, and had the band replaced with a wide 18 carat gold intricately woven one, which was actually a ladies bracelet. I also bought a dinner ring in 18 carat gold with a very nice colored Jade. Unfortunately, these were stolen back in the US. They would be worth a pretty penny today.

When we went back to the hotel, Bill wanted the driver to come back later, and thought we should give him some money in advance. I was dead set against it, but Bill went ahead, and, needless to say, he didn't return!

The next morning must have been my most memorable hangover in my life. Bill had the bottle in his room, so I climbed to his veranda from mine, but still couldn't get him up. When he finally opened his eyes, we had a drink and then went to an outside, open bar where the bartender was the slowest one I had ever seen. He took forever to make the Bloody Marys. Bill thought I would have certainly killed him if he hadn't been there!

One day our driver took us to the Morning Market and introduced us to an excellent Laotian breakfast. Before that he asked if we had ever had their rice whiskey which we hadn't, so we thought we should try some. As it turned out, it was similar to the Vietnamese kind. The man gave me a good sized glass of it, and said that the custom was to slug it down, and so I did. As it went down, I turned away while I somehow swallowed all. It was bad! When I turned back around, Bill asked how was it? I said smooth! When he tried, he immediately gagged and threw it back up. After all, what's a joke between friends?!

The Pathlet Lao compound was right there, and I put my camera bag on the stone fence, and completely forgot about it for a couple of hours. When we went back, it was still in the same place, untouched!
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Added 11/27/2011:

I bought a large cologne bottle with silver Angor Wat figures covering the outside in 1969 in Phnom Penh. You can still smell the cologne even though it's been empty since then. On one trip the cap became loose and spilled on my passport which I had replaced and today the smell is still quite strong. For some reason this reminded me of the French gentleman and his wife in Vientiane.

Vientiane, Laos 1969