The capital city that could

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First of all, a big "G'day" to the friends and families of Phil & Millsy, and Karen & Helen who are now tuning in as the aforementioned found it was easier to link our blog site to their respective ones rather than write their own account of Pi Mai (guys... we're flattered ;).

After 10 wonderful days in Luang Prabang and 4 days caving and floating down the river in tubes in Vang Vieng, it was time to continue our journey to the South of Laos. There was only 2 weeks left before Matt had to get on his plane back to Sydney from Phnom Penh, so I (of course) wrote a daily schedule of where we had to be on the subsequent 14 days - there were no complaints from Matt and Steve; as long as there were waterfalls and rapids, and lots of Beer Laos to drink, they were happy.

We decided to have only one night in Vientiane, the capital city of Laos. We'd heard mixed stories about the city, but the three of us really quite liked it. It was only a 3 hour bus journey from Vang Vieng, so as we had been up since 5.30am we had a full day to walk around the city. The Lonely Planet had a pretty good suggested walking tour of the city (the walking tours have been one of the few things we can rely on in "The Book"). Before setting off we walked up to Talat Sao, a local market selling all sorts of things non-touristy. The boys were hanging out for some local food for breakfast which we found in a small corner of the market. Whilst I happily ate my fresh fruit from a mobile fruit seller, the boys ate ........ Offal Noodle Soup. They said that despite not being able to identify many of the organs in the soup, it was actually really delicious. I believe them because they each had a a look of pleasure you see only on kids' faces when they discover something new and interesting to try. Once satiated with food and "red tea with milk", we set off on our walking tour, first stop, the "Patuxai", the Laos equivalent of the "Champs Ellise" in Paris.

The monument was apparently made of concrete that had originally been set aside by the Americans to build an airport. Whilst the Americans were organising the new Airport site the local officials 'liberated' most of the cement earmarked for the runway and made a massive monument with it instead, hence the nickname given to it, the "Vertical Runway". However, it does have a magnificent view of the city; shame about all the T-shirt sellers on each level of the stairs leading up to the top. Next we walked down the length of the main road to a wonderful little temple called SISAKET. What was lovely about it was that it was surrounded completely by a corridor of Buddhas; buddhas in the wall, buddhas destroyed by fighting, buddhas dressed to the nines. It was simply but perfectly done. Apparently this "Corridor" was built to keep out the evils and distractions of the outside world. It certainly appeared to keep the noise out at it was a very peaceful place to be.

As we continued our hot journey, we eventually ended up down by the riverside. As we are in the height of the dry season, the Mekong River is extremely low and the river plain very wide. It makes for a beautiful site as people ride their horses along it, and Laos hold parties on the sand with pretty flags and tents. Inevitably, we heard, "Steph .....Steve" - it was Millsy and Phil, and the Tuckers, sitting at a restaurant on the river, with a plate of fried crickets. Matt was in like Flynn. He must have had half of the serving. I tried a couple, I admit, and they were actually quite delicious! Just like eating BBQ scratchings from the pub!

Vientiane still retains some of the beautiful architecture from the French colonial times. We'd recommend anyone just to walk round the city for a day. For us, it was a good place to recharge before setting off to Tat Lo Waterfall and the 4000 Islands, our last ports of call in Laos.

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