City slickers - Vientiane and Luang Prabang

---

When we arrived in Vientiane at 7am we decided it was time to treat ourselves to some luxury, so we splurged on a $40 per night hotel with AC and a pool! Heaven! It was a pretty slow day after the night on the sleeper bus, and we enjoyed a lazy lunch, swim and walk through the night markets beside the river. Vientiane is a pretty chilled capital, but we really liked it. Ben remembers it being much quieter, now with the markets and streets of restaurants and bars its very easy to spend a couple of days!
Day 2 saw the return of some energy so we took a tuk-tuk to the Victory Monument, modeled on the Arc de Triomphe. The locals don't seem to be too fussed about it, calling it a 'concrete monster' on the info plaque. We quite liked it! Its pretty funny because the US bought the concrete for Vientiane to build an airport, but they took it and built this instead! You'd think they'd be proud of their resourcefulness!?!
We were then driven to the COPE Visitors Centre, helping in the effort to rehabilitate Laotians who have lost limbs from the millions of UXOs that cover the country. The CIA ordered 580 000 separate bombing missions over Laos from 1964, literally within months of Laos being internationally recognised as neutral in the war against communism. This amounts to a plane load of bombs every 8 minutes, 24 hours a days for 9 years! Horrendous statistics, making Laos the most heavily bombed country per capita in history. Up to a third of these bombs did not explode, leaving Laos with an ongoing US legacy of thousands of injuries and deaths to innocent civilians.
(The COPE Centre is a locally run non-profit organisation working to provide comprehensive rehabilitation services for Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) survivors and other people with disabilities across Lao PDR. Worth a look because they are doing amazing work as the only provider of prosthetic and rehabilitation service in Laos.) www.copelaos.org/

Luang Prabang was next on the itinerary, and it turned out to be our most luxurious bus trip so far! A minibus with AC, spare seats, water and wet wipe before a free lunch... we were in awe. No idea how we managed it (and we certainly didn't follow suit with the next bus trip) but it was amazing while it lasted. Luang Prabang is a beautiful town tucked inbetween the Mekong and a smaller tributary, only a few blocks wide so you can crisscross the town from river to river with bars and restaurant lining the way.
In Luang Prabang we spent a couple of lazy days sampling delicious food market treats, Lao Lao whiskey and buying cheap goodies at the huge markets in the centre of town. We also took a trip to a beautiful waterfall for a break from the sweltering heat. The pools were bright blue, and full of little fish keen to give your feet a nibble (a treat you'll pay a good $3 for at the beautician!) All in all it was a relaxing couple of days in a beautiful little touristy town, well worth a visit!

---

Photos

Arc de Triomphe (Patuxai)
Patuxai Victory Monument in Vientiane. It is sometimes nicknamed the ‘vertical runway’ as the US bought cement used was intended for the construction of a new airport.

Beautiful guesthouse-lined streets of Luang Prabang.
Ben has developed a sixth sense when it comes to the mysteries of "H2O butt".