Vientiane Makes Us Sick!

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I’ve always felt pity for people puking in public, but it sure felt good. I felt a momentary pang of guilt regarding the negative publicity I was unleashing on the café’s terrace, but those potted ferns sang to me of bilious liberation and I didn’t care who saw. Half an hour later, the cool tiles of the bathroom floor felt almost as delicious.

The majority of our time in Vientiane was spent on our backs on an only-in-Asia stiff mattress, holed up and playing host to said nasty stomach virus. Nevertheless, Ely valiantly braved the mean streets to procure our Cambodian visas (he had to return more than once with bills crisp enough to pass inspection), and I was able to get out one day to explore the city by bike. Although Vientiane does possess some mildly mildewed colonial romance, it doesn’t exude charm in any overt way. The Mekong runs along the edge of the city, and while most of the shoreline is monopolized by typical tourist-catering restaurants, all carbon -copy ventures with axe pillow seating and colored lights, there are still some open areas where locals come to park their motorbikes and eat take-out. I watched the sun sink here on my cycling day, perched on a massive, downed tree, eating Vietnamese fresh rolls.

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Photos

Patuxai
Vientiane's Arc de Triomphe

Pha That Luang
That Luong stupa, the most important religious monument in Laos, dating from 1566, although it has been sacked and rebuilt many times since then.

a Chinese tourist and I
They wanted to take my picture, so I reciprocated.

under the bodhi tree
at Pha That Luong

and the city
books are precious commodities here- Vientiane's library is about the same size as our town library at home.

nightly free aerobics classes
taught outside next to the Mekong River