Checking into the Lane Xang

IMG_0594, originally uploaded by New Territories.

What's good enough for Hunter S. Thompson is good enough for me. When my friends said their crew would be staying at the Lane Xang hotel in Vientiane, I knew that name rang a bell somewhere-- only later realized it's where the late, great HST stayed after skipping out on Saigon. He wrote a famous essay about checking in here and being unable to shake the persistent offers of "female company" from the staff. I didn't have this problem, but otherwise the place seems the same. Retro commie-aesthetic heaven!