World Laos Vientiane

David and Natalya's Around the World Tours David and Natalya's One Year Trip Through Asia

A few days in Vientiane, Capital of Laos Jul 18, 2005

July 16-18, 2005

Vientiane, Laos

Natalya

Vientiane is probably the smallest capital city I have ever been in. Most buildings are 3 or 4 stories, there are a lot of temples and wats and the Mekong river is very impressive. It had a different feel than Luang Prabang, which was very laid back and relaxing. Vientiane is most similar to Phenom Penh, the capital of its neighbor Cambodia.

We visited 2 spectacular wats in Vientiane, both were very peaceful and serene. We also went to see Lao's equivalent of Arc de Triumph in Paris. Apparently it was built from concrete donated by the Unites States for a construction of the airport runway. The view from the top was amazing and we ignored the no photography signs.

The night before we left Vientiane we met up with Kevin. Dave met Kevin at a Media conference he attended in Tokyo in 2002. I met Kevin for the first time at the conference for Ship for World Youth we attended in Hanoi, Vietnam this May. His name is not actually Kevin, it is Keo Ou Done Chanthavongxai and for obvious reasons he insists that the "Westerners" call him Kevin. He is a great guy and took us around Vientiane. After he was done work he met up with us for a few beers on the Mekong river. Beerlao is very refreshing and crisp. We continued with our Beerlao consumption on a dinner cruise, which departed shore at sunset and was back about an hour later. After our cruise we went to his friend's restaurant and had a great Lao meal. The live band was playing and it was so nice to hang out with Kevin and find out about Lao culture.