Patuxai Vientiane

The rickety bus jolted to a halt and spit us out onto the street in the middle of downtown Vientiane, allowing us to avoid going all the way to the bus station and then backtracking. The road from Vang Vieng to here was the worst major highway that we have experienced in Asia. We were completely covered in a layer of red dust which took two showers …

Took an overnight train from Bangkok to Nong Khai on the border with Laos. I saw some evidence of the floods but again, there was just not as much as the pictures on the news. From Nong Khai we get stamped out of Thailand and cross the friendship bridge in another train that crosses the Mekong River. At the other side we fill our forms in for entry …

Up early and off sightseeing, first stop Patuxai the Arc de Triomphe of Asia then off to the oldest temple - Wat in Vientiane to see beautiful guilded buddhas. We walked a few miles and passed the Champs Elysees of Asia.

A quick stop for a coffee and then a relaxing massage to round off the days activities.

Catch the Mekong Sunset …

When traveling through a country, especially at the pace we're at, it always seems natural to visit the capital. After all it should be the centre of the country, the heart-beat that keeps everything moving and working even for those living hundreds or thousands of miles away. What we found definitely explained a lot about Laos; it’s slow, …

The journey to Laos was an unexpectedly comfortable one. I booked myself a second class sleeper, which meant I got an ACTUAL bed! Sadly, it was not long enough for me to fit comfortably into it, but was more than adequate for the average Thai man to stretch out in.
We arrived at the Thai-Lao border and from there I was completely clueless. I …

De aankomst op het vliegveld in Laos ging gepaard met de te verwachten klimaatsverandering. Met een graadje of 25 in de avond kon ik de overkleding die ik zo'n beetje constant had gedragen vanaf Lhasa vaarwel zeggen en die tijden gaan gezien mijn verdere reisplanning ook niet meer terugkomen. Dat wil zeggen: TOT ik weer naar Nederland afreis :-). …

Day 109 - cont...

Had to wait around at the bus station as usual. The bus got to Vientiane at about 6:30. We hunted for room for about 30 mins. Everywhere was full.

We finally found a triple room on the top floor of a hotel. The room was full on mozzies. Not pleasant.

We decided to spoil ourselves and went for food …

Da vi stod af bussen tidligt om morgenen paa Vientianes sydlige busstation, moedte vi et aldre pensioneret amerikansk par af laotisk afstamning, som vi delte en tuktuk med ind til selve Vientiane. Her fandt vi os et sted at bo, og gik saa ud i byen efter noget morgenmad. (Fortsaettes)... …

So we arrived in Vientiane (most of us) after having a few hours kayaking..and even more in the back of a pick up truck completely covered in dust and dirt. I have never seen my face look so dirty and I even managed to get a 'tan' line on my arms!

Vientiane is a nice place, but strangely enough if does not feel like a capital city. It …

Lonely Planet recommended a 'Monument to Mekong Walking Tour', since the hotel let me use the bike for free, and as lazy as I am, I decided to make it a biking tour instead.

The total cost of the day is about 400,000kip (US$51), details see below.

Sights:

Patuxai - 3,000kip
Patuxai, Victory Gate is a war monument in …

Bright sunshine and warm weather greeted us on arrival in Vientiane, the capital of Lao PDR.  We obtained our visas at the airport and verified our research by paying US$42 each, the highest price for any nation's citizens who enter this country. ...

... to say, we climbed into the first taxi available and made our way to town (that's another 2 dollars out the window!). Vientiane was a very pleasant surprise. It has to be one of the smaller Asian capitals, but nonetheless the French design of wide ...

... like the Arc de Triomphe. Except that it's filled with junky souvenir shops and only offers a look out over the nonexistent Vientiane skyline. Monday started similarly to Sunday, but instead of spilling coffee I dropped our toilet paper roll in the ...

... . Our driver had to wait since we had no money to pay him.   He dropped us off at the "Patuxai" (Victory Monument) it is Vientiane's haughty Arc de Triomphe replica, which dominates the commercial district. We walked down the road about ½ of mile ...

... surprising, considering that it's just on the other side of the Mekong River, not 500m away! Then I thought, what makes Vientiane uniquely Lao? In my 18 hours in the country, I'd seen French, Soviet, Chinese and Thai influences everywhere, but nothing ...

... a moment to stop and not feel obligated to DO anything. Next in line was another local bus ride to the capital of Lao, Vientiane. We didn't understand why many buses throughout Lao had plastic bags and toilet paper hanging from the railings, alas, we ...

... bit more money, its nice feeling the trickle of cool air that comes out of the air con unit that doesnt really work! Vientiane is small and compact, its very quiet and for the first time on a sunday for ages three things happened yesterday..... 1. ...

... the LP and decided to do the walking tour. Compared to the first time where there were only chickens walking down the street, Vientiane had loads of cars and motorbikes now, but I still remembered it all. Not much had changed. There were still holes in ...

... our mixed nationalities with a mix of Lao, Thai, Cantonese, Japanese and Western chow. Having already spent an afternoon around Vientiane there was not much I planned to see so ending up acting as a make-shift tour guide for Idoia and Estibaliz and ...

... ladies. They somehow communicated without her speaking a word of English! No need for chat up lines then! Last day in Vientiane we sped over to Patuxai (Gate of Triumph) which is reminescent of the Arc de Triomphe of Paris. It was made in the 1960's ...