Vientiane, Laos

Vientiane is the capital of Laos. It lies on the banks of the Mekong river and is really more a large town than a city....(in my opinion Laos only has large towns in comparison with cities in the West)....

It was invaded by various people through history, including the Thais (Siamese), Vietnamese, Khmers (Cambodians) and the French (in the late 19th and early 20th century).

As with many other cities in Laos, it is the French influence that persists in the food and architecture of some of the buildings here...

For example, besides the French bistros, the roadside market stalls sell baguettes in the morning and evening..."mais oui...!"




..and there is even an small scale verion of the 'Arc de Triumph', more commonly known by the locals as 'anusawali'...



However, whereas the older folk speak French, many of the younger ones are more keen to learn English nowadays.

Vientiane is still a sleepy capital. Tuk drivers aren't pushy, the people are laid back and smile and you can hire a bike (with a basket attached to the front) for 80 pence a day and cycle round the town. You have to be careful of bag snatchers while you're riding, so i only kept water and food in the front basket and my day-sack on my back.

I rented a room in a guest house (Mixok Guest House) for a few days for less than GBP 10 with hot water, air-con and cable TV but decided to upgrade after a while to a better one (Mixay Paradise Guest House) with a balcony and view over a Wat:





'Smooking' was apparently not allowed in this guest house..





I really kicked back and relaxed for a few days. A guy i met in north-eastern Laos told me about a well equipped gym around a 10 min cycle from the centre which cost all of GBP 3.50 for a day pass, so i hit this gym a couple of times in the week that i was there...

The only bit of culture i took in, was to go and see the most important temple in Vientiane - 'Pha That Luang'. The lonely planet says it was built in the 15th century around a 'Stupa' reportedly built by Ashokan (Indian) missionaries (in the 3rd century BC) to house the breast bone of the Buddha. It is a beautiful golden Stupa and best seen in the afternoon when the sun shines on it ..


The inner wall of the temple was surrounded by hundreds of smaller Buddha statues, some inset into the wall..


...and the joining temple grounds also had some lovely (newly created) statues and murals on the inside of the temple buildings :






As with all the other towns, in the evenings i sought out a bar which played live music and turned up most nights ..



I was also told by an traveller from the UK that there was also an English pub there called the 'Hare and Hound', so i found it one evening and ordered a 'Steak and Ale' pie, which was absolutely fantastic...i hadn't had a proper pie for so long, it almost brought tears to my eyes..



A day before the last day i decided to save time and book a flight from Vientiane directly to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. The journey would otherwise have been a 800km bus journey split over 2 - 3 days....

I was very sad to leave Laos and the smiles of its local people...