Advertisement
Published: September 20th 2006
Edit Blog Post
A day probably isn't enough to truly appreciate Laos' capital, Vientiane, but that is all we spared for it. Due to our laziness on the beaches of Railay (Thailand) we've sadly left our time for Laos too short and already I'm feeling that this was a mistake. Laos is a wonderful country. Some people say that Vientiane is a dump and not worth spending much time at but I disagree. They say that the infrastructure is bad and the city not aesthetically pleasing enough but this is exactly what I like about it. It is the least capital city-like capital city I have ever seen. There are few paved roads though new paving is under construction. Most are dirt roads and the city is fairly undeveloped, though I saw a construction site for a shopping complex so I guess that will soon be changing as the town gives way to progress.
It was a long night of fitful sleep onboard the over night train from Bangkok to the Laos border, which had - of course - arrived late and took hours longer than it was supposed to. We had ordered breakfast the night before and they woke us way too
Monks
Along the road to the monastry early to present us with an awful assembly of eggs and ham swimming in soy sauce and possibly the most revolting coffee i have ever swallowed. I advise against the train breakfast. Pack something yourself or wait to get to the border town where the train pulls in. Since we opted to not eat the 'breafast' we waited til we got off the train, blew past the tuktuk touts and crossed the street to a large kind of building on the corner. They served great coffee, good, reasonably priced food and the woman spoke good english and was super friendly. They also do passport sized photos for your visa to Laos at this place and this was handy because we had forgotten to get them done in Bangkok. We then got a tuktuk to the border, queued a long time, got our visas and then got a bus over the frienship bridge into Laos. There we changed to another bus, crammed to bursting with thais and locals and I took the only available spot next to a friendly looking lady, loaded up with numerous grocery bags. Jim took a seat between 4 young monks at the back of the bus
and struckup a conversation. It would have been a great photo but alas, I couldn't reach my camera.
After the journey it was fantastic to arrive, finally, in Vientiane. Am loving the Laos food and coffee. There are lots of great bakeries and cafes here, the baguettes are fantastic - a residual influence of the french colonial days - and enjoyable after being in Thailand where it is near impossible to get any kind of decent bread whose flavour and texture does not resemble cardboard. Hey, I'm a carbs girl, sue me!
We did quite a bit of site seeing in our day in Vientiane, taking in the some stupas, temples, a working monastry and patuxai.
The monastary was quiet and peaceful with a very calm, serene vibe - as one would expect from a monastry. We met 2 monks who showed us around a bit and when called away for 'monk duty' left with a gentle smile and without asking for money. Wonderfully refreshing as almost everywhere any kind of service comes at a cost. They seemed perfectly content just in speaking english with us and asking questions about our countries of origins. One monk asked
Dragon
At the stupa us if we have festivals in Australia. I said we celebrate New Year (a timely subject as the Laos new year is coming up in a few days) and he was fascinated that this celebration is in January. He asked how we celebrate and I was embarrassed to say that we just have a party, get drunk and spent the next day recovering before heading back to work. It occured to me that in many respects the west is culturally void and deprived. The festivals here last for days and there is much cultural, historical and religious signifance attached. It just seems more cultrally rich to me. Its like Laos culture is a vibrant, colourful tapestry and Australia's is a bath mat. Functional and comfortable but not too exotic.
Anyway, back to the conversation with the monk, I told him about Christmas and he listened with interest but I decided to skip Easter. How could I possibly explain what easter is all about and why we celebrate it by hiding, finding and eating chocolate eggs supposedly brought by a giant bunny rabbit? The magic of it all would have been lost in translation...
The golden stupa was the
next stop on our sightseeing agenda. It was breathtakingly beautiful in the angled sunlight and afforded great photo opportunities. It really feels like asia! We spent quite a bit of time walking around, taking photos and checking out the artwork of a local artist displayed around the perimeter of the stupa.
From there we checked out Patuxai, another throwback to the french colonialism. It is Laos approximation of the Arc de Triomphe. Its a reasonable likeness I suppose, but with a distictly asian twist, with the ornate spires and religious deities carved in relief. It was a few flights of stairs to the top, but it afforded good views, though it was a bit expensive - a few bucks, but what the hell.
In the evening we ate the best Indian food I've ever had in my life and turned in early, ready for an early start on the bus to Vang Vieng. this is where I'll wrap up for now. Til next time...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.316s; Tpl: 0.022s; cc: 15; qc: 86; dbt: 0.2416s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
Claire
non-member comment
Beautiful! Jealous again