After only 4 hours of sleep, when the alarm went off at 9am I had no desire to move but managed to force myself awake. I was told to pick up my passport from immigration at 10am. I knew very well that I could probably pick it up anytime before close, but it being a Friday and them not being open on weekends, it was a risk I couldn't take. Not to mention I felt naked without my passport on me! So I grabbed a tuk tuk for a roundtrip journey planning on coming right home to sleep again. After bargaining as always getting my outrageous quote cut in half almost, in minutes I was in and out passport I hand with a new extension stamp which I hadn't gotten before. I love getting new types of stamps. Back at the room it was clear ?I wasn't getting back to sleep so I messed around on the comp. for a while before grabbing lunch. I had planned to see the Presidential palace today so after eating I started my walk in that direction. Not realizing it was 12:30, and all government buildings close from 12pm - 1pm. Across from the palace and its temple, Wat SiSaket seemed like a good place to stall out the half hour. Well the main part of that required a ticket so I just wondered until 1pm. Inside was an OK temple, but it takes quite a bit impress me now having seen hundreds. I did like the small statues here though and took some portrait shots of the heads. Not staying long, I crossed the street to Haw Pha Kaew, the temple sitting next to the palace and once the King's personal temple. It's very different now and the interior has been converted into a small museum housing some of the best historical art in Laos. This place was worth my measly 5000kip entry fee, and the temple's mix of French and Lao architecture was really something. The grounds were well manicured, to be expected sitting so close to the palace. I walked the museum for a bit, admiring the giant dragons lining the stairs on the way up. After a bit there was nothing left to see, its impressive but very small on the inside.

       Leaving the temple, I walked back around past the palace looking at what I couldn't go into. I found out during my waiting that it had nothing to due with hours, no one without official business was allowed in. This was made quite clear when I decided to try anyway and the guard got half way out of his seat and gestured me to stop, but was satisfied by a smile and my turning around. The gates were large and solid concrete, blocking any way of taking a picture. I wasn't giving up. I had seen the palace in Bangkok, the one in Luang Prabang, ancient palace's all over thailand etc. This one wasn't escaping. I walked the entire parameter until I found clear spot where I felt out of view. I have no idea whether taking a picture was OK or not, but better to be careful. So I calmly placed the camera on top of the wall and blindly clicked away. Although the walls in the bottom of the photo, it came out great. I was just about all the way around when I noticed a closed metal gate, and figured it was worth trying to see if my lense would fit through a gap. Sure enough, and I was able to get my picture. Didn't disappoint either, quite a posh place!

     Satisfied, I went back to the room for a while doing nothing really, feeling that I shouldn't really spend much today feeling guilty for splurging last night. But hey, it gave me plenty of time to get my blog updated. :-) Stayed in until dinner, walked for a while after and stopped by the river for a sunset. The seriously destroyed riverfront is disgusting during the day, being torn apart buy dozens of construction vehicles of all sizes. Whatever is being done, it has taken any charm and the entire beach away from the river. But here I was along with maybe 20 others, mostly locals, watching the sun go down over the mess of vehicles. I was amazed at how it can make anything seem so much nicer. The glow of orange over the torn up sand and bulldozers almost looked quite nice in a weird way, and questioned my it's so ugly to me in the first place. I watched for a while, admiring it and watching the locals set of makeshift riverside bars made of plastic chairs and tables. No crappy view of construction is going to stop them from getting some riverside business.

     Most likely getting an overnight bus to the south tomorrow and starting my decent into Cambodia. A change of pace. Happy holidays everyone! I'm usually pretty blah about it, but last nights fun kinda brightened me up.