Comemorating the King of Laos

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We arrived in Vientiane yesterday about 6pm and spent a pleasant evening dining out in bars by the side of the Mighty Mekong River.

On Sunday we stumbled across celebrations dedicated the king who brought 3 kingdoms together to create Laos in the 17th century. This was obviously a big affair for the locals who were all dressed in their finery and carrying offerings of marigolds displays and banknotes. A huge procession followed we sat at the side of the road waiting for nearly 3 hours for it to begin. This is Laos time after all!

We made our way to the Victory monument on Monday morning, from a distance it looked similar to the Arc De Triumph in Paris but as we got close it was obviously not finished, apparently they ran out of money!
All the same it was set in beautiful gardens with numerous fountains and fairly peaceful considering it was in the middle of a 6 lane road.
After the usual photo stops we headed back to the centre for lunch in a French restaurant. After that we intend to chill out ready for our move up to Vang Vieng tomorrow.

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