Vientiane Laos
The bus ride from Vang Vieng to Vientiane Laos was uneventful and the scenery fairly uninteresting, the road was pretty rough and at times disintegrated into dirt so we bumped along for most of the way and was glad to get off at the other end.
I wish I could say the we explored the countless Wats in the Lao Capital city Vientiane, I also wish I could say that we visited the Lao version of the Arc de Triomphe AKA as the vertical run way or Patuxai it’s offical name. But I can’t. We did see Patuxai from the back of a tuk tuk and walk passed many wats but that was it I’m afraid, after a while the wats of SE Asia become a little like the churches of Europe – they all start to look the same…
We did wander the streets soaking up the atmosphere of the old Vientiane French colonial town and lazily hung out at our hotel (Mali Namphu Guesthouse) which was set around a shady courtyard.
We continued on our food quest but struggled to find good Laos food, we ate at the mum and dad street restaurants, our rational being that if anyone was going to do authentic food is was them but we were a little disappointed, the food we ate was ok had we had some pretty good grilled chicken but certainly not the taste sensations we experienced in LPB. The good news is we did discover some pretty damn good Italian firstly in a restaurant called Aria and then in a French (yes French) restaurant (Le Prevercal 73 rue Panhkham)). In fact I would go as far as to say I had the best pizza there I’ve had since I left Italy.
After a few days of not very much in Vientiane Laos it was time to head back to Thailand and a flight to Bangkok from Udon Thani. We missed the international bus thanks to the mini van driver who picked us up being late and all other buses were booked that day. However Asia being what it is it was easy to find a mini van to the border and then a mini van to Udon Thani.
We spent the night in Udon…next stop Bangkok and the delightful Aquatini restaurant where last time there we had eaten an amazing fish with lime and chilli dish. We were really looking forward to enjoying it again.
For Information on Travelling In Laos Read Our Laos Travel Guides