Getting to Vientianne

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Although not a necessarily noisy night storm wise, the rain was still pouring down when we awoke. We were getting the mini van to Vientiane this morning (not the VIP coach as before, our assumption was that a mini van would have a greater ability in dodging pot holes!). The road however was not as bad as from Luang Prabang as it didn't wind so much through the hills (still many pot holes, luckily our assumption was correct!). On the bus were the Argentinians which we met on our trek which was pleasantly surprising and made the first part of the journey a little quicker as we shared our stories of Vang Vieng.

The journey took 4 hours total including a half hour rest stop. Once we arrived we walked around a bit looking for Guest Houses. Vientiane is an odd capital, not appearing to be very busy or have much in the way of things to do! We decided on a cheap room for one night at the 'Orchid Guest House'. Our room was a double with just a fan to keep the temperature reasonable. We also shared a bathroom with the rest of the floor. The price for this luxury, just 5 pounds! We then grabbed some lunch at a nice Scandanavian bakery and got a tuk tuk to Pha That Luang, the most important national monument in Laos. Upon arrival, you can really see why! A tall, temple like structure guilding in gold. From here we walked to the Patuxai, almost identical to the Arc de Triomphe but with 4 rather than 2 archways. Up close a tightly knit pattern work was evident but unfortunately never completely finished so the majority of the Patuxai appears a nice concrete colour! We climbed the stairs to the top and looked down on the surrounding park with fountain and got a good view of the city. We then walked back along a Laos equivalent Champs-Élysées to That Dam, an old Stupa (temple type building) and ate at a french restaurant. By now the fact that Vientiane was once a French colony had really been rammed into our heads!

We headed back to the guesthouse where it rained and rained, hopefully not another storm!

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