Vientiane: Capital Splendour!

The bus journey to Vientiane was much more pleasant than the trip to Tha Khaek, though the last phase required being ejected from our big, comfy bus and switched to a pick-up truck taxi (a truck with seats improvised in the back) and taken on a roundabout tour of the city before we were finally deposited near our hostel. This way we did get an open-air view of the Victory Monument, known locally as Patuxai (though also nicknamed the vertical runway because it was made from cement donated by the US to build a new airport!). The monument itself looks like a replica of the Arc de Triomphe and therefore presents a rather grand welcome. We checked into a rather dingy place with a room not much bigger than the bed, and quickly decided to investigate elsewhere for an alternative for the next two nights. Fortunately, the hostel’s neighbour offered us a good deal on a much nicer room with a bathroom, and we were able to sort out a bus to Vang Vieng just over the road too, so it was a tedious hour or two but left us with just a room swap to worry about the next day.

We were based right alongside the Mekong once more, so we strolled over to check out the start of the sunset before choosing to sit outside for dinner at a lovely Indian restaurant called Aashifa, on the corner of the waterfront and our road, and watch the sun continue to set. It was a nice relaxing end to a functional day, and we decided to catch up with some blogs before bed (we weren’t quite as far behind then…).

The next day we decided to explore the city after a catch up on some sleep! Once we’d switched to the neighbouring hostel, we discovered a fantastic little café that offered breakfast at lunchtime (which was required after our late start) and I might have stayed there all day drinking tea (glorious tea!) if we'd had more time in Vientiane. 

It was a very pretty city to explore; lots of small boutique-y shops filled with local crafts and foods, and even a well-stocked bookshop, which also had some beautiful cards for sale (and which some of you will have received on the run up to Christmas!).

We also found some temples that were off the map, hidden down alleyways but very beautiful if a little unkempt. First we stumbled upon Wat Xieng Nyean, which had a cute drum and bell tower.

We then found Wat Chanthabuli (while on our way back up to the waterfront for a drink at Bor Pennyang). Wat Chanthabuli was clearly popular with the locals, and had plenty of monks on-site enjoying the sunshine too!

Bor Pennyang had been recommended to us for its view as much as anything else – it is a well-situated rooftop bar with a view across the Mekong, so we enjoyed a drink or two in the late afternoon sunshine. Feeling nice and relaxed, we opted for takeaway pizza and garlic bread from our neighbouring pizza parlour for dinner, and headed back to the hostel to do some more blogging (honest!) before a couple more beers and a film.

 View From
Bor Pennyang

On our final day in Vientiane, we still had some big sights left to see after a day of appreciating the cultured streets, so we headed out the opposite way to our previous adventures, starting with a waterfront stroll past this guy:

 
Then we set out to find the COPE centre http://legaciesofwar.org/, which was fascinating and very sad, but also full of hope as there are so many great projects at work for the people of Laos. During a long period of turmoil around the Vietnam war, Laos fell victim to extensive US bombing (the Secret War, where the US attempted to disrupt Vietnamese supply lines) between 1964 and 1973, with an estimated 270 million bombs dropped during this time. A huge number remain along the Laos border and lost in the forest, unexploded, creating the problem of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Laos – more than 50,000 people have been killed or injured by UXO, many of these since the end of the war. The COPE centre, as well as providing an excellent educational facility for visitors, also helps victims of UXO return to a functional life, by providing physiotherapy, prosthetic limbs and support for people re-entering the workforce after injury. This is an essential place to visit, as it tells the story of an often-forgotten part of the complex history of the area; how Laos became an unwitting victim of the Vietnam war.

The history of much of SE Asia has been affected heavily by the Vietnam war - everywhere we've been we've seen different representations of the war and it is hard sometimes to sift through all the evidence and make sense of the reality of the war for all the nations affected. This museum is a must-see because it's such an untold story amid all the horrors of the 60s and 70s (and beyond) for this part of the world.

We'd intended to visit the Laos National Museum next, but unfortunately it was closed as it was a public holiday, but we were able to visit the two major city temples, Wat Si Saket and Haw Pha Kaew. Wat Si Saket has an amazing interior, whose walls are lined with silver and ceramic Buddhas in carved-out niches, and the room is also a real ‘curiosity shop’, littered with standing and sitting Buddhas of varied size. 

Haw Pha Kaew was also very impressive...

The Mekong is surrounded by mud/sand banks on each side, and we could see that several of the local kids had walked right out to the waters’ edge – so of course we decided to do the same, and get close to the water (from the temple end of town, the river was much further away than it was where we were staying).

It was another gorgeous day, and despite getting rather muddy it felt great to be able to view the city from the riverbank. We found our way back to dry land and decided to return to Aashifa for dinner, plus another drink at Bor Pennyang, before an early night in preparation for the bus to Vang Vieng the next day. We’d heard the stories… it may not be quite the party haven it was, but we thought it made sense to be prepared for the madness Vang Vieng promised!

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