Vientiane

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Getting Here

We hadn't heard good things about the road to Vientiane, in the guidebook it advises you fly as it's safer! And we were about to find out why ...

When we got on the bus we found some people we knew - the scottish vet, Frazer, we met a couple of days ago, plus Julie who we met on the slow boat, so chatting with them helped to pass the time. Shortly after getting on the bus we noticed the armed guard, we had been warned by Frazer, but it's still a bit of a shock. I think Becca had expected him to be in full camo gear with facepaint and the works, but in fact he was in jeans and a hoodie (a hoodie in this heat - he must be mad).

The road down south from Luang Prabang is probably the windiest and most moutainous road either of us have ever seen. It's hairpin bend after hairpin bend for about 5 hours! This, combined with the frequent hazards such as cows, chickens, goats, buffalo, boulders, people, cars coming down the middle of the road and sheer cliffs inches from the side of the road, all thuis made for an interesting ride!

Fortunately, after our lunch break the road wasn't so bad, it could do with a coat of tarmac but it's straighter and flatter, but the same hazards are there! We made it safe enough to Vientiane and set about finding a room. The first place we looked at was shoddy and overpriced but we soon found a lovely place in the city center for $16 a night, a bit over our normal budget but we thought we'd splash out for our last few days, we even have air-con for the first time since Bangkok!

Walking Tour

After a day settling in on the 31st, this morning we set off on a walking tour of Vientiane. This starts at Patuxai a big lump of concrete vaguely resembling the Arc de Triumph. From here it passes the morning market but we didn't stop, then it heads past a stuppa which is so overgrown you wouldn't notice it if you weren't looking. Unfortunately, we took a wrong turn and walked about 2 km in the wrong direction, which isn't fun in the heat, but we eventually realised we had gone wrong and carefully retraced our steps. The next stop was Wat Si Saket, home to 10000 Buddha's - that figure seems impressive untill you realise they're all the same and about 3 inches tall. From here you head to a Wat that has been turned into a religous museum - this is great I'm sure if you know what any of the exhibits are, with no english labels you're left trying to work it out for yourself. By the time we were finished here (5 minutes later) it was absolutely pissing it down outside, so we decided to hide out under the wat to wait for the rain to slow. Twenty minutes later it was still pissing it down and the footpath was now entirely flooded, but we were bored so we decided to make a run for it. Stupidly declining the offers of the tuk-tuk drivers to take us back we got drenched!

We never did actually finish the walking tour as it carried on raining all afternoon, so instead we hid in a coffee shop for a while then played cards in our room. On our way back in to our hotel we spotted Julie who is also staying here after two days in Vang Vieng. So later in the evening we went for dinner with her and a lady called Amanda who lives in Exeter. We had a lovely evening and Pete happily devoured two pitchers of Beer Lao for 18000 Kip - 1 whole pound!

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Photos

Lao Advertising
I don't think they've quite got the idea!

Fruit Market
Pete buying his rambutan.

View from our room
Not your traditional backpackers place

Central main street
Guess where pete is?

Tuk Tuk Driver
Traditional Lao Tuk Tuk drive pose!

Palace
Your not supposed to take photos but we sneeked one