Saturday 27th December 2008

Arrived in Vientiane, the capital city of Laos yesterday morning. What a culture shock! The most laid back capital city you could imagine; with roads that are almost empty after Saigon and Hanoi. Trouble is, there is not a lot here to fill two days. We spent most of yesterday trying to sort out the logistics of our next steps in Laos and ate in the mini-europe centre square of Vientiane last night - so called because it's awash with Europeans. The French influence is apparent; baguettes and French restaurants abound and this must be the steak capital of South East Asia. There is even a Tex-Mex place! The architecture is faded colonial; they even have a poor mans Champs-Elysee running from the Presidential Palace to their own version of the Arc de Triomphe; a concrete montrosity, with hawkers on every landing but you at least get a decent view of the city from the top. We visited the arts and antiquities museum which consisted of a few old Buddhas and a rather tatty pot from the Plain of Jars. This was where the Emerald Bangkok Buddha (remember - jade not emerald but the name stuck) resided until the light-fingered Thais nicked it in the 18th century. Not quite having had our fill of Buddhas for the day, we visited the oldest Wat in Laos and admired the 10,000 plus on display. Lao Buddhas seem to have very prominent nipples for some reason. We took a stroll down to the Mekong river but it was out - we could virtually have walked to Thailand on the opposite bank. And that's it; we've done Vientiane! Tomorrow, we catch a bus to Louang Phabang and will spend a few days there while we get our heads around travelling to the Plain of Jars later on.