When I was working at Starbucks, I learned that one of the goals was to create a so called “third place”. A place besides home and your workplace where you can feel good. A place where you can relax and just enjoy your time. Now I finally understand what it’s all about. I found my personal third place.

When I’m returning from countries like Nepal (or Laos), I often use Bangkok airport as an intermediate stop. The second time I was there I finally found the Starbucks store at one end of the terminal, and I immediately felt at home. Even though I still have a 10 hour flight before me, this place takes all the stress and annoyances away from me, and it almost feels like being home again. Thank you Starbucks…

As we are progressing with our work, we stopped at several stations along our flightpath. To increase the flying time of our helicopter, I drove most of the time together with our GPS-crew. Like this I had plenty of chances to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Lao countryside.

Vang Vieng

There are many places in Laos, which are full of tourists, but none of them is like Vang Vieng. Full of drunk teenage-tourists, this city was for sure not my most favorite place to stay, even though the surrounding carst mountains are really beautiful (especially if you fly over them in the helicopter ).

Luang Prabang

The old capital city managed to keep it’s french colonial charme throughout the years. No surprise that this city is the number 1 place-to-visit for all the backpackers and tourists.

Oudomxai

Maybe the only stop which is worth being called “the real Lao”. There is literally nothing going on in this town. The major language spoken here is for sure chinese, and after that mostly lao and for sure not much english. There is just a buddha statue and a stupe next to it, which one could call tourist attractions. Other than that, I counted a total of 5 bars/cafes in town, none of which I would call a “real” restaurant. Made it easier to choose where to go for a beer in the evening…

Vientiane

The final part of the railroad was back in Vientiane. Finally back in our really nice hotel, in a more civilized world with a huge pool and a real finish sauna.