The sacred stillness of Vientiane, Laos


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Asia » Laos » West » Vientiane
July 16th 2012
Published: July 16th 2012
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We (Me, Nate, Alyssa and Katie) arrived in Laos after 15 entertaining hours on an overnight sleeper train from Bangkok. We exited Thailand and crossed over the Friendship bridge into Laos. It was a pleasant open air train ride filled with other backpackers, young and old alike.



Once we got into Laos we caught a taxi to Vientiane central, where our hostel was located. Upon check in they tried to tell me and Nate that we had booked a room with only one bed... luckily I had printed out our confirmations from hostelworld showing we had definitely booked a twin room. They begrudgingly gave us a room with two beds and when we went up to it we were pleasantly surprised. This hostel was more of a hotel room in America then a hostel. We had our own bathroom, shower and tub with a flat screen tv (not that we ever turned it on) and working AC. All of these luxuries for only $10 a night, awesome!



Once we got settled in we decided to walk around the street and find some good food and Lao beer. We soon discovered that Laos was extremely cheap. Later in the night we ended up at a swanky French bar (there is a HUGE French influence here) and ended up getting 4 beers and four free rounds of tapas for a grand total of $3.75! Now that is a deal! Later in the night we walked down to the night market, full or small carnival rides, games and street food.

Vientiane was so peaceful and quite that it felt like a ghost town compared to Shanghai and Bangkok. Vientiane is the capital of Laos but we kept wondering where all the people were...





Today we spent the day wandering aimlessly through the streets, eating delicious food, drinking delicious coffee, walking through markets and visiting temples. One of the temples we went to was lined with little tiny buddah sculptures and filled with peaceful monks. It was strange being the only people around, but also extremely relaxing.

The people of Lao do not like to rush, they take their time in many ways. When you want to cross the street you do not dart out in front of cars like in China, but instead you simply stand where you are until it is opportune to cross. This, of course, is not a bad thing. Everyone is smiling, calm and serene. Americans could take a lesson or two from the Laotians.

Tomorrow we will be taking an early bus up to Vang Vieng for a few days of exploring caves and tubing down a river. Until then, may you all be calm like the Laotians.


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17th July 2012
The various flavors of Vientiane

GREAT PIC
...and thanks for mentioning the coffee!

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