Advertisement
Published: July 15th 2015
Edit Blog Post
Sarah: Ok, so, it's not that we didn't like Vientiane, or didn't try to get involved with the touristy things but there just isn't really much to say here. So sorry. But all must be recorded on the blog, so here I go! We arrived via the highly rated (by me) Lao Airlines from Hanoi. I think the rating was probably increased due to the amount of recent long buses and overnighter journeys. A little cheese and ham sarnie and drink provided on our 50 minute flight went a long way! This was on top of our last lunch in Hanoi before we left, where I took the chance to have one more Hue pancake (pork and shrimp pancake self-wrapped in rice paper with herbs) and Nick went for a bowl of rice noodles with all kinds of yumminess (there was even a fried spring roll thrown in there!).
After arriving in Vientiane and checking in to our hostel we decided it was too hot to explore straight away and so commandeered the hostel pool table for a few frames. The standard quickly declined as our hands got more and more sticky and there was no chalk on hand to
dry them out, as there has been next to many Asian pool tables on our trip so far. We gave up on the pool and headed out to explore. We had been told that Laos was a lot more 'chilled out' than other SE Asian countries. Sure, sure we thought, but everyone is still going to be zipping past on scooters honking and people are still going to try and flog us any old tourist tat at every opportunity...right? We quickly realised that our expectations were far from reality. Vientiane is so peaceful and calm (probably exaggerated for us having just arrived from hectic ol' Hanoi). Cars and scooters slowed or stopped to let us cross the road and we weren't bothered by hawkers at all.
After a little pad around town we had made it to dinner time and were spoilt for choice for eateries. We settled for a busy looking place with a spare table on the upstairs balcony, overlooking the street below. We would normally go straight in for some local fare at the start of a new country, but we were not feeling too adventurous or hungry (perhaps as a result of the anti-malarials that
we're now back on, or the extra sarnie on the plane...). Some Thai red fish curry for Nick and some fried veggie noodles for myself went down well enough however.
On Saturday we were to venture a little further afield to see more of what Vientiane has to offer. We started the day greeted by a very strong stench of ammonia in our bathroom, that had appeared overnight. We've stayed in some so-so places while we've been away and haven't really minded if something's been a bit stinky or a bit dirty but it truly felt like showering in a sewage works. We asked about it at reception and were offered a new room straight away, which makes me suspect this is a known issue and they just have to hope that the people in that room will put up with it. Not us this time! We packed our bags ready to move rooms later and set off on our self-devised walking tour. Nothing too complex, simply following the shortest route between the highlighted blobs on the blurry photocopied map provided by the hostel.
The first sight was That Dam, a stupa in the middle of a nearby
roundabout. It was fine to look at and we were still enjoying the quiet roads and slow-paced way of life. We made our way up one of the main boulevards toward Vientiane's answer to the Arc de Triomph, Petuxai Arch. It is made from concrete donated by the Americans that was supposed to be used for a new runway. We made the climb to the top and while it is not the most attractive monument (as admitted on the monument itself), it does provide a good view of Vientiane from above. Moving on to the next highlighted sight we walked through a monastery and towards the Presidential Palace. We were now thoroughly soaked with sweat and ready for an air-conditioned cafe; the Palace got a quick glance before we moved on to find one. We were soon settled down in the cool AC with two sarnies ordered with proper multi-grain bread, ham and cheese for Nick and tuna for me. It made a nice change from the white baguettes, noodles and rice of late! The 'mint lemon freeze' drinks that we got were also a refreshing accompaniment.
The heat had completely taken it out of us so we went
via the banks of the Mekong River back to the hostel to change rooms and refresh (snooze). Having had our fair share of sightseeing for one day, we then headed to the pool owned by our hostel which was a few doors down. Everyone else appeared to have the same idea for escaping the heat and the pool was pretty busy but it was the perfect way to cool off. After a few dips in the pool and showers, it was time to think about the next meal of the day. Having played it safe the night before, we went a bit more adventurous for dinner and found a local street-side BBQ that was displaying some very tasty looking chicken and Laos sausages. We pointed out a piece of chicken and the sausages that looked the most like 'real' sausages (brown not pink), ordered a Thai salad and a Laos noodle salad and took a seat. Watching the food being prepared is always impressive, particularly when it's all done at small tables on the street with very little space and none of your kitchen home comforts. One lady reheated the meat over the BBQ, while another mixed the salad dressings
in a giant pestle and mortar and a matriarchal figure prepared noodles and barked orders, particularly if any of the diners were seen wanting for anything. The food didn't disappoint - Nick was a particularly big fan of the sausages, which were flavoured with chilli and lemongrass and the crispy marinated skin of the chicken ticked all of my boxes.
Sunday brought a morning of admin. Nick found himself a barber and we generally caught up with things. The fact that this meant that I could spend the morning in the comfort of our air-conditioned room was an added bonus... By the time we got in to gear it was lunchtime, served in true slow-paced Laos style about an hour after we ordered. However, at least the pad Thai and spicy chicken with rice tasted good. After lunch we popped in to a nearby bakery-cafe for a quick coffee (the white, sweet, tepid coffee they serve at breakfast is a long way from my preferred black, no sugar, hot coffee at home). Things escalated and we were soon ordering a triple chocolate mousse cake to share. Naughty, but nice. After coffee and cake we once again beat a hasty
retreat from the sun and went back to the hostel to play some pool. Nick was up by about 20 frames to nil before we decided it was about time we headed out again. We found another smaller, English pool table in a bar nearby rather than the larger American table at the hostel. I think during the entire evening I won one frame where Nick potted the white after the black, but I was definitely getting better as the evening went on!
After all that pool and a few beers we had set our sights on a Turkish kebab restaurant that we had passed on one of our previous wanderings. However, when we got there we decided it looked a bit dead and went for another table on the street side that was advertising kebabs. Chicken kebab each and chips to share with two Beer Laos was the order of the day and went down a treat, although gave the old digestive system quite a lot of work to do - the kebabs were massive! Feeling like bowling balls we waddled back home. Overnight there were massive thunderstorms which made for a rather sleepless night, before we were
due to take another Laos Airlines flight on Monday. I really liked the slowed down in pace in Laos compared to Vietnam and Vientiane is a lovely place with lots of bars and restaurants and really friendly people. We had a nice few days of R & R but we were ready to fly north to another UNESCO world heritage sight (third in as many weeks), Luang Prabang!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.101s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 11; qc: 52; dbt: 0.0536s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb