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Published: February 18th 2012
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VientianeWe left Nong Khai for the border crossing with Laos. After enjoying a nice queue and paying for our first ever visa, we were dropped off in Vientiane. We found some where to stay and went for a look around the local area. The following day we went to see Vientiane’s oldest temple which housed an impressive amount of bronze Buddhas. We then visited the Laos version of the arc de triomphe. From which we could see amazing views of the city. In the evening we wandered around the night market before wandering over to the gargantuan statue of Chao Anouvong, the last king of the Vientiane monarchy.
A day or so later we jumped aboard a minibus to Vang Vieng. After crossing the bamboo bridge and finding a hostel we wandered around. This little town seems to have two very different sides to it! On the side of the river on which we stayed there were stunning views of the ‘karsts’, natural limestone formations riddled with caves and lagoons. We went and swam in the refreshing waters of the Blue Lagoon and enjoyed chilling out and sampling the local foods. However the on opposite shore the main part of
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Vientiane the town is frequented by half clad ‘mowgli-men’ and women, staggering and often limping about in a drink and drug filled haze after their Mekong tubing exploits.
A couple of days later and we quite gratefully boarded a bus to Luang Prabang, apparently South-East Asia’s most romantic city! In Luang Prabang we enjoyed wandering around the different Wats and strolling, eating and drinking on the banks of the lazy Mekong river. The night markets were also amazing, taking up the whole road next to the old royal palace. Obviously, being in South-East Asia’s most romantic city, we also spent an inordinate amount of time gazing longingly into each other’s eyes and sighing long drawn out sighs.
After eventually tearing ourselves away from each other’s gaze we journeyed onwards to Si Phan Don, otherwise known as the 4000 Islands. Here we jumped aboard a very leaky old motorised canoe to Don Det, a laid back island with many different hostels and relaxing open sided restaurants where we chilled out enjoying the atmosphere. We even had a chance encounter with Adrian Robson, the author of “
South East Asia In Yer Face” who funds his travels by selling his book, which
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Vientiane contains several stories including how he survived the 2004 flash floods in Northern Sumatra (his inspiration for writing).
The next day we returned to land via another leaky boat in the rain, to set off for our next adventure in Cambodia.........
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