Living on Laos Time

Vientiane is the capital of the Laos People's Democratic Republic but you'd almost never guess its a capital by its small size, clean pedestrian-friendly streets, SIDEWALKS (that aren't parking lots or eateries like in Vietnam) and relative quiet due to the lack of thousands of honking, motorbikes.  Don't get me wrong, there's still lots of them (and these super funky tuks tuks which are like a combo of a motorcycle and truck bed) but it was such a nice city to walk around. We met up with our ol tour group as they're following a similar route up towards Chiang Mai but will move quicker than we wanted to which is why we didn't tack on the Laos portion. It was super fun having an awesome group to travel Vietnam with (and help navigate the complex trains and busses requires to get us all the way from south to north) but it'll be fun to move at out own pace now. But we had some drinks and checked out a hopping local bar with a live band. I think we were the only foreigners in there so that was cool. And a true tribute to how relaxing and small this Laotian capital is, we walked the ten or so minutes back to our riverside hotel on our own and felt very safe, even late. 

Our beautiful hotel overlooks the relatively dry (at this time of year but it'll flood the city periodically during the rainy season) Mekong River (the same one we boated outside of Saigon) and across that is Thailand! So Laos and Thai culture are actually relatively similar as seen in the cuisine, religions and look of the locals. 

On our full day here, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and amazing massage at the Papaya Spa around the corner. My masseuse was a guy, which suprised me as I've only ever seen women sodar, but it was heavenly! We then had a driver take us outside of town to the Buddha Park which was a park full of interesting Buddha structures, including a huge reclining Buddha. It was only developed in the 50's so kinda odd but it was fun to see while enjoying a coconut milk drink to help cool off. 

We then went to the That Luang Wat which is a national symbol for Laos. Its linked back to the 3rd century but has been moved and reconstructed many times but it's gleaming gold surface was beautiful.

We then ended at Putaxi, a large monument that was constructed as a war memorial to commemorate beating off the French... yet it's shaped like the Arc de Triomphe. And was actually built using US money that was meant to build a runway. Odd history.

Doesn't it look like it could be a European city? Very Parisian for sure.

We finally got some yummy food to include green papaya salad (think fruit and fish sauce!) and the Laos specialty of yellow curry and sticky rice. Yum! The restaurant had a great sign and I love that all these spots were right next to each other!

Off to Vang Vieng for some kayaking and caving tomorrow!