Feb 4th

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Today was another lovely day in SE Asia; one that made us quickly forget about the bus woes of yesterday, a day for breathing in all that exists here in this wonderful place. It started with a 9am alarm at our hotel, both of us sighing in relief that we were in Vientiane and had had a nice sleep in a very comfortable bed. After showering we decided to head out and find some cheaper accommodation for the next few nights. We got lucky after just one failed attempt- Chantha Guesthouse, listed in our LP and full last night, had one double bed open for the night. We took it- although it may not be as posh as last night’s place, it has a private bathroom & AC for about 20 bucks cheaper per night.

We then headed back to the hotel to gather our luggage and try to use the wifi (unsuccessfully) before leaving, at which point we noticed there was a restaurant that seemed to be serving breakfast. Sure enough, breakfast was included in our room price! We both had coffee and yummy baguettes with butter and I opted for the large fruit platter while Martin enjoyed an omelette with cheese, onion and tomato. Quite the lavish free breakfast comparatively! We spent about another hour just relaxing at the hotel and then checked out, making a stop at Noy’s Fruit Heaven right next door to the hotel before heading to our new Guesthouse with our luggage. There we enjoyed some peanuts sautéed with chili & lime and 2 HUGE, DELICIOUS Iced Coconut Coffee shakes. Yes, my friends- it was fresh Lao coffee blended with ice, milk & fresh coconut meat cut out of the coconut right before our eyes. I was in heaven, as you can imagine. They might have even been better than Jitters granitas! ☺

We dumped our luggage at our new place, used the internet for an hour at a nearby internet café and then decided it was time for lunch, being that it was about 1pm. We both enjoyed Beer Lao (a must while here) and I had a veggie pizza while Martin went for a more local beef curry dish. After lunch, it was time to walk around and explore.

Vientiane is a ‘big’ city that doesn’t really feel like one. I guess there’s only half a million people here, making it one of the smallest SE Asian capital cities. It definitely caters to the tourist scene, but feels authentic at the same time- much like Siem Reap felt to us. The people are smiley and laidback…you find yourself walking slower and taking more deep breaths just being here for a day!

Our first stop of the day was at Sisaket Wat, one of the biggest in Laos. It was beautiful and we spent about half an hour just walking around. Next we headed to Vientiane’s ‘Arc de Triomphe’, Patuxai . It was built in 1969 from cement donated by the US to help build a new airport..hmm? It’s huge and definitely reminded us of being in Paris, as much of our trip has done here. The French influence in especially Vietnam and Laos is unavoidable- almost everything is translated into French (less translated into English), tons of locals speak it as their second language and you can see the definite French influence of both the architecture and food. We paid to walk up to the 7th story of the building for some great views of the city, and then bought a few trinkets like true tourists.

Our bodies still feeling the effects of our crazy bus ride from yesterday, we headed to a spa place we’d read about in LP and both had amazing half hour head/neck/back massages for $5 each, complete with a little foot soak at the beginning and herbal tea at the end. The massages were definitely a little different than ones we’d experienced before, as we got stepped on and such, and it was lovely. We also got to be in the same room.

After the massages, we relaxed in our room again for awhile. It was a hot day, and we’ve been doing a lot of traveling these past few days- so have decided to take these next few in Vientiane VERY slowly…just as the Laotians like to do things. So, that probably means you’ll hear about us doing a lot of napping, massaging getting and eating. ☺

We ended the evening eating dinner at a place called Lotus Organic Kitchen & Wine Bar, both having traditional Lao curries- mine with tofu, Martin’s with chicken. ☺ The place had free wifi and we ended up chatting with another traveler sitting next to us, on his own 9 week tour of SE Asia from New Orleans. I’d like to be able to take a 9 week vacation someday when I’m working in the ‘real world’ again!

I think it might be time for another Beer Lao and then bed. Perfect.

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Photos

Iced Coconut Coffee
Fresh coconut meat blended with the most heavenly coffee.

Wat
This is part of the wat we visited.

More Wat
At the wat, there are hundreds of big and small buddhas.

Patuxai
Patuxai, Laos' version of Arch de Triumph

Top View
We climbed the top of Patuxai for a small fee and got views like this.