Tasty Vientiane

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After spending another day in Vang Viang, with some more climbing and a fairly unsuccessful multi-pitch climb (we hiked through the jungle for 45 minutes to get to the base of the climb to find it covered in spider's webs and I decided there was no way I was giving it a go), followed by a 'quiet night out' I finally left this town.

Mr Sceats was to join me the day after, as he had found more things of interest there than I did...

Anyway, Vientiane is the capital city of Laos, but its ludicrously small and friendly - and it was nice to just walk around and enjoy the place. The food here was absolutely fantastic - I ate in loads of different types of restaurants and bakeries, and every time the food was just superb - especially the steak in a french restaurant I found - it was my first steak since I've left home.

The first night there, I sat in a cafe reading my book on Pol Pot and had an early night. The next day (Wed 24th Jan) I went on a tour of the sights of Vientiane, and I think I pretty much saw them all in 4 hours. The national museum is pretty interesting, but kind of amusing in the way it describes the 'American Imperialists and their puppets' when they describe their war of independence. Laos is the most bombed county in the world ever, thanks to the Americans.

After that it was onto see the Laos version of the Champs Elysee and the Arc de Triumphe in Paris. They aren't pretty - the decription of the 'Arc' shown on the Arc itself is pricelesss - see the picture I've included.

After that it was onto a couple of temples (with a short stop for some delicious lunch including more cake - the people of Laos love to provide bakeries) and a walk along the riverside before I met up again with Chris who'd finally left Vang Viang.

So my summary of Vientiane would be - nice place to come and relax; awesome to come and get fat sampling the different foods on offer; but probably a little dull for the tourist after a few days - although I'd imagine it would be a really nice place to live.

We had a fairly early, quiet night, as we were off early the next morning to cathc our flight to Phenom Penh (capital of Cambodia) - and what a difference of capital cities that would be...

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Photos

High Praise Indeed...
This sign is displayed proudly on the Arc de Triopmhe of Vientiane

The guardian
I love this Lion - there were 2 of them guarding a grave in Vientiane - both with the same comedy smiles