Vientiane

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I spent 5 days in Vientiane, but never wandered far from my hotel and the surrounding cafes. My hotel was surrounded by wats (temples) and I heard the pre-dawn call to prayer everyday. Nice to wake up to a sonorous drum beat, feel a momentary pity for the novice monks, and just roll over and go back to sleep.

You can see some freshly washed monks sarongs drying behind the temple in one of the pics.

I enjoy the ceramic or stone guards at the temple gates - I know they are meant to be scary, but they simply look comical to me.

I also took some pics of the Mekong as it flows through Vientiane. The water level is so low and the river flow so distant that the work being done to make a walkway and park on the Vientiane side seem overdone.

I also included two pics of the VIP bus that I took from Vientiane to Thakhet - just because I can't imagine riding another bus done up with stars in blue on the ceiling in addition to aquamarine curtains with a peach valence.

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