viajero

The Road to Vientiane

“Where the hell are we?” That’s what I thought when we broke out of Udon Thani Airport in northeastern Thailand. Sort of a border town between Thailand and Laos, it’s the city we chose to fly into when Air Asia went on a mad sale. I say “sort of a border” because the actual border is about 2 hours away. You see, crazy low cost carrier sales drive us nuts into buying all sorts of tickets. We should have bought ...

An Unexpected Sidetrip

The flight was unremarkable, uneventful. It was spacious, even. Probably because we were flying to Bangkok on a Tuesday night. Upon takeoff, the guys simply fell asleep. Like clockwork. I couldn’t sleep during the flight. I kept gazing out the window, staring at these lightning bolts forming in the massive rain clouds nearby. It was so close. My mind kept circling at the thought of our airplane being hit by lightning. But it was beautiful. Recklessly beautiful. The plan was ...

Vang Vieng Very Dangerous

  Vang Vieng Very Dangerous from Cedric Valera on Vimeo. It’s hard to believe that such a place exists. But it does. A place where alcoholic buckets abound. A place where limestone cliffs jut out of rice paddies. A place where banana pancake stalls litter the streets. A place where Friends DVDs are on perpetual loop. A few years from now, I will watch this video and it will surely light special corners of my mind. Music: Sweet Disposition by ...

Off to Laos

I can’t believe we bought these tickets almost a year ago! There was this big Air Asia sale and we got Bangkok – Udon Thani – Bangkok tickets dirt cheap. After that we waited patiently for Cebu Pacific to mark down their Manila – Bangkok – Manila tickets. So here’s the plan. We fly tonight into Bangkok City and sleep the hours off at the airport. An early morning flight brings us to Udon Thani, which is almost at the ...