Vientiane

On Wednesday my aim was to get to the capital Vientiane, and getting there seemed easy with regular minibus shuttles as well as several local buses passing through from the north. As I stayed up late to listen to the football the night before I stayed in Vang Vieng until lunchtime. I managed to get a minibus to Vientiane pretty easily, although when getting to Vientiane I was dropped off in some random place full of tuk tuk drivers out of town which the driver insisted was the final stop, but I think it was a scam as he continued on with a few people still on board. I had to get off though as one of the tuk tuk drivers just took my stuff and put it on his tuk tuk. As they were trying to rip me off I walked into Vientiane, getting there eventually where I just chilled out for the evening.

I'd read that Vientiane was pretty lacklustre compared to other cities in South East Asia, but despite this I'd thought I'd give it a couple of days. Situated on the Mekong River which separates it from Thailand the other side, the somewhat sleepy city still had a few things I thought were worth seeing. The city was home to countless temples, and with most slapping on entrance fees to exploit the tourism I had to be selective. First stop was therefore Wat Sisaket which was a temple housing over 2000 Buddha sculptures. Across the road from there was Wat Phra Keow which was another temple acting a museum to showcase several Buddha relics. You weren't allowed to take pictures but it was an interesting place to walk around.

I passed several other places of interest on my way round the city including the Presidental Palace, City Pillar, and Wat Si Muang, perhaps the most picturesque temple of the day. Nearby there was the COPE Visitor Centre which showcased the dark history of the Lao Civil War and the 260 million bombs that were dropped on Laos between 1964-1973. COPE provides artificial limbs and rehabilitation for people, many of them children, who have lost limbs due to the unexploded objects which litter the country. It was really interesting, although you weren't allowed to take pictures. I then went to the Vientiane Centre, home to Laos's only air conditioned shopping mall and cinema. There was still no western influence though, with companies like Starbucks and McDonald's not making there way into Laos yet, but I just found it nice to find somewhere with air con.

Next stop was Patuxai, which bears a strong resemblance the the Arc de Triomphe. In 1968 the USA sent Laos enough concrete to build an international runway. They instead built Patuxai. I was even able to climb to the top, although there wasn't really much to see and the structure itself was a bit of a concrete monstrosity up close! I then headed to Pha That Luang, which was home to a big golden stupa. Legend says that part of Buddha's breast bone is buried there. I headed back to the hostel from there, via That Dam and the Namphou Fountain. Come evening I went to check out the night market which was by the river. I found it particularly funny watching the locals doing their aerobics classes which I passed en route. By the time I actually got to the night market though they were frantically packing up, which was due to massive thunderstorm which hit long after.

The following day I hired a bike to go out and visit the Xieng Khuan Buddha Park. I thought it would be a nice bike ride out there as the road skimmed the Mekong for many parts of the ride, although there wasn't really much to see. The Buddha Park housed several large sculptures, all of which were basically in their raw form. There wasn't really much else to see, although there was this bombshell like building which you could go inside and climb to the top of which was pretty cool. There were some pretty tight spaces though! I cycled back to Vientiane after looking round, getting back earlier than expected. I just relaxed for the rest of the day, heading out to Patuxai and the Namphou Fountain in the evening to see them in darkness, as well as finally getting to the night market without a thunderstorm to stop me!