Greetings from Vientiane, Laos

Today is Saturday, and I have just arrived at my hotel in Vientiane. I will be here until Wednesday, when I fly over to Chiang Mai, Thailand via Luang Prabang, Laos. I discovered that the internet in Thailand is basically monitored by the military, who run the country. All internet communications are monitored for content negative to the people in charge. As a result, it is impossible to do much work on the net because they have slowed the flow down to almost zero. It was taking up to 15 minutes to get on Google Chrome, and, sometimes, it was not possible at all. That is the reason I have been quiet for a while. Here in Laos, they drive on the right side of the roads, and I noticed that there are few traffic lights, and no lane markings. Traffic seems to flow quite well. Vientiane city center is about 30 kilometers from the border, which is the Mekong River. I walked the river edge in Nong Khai, Thailand..a wide boardwalk with an easy view of that section of the river, and just beside that is the Indo-Chinese market, a huge area selling everything imaginable, much of it is knock-off items, such as Seiko and Rolex watches at 15 dollars each...three for 30 dollars. I may have missed the boat on those deals, but decided my Timex was a better option. Back in Pattaya, I could have had the same make of watches for ten dollars each...sold from the back seat of a motorcycle at ten in the evening. I passed up that deal also, but sent the guys across the street where two Englishmen were having dinner. They ended up with three watches....thought they had found a gold mine. I will be exploring this city for the next few days, and have more comments then. In due course, I will have more to say about things in Thailand, and also some interesting observations on something we hear a lot about in Canada...Globalization. Since I must get a Thai visa for the rest of my stay in Thailand, I will reserve those comments until I return home. I must fly into Thailand, because by doing so, they give me a free VISA for 30 days again. If I went by land, the Visa would only be good for 15 days...and I need it for 16 days. Speaking of Visas, I have had no further problems with the Visa credit card, so am not certain what the problem was. The currency here is called the Kip,..pronounced "Keep." Today, it is 8200 Kip to the US dollar. That's about it for today. Good to have a good wi-fi.