A Day in Vientiane ….

A quick one hour trip from Bangkok and we were there in Vientiane, Capital of Laos. While i was not all that surprised at the lack of size due to a few articles that i had read stating that it was a “Sleepy Capital” … I was taken back by the simplicity and charm. This especially after spending two months in the crazy but amazing city of Bangkok, Thailand.

We had decided to spend New Years 2015 here and we were not disappointed. The lack of mega hotels (most buildings not over four stories high) and over abundant tourists made it feel a little more special. Even walking home at night by 12:00pm the streets are almost empty, it was quiet, clean and no drunken tourists screaming up and down the streets. It was a beautiful city and one i would love to visit
again … perhaps when it is a bit warmer in the evenings.

Our first morning there we had walked down the street from our hotel to a small cafe and had an amazing Cappucino. It was a little french cafe and just sitting on the corner watching the few motorbikes go by and being surrounded by small enchanting old colonial buildings was just a beautiful way to start the Day. Although it is such a small city and the amount of tourists each year is on the rise, it is not so much visible on the streets. Of course when you go to the main sites they are filled with tourists but nothing like say going to the Palace in Bangkok where you can barely walk around without getting bumped into.

 

After some coffee we took a walk around downtown and saw a few temples and the famous Patuxi which was inspired by the Arc de Triomphe in Paris but with Lao motif. Between the stylish cafes, the fresh baked breads and pastries, colonial style buildings and the Patuxi in the middle of town, the sense of the French colonization here is all around and i am not complaining. Its a beautiful city full of charm.

Lunch was a nice little soup stop on the side of the road. I was surprised at the portion size though. It was the same price as in Bangkok at roughly around $1.50 a bowl but around 3x the portion size. We ordered a large as we were very hungry thinking “How much bigger could it be for .50c more?” Well … it was massive. I felt so bad i could only finish about half but it was so delicious. The little soup stalls have to be one of my favourite dishes since being in Asia, cheap, fast and delicious, oh so delicious!!!!!

After lunch we took a tuk tuk down to the Buddah Park. It cost around $20.00 but i am sure you could bargain it a bit lower if you found some on the more remote streets. It takes about 30 minutes or so and although we read the roads were horrible and not very enjoyable on a yuk tuk, we actually did not find it too bad. It was a beautiful sunny day, the scenery was amazing and of course had great company. We arrived at the Buddah Garden which is on the Mekong River with neighbouring Thailand across the way. The park contains over 200 Hindu and Buddhist statues and although only created in 1958, the concrete statues give a sense that they are from a much older time. The two main sculptures there are the a reclining or “lazy” buddah which measures at around 350f long and the other is a large round sculpture where inside the three levels you can climb represent Hell, Earth and Heaven. The staircases are quite narrow and extremely dark so i would recommend bringing in a flashlight. You enter through a “demon mouth” and at the top gives you a 360 degree view of the park and surroundings.

We ended the day just walking through a few small streets, sat at a bar for a sunset glass of wine and then headed for an early dinner. There were a few unusual items on the menu such as fried crickets and deep fried duck bills which we decided not to try (although very tempting) but did have a few of the local dishes. One was a classic lao dish of sour pork, deep fried rice balls and shrimp called Nam Khao. I don’t think the dish is for everyone as my boyfriend Rob seemed to shy away from it but it was a great dish for me. We also ordered the local sausage which reminded us of the Chaing Mai sausage but more flavour. It was filled with tons of fresh herbs like lemongrass, ginger, kaffir lime leaf …. Asia stuffed into a sausage.

All in all, after we had spent a few days we had fallen in love with this quiet Capital City and I think you will to