Vientiane (15th-18th) - couldn't feel any less like a capital city

---

We arrived at one of the bus station about 10 km from the centre and so we had to pay 20.000 Kip each to get into town. By now we started to discover that getting around in Laos was quite expensive. After the drive into town we walked around to find a place to stay but most places were either full or too expensive. We found a place for 60.000 Kip, a twin room on the top floor on a so-called guesthouse. The rooms were basically wooden boxed with cheap dirty beds and useless fans but it would have to do until we could search for somewhere else the next day. We were hungry by now so we went in search for some food. We found a small family restaurant and had some noodle soup and rice and chicken. Really good food at a fair price. However, by now Anna really needs to remember to ask for no coriander in her food as almost every meal seems to contain some. After food we walked around for a while looking for a guesthouse for the following days. Outside one guesthouse we bumped into a couple who were on the bus to Vientiane with us so we sat down and had a few beers with them before crossing the road and have some more food and then returned to our guesthouse. We sat outside our guesthouse and talked to an American guy and drank a beer. He decided to tell us his life story about how he had made a lot of cash with some lucky deal and how now he was living out here. I had had enough so returned to the wooden box, had a shower and climbed into the bed bug infested single bed. Anna stayed down to talk for a while and came to the room later complaining how much she hated the Amerian guy. I don't blame here, so did I. He was a Mr. Know-It-All and a bit of a bighead!

Next morning we checked out and found a room with a nice bathroom, big bed and balcony. A huge improvement on the previous room. After a nice shower we went in search of food and a nice breakfast. We found the Scandinavian Bakery. They have great bread in Vientiane and so we ordered a sandwich plate with cold meat, cheese and salad. Breakfast was great despite a lack of meat on the platter but it had set us up for a bit of culture. From the bakery we headed over to the Laos National Museum, just one block away. The museum had some interesting archaeological displays but the information and displays on the revolution were quite one-sided. It took us only one hour to get around so we headed off for a cold drink to avoid the heat of the afternoon. In the evening we had some food and headed to a bar where we met Simon from Manchester who had actually been living in Newcastle at the same time as us just down the road. The world is a small place!

The following day we had another nice breakfast at the bakery and then we went to look at the palace, an unspectacular building. And then we visited Sisaket temple with thousands of Buddhas placed in the walls of the courtyard surrounding the temple. Quite a sight! The rest of the day we spent relaxing before heading for some nice food in the evening. We decided to eat in a Belgium restaurant. I ordered a 350 gramm steak which was delicious and Anna ate a maccaroni cheese bake. The steak was really rare but so delicious, Anna could hardly bare to see me eat such a bloody piece of meat, but I loved it and ate it all (because I am such a piggy..). We went for another drink in the same place as the night before. I left after one drink and went back to the room whilst Anna stayed out. She bumped into Simon and went for a drink with him and also bumped into Stefan who we had met in Hoi An, Hue and now again here. They also planned to leave Vientiane the following day and head to Vang Vieng. We had bought tickets to Vang Vieng that day and on the 18th we took the 4 hour minibus ride north to the tubing mecca of Vang Vieng, only after a final delicious breakfast at the Scandinavian Bakery. Goodbye, Vientiane!

---