Sabai-di Laos

After a three day stop in Bangkok to replace worn out clothes we were off to Laos. Unsure of what to expect, we arrived Laos’ capital city of Vientiane. Our guesthouse was located along the bank of the Mekong, which at this time of the year is more like a creek than a river. We managed to fit in the main sights in a day of cycling around town. This included a visit to one of the many temples, this one happened to be a Buddha-world of sorts with approximately 8000 Buddha figures residing there. We also made the climb to the top of Vientiane’s version of l’Arc de Triomphe, it is even set in the middle of a round-about just like the Parisian version. It is sometimes referred to as the vertical runway because it was constructed with cement purchased by the US that was supposed to be used for the construction of a new airport. Arc de Triomphe aside, we were expecting the French heritage to be evident in the architecture, but it seemed to be more of an influence in the cuisine with street vendors selling crusty baguette sandwiches, plenty of bakeries, and even some great wine shops. Having sated our desire for all things western during our Bangkok binge we actually skipped the wine and French cuisine in favour of some Laos food and BeerLao (the national brew). The food here is definitely a step up from the oily, bland carbohydrates that Myanmar had to offer (sorry Myanmar but it’s the truth). With all the fresh herbs and liberal use of chillies, the flavours seem to fall somewhere between Thai and Vietnamese (Laos is sandwiched in between the two so it’s pretty logical I guess).

We were both in agreement that Laos seems like a pretty cool place so far…laid back, not as touristy as Thailand but with more luxuries than travelling in Myanmar had to offer. I must point out that we use the term luxuries loosely here…. 24 hour electricity, ice, and being able to travel in a bus rather than the back of a pick up truck with bags of rice taking up any potential leg room on an unsealed road for 6 hours at a time definitely qualify as luxury travel.