Sabaaidee from Vientiane

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Having arrived a little late into Vientiane we completed our visa application before being picked up and headed to our hotel. Lonely Planet had been pretty uninspiring in describing the hostels it had visited so we had found a cheap hotel online and it was nice and clean as well as being fairly central to the city itself. We headed into the city for a wander around, the first stop being an ATM where we became instant millionaires (in kip). Feeling rich, we headed up to Patouxi, the Laos 'Arch of Victory' that didn't even sing its own praises on the information sign but we found nice all the same. It had some beautifully decorated walls and ceilings and the views from the top were good too. We spent the afternoon looking in the various handicraft markets/shops where we brought a couple of souvenirs (they were so cheap!) before trying some Laap at the nearby restaurant. It was a little too spicy for either of us to finish though so we steered clear of Lao food for a day or two for our mouths to recover! The evening was spent in the bar where we could get beer for 80p and cocktails for 1.60 so we enjoyed a few drinks before having to head back to the hostel to meet our curfew!

The second day we headed to the morning markets, which were full of fabrics and carved wooden souvenirs before spending some time planning our future trips in Laos. The afternoon was spent looking around the city a bit more and having a visit to the food festival that was taking place and then catching sunset at the most important monument, Pha That Luang, for sunset. We kept getting strange looks off of a lot of the locals since we were among only a handful of other westerners at the time but we are kind of getting used to that! We headed back to our new local bar for some more cheap wine and beer (BeerLao) which was very nice!

Stephanie convinced me to join her in having a traditional Lao back massage on our final day and, although it was a little sore afterwards (particularly where I had their elbow placed into my shoulder and their full weight applied), I'm glad I went for it. I left Stephanie to have a manicure and pedicure at the same place while I went for a wander around the city spotting monks in their bright orange robes in residence within their 'wats'. I was going to go in and have a look around but their weren't any other people doing so so wimped out. We met up again in the evening for dinner at a nice cafe/restaurant recommended by the Lonely Planet before heading back to pack our bags up for the following days bus trip.

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Photos

Pha That Luang
They say it contains a hair/bone of buddha.

Patouxi
The Victory Arch

Stupa
THis used to be gold, it was looted many years ago