Vientiane
Day 1
Tarli and I were very excited about going to Laos, a country neither of us had been to before. I had been to Vietnam and Cambodia and was curious whether Laos would be similar. It also shares a border with Thailand and I soon realized that even though it has a population of less than 10 million, Laos is actually very diverse and there are significant differences in customs and language from region to region, especially north to south (as Laos is longer than it is wide).
We flew from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur first and then connected from KL to Vientiane after a short stopover.
We arrived at Vientiane, Laos’ capital around 9:00 am after a short two and a half hour flight from Kuala Lumpur. Tarli and I both noticed how small the airport is – there was just one conveyer belt. The building itself was quite small and we were through customs in no time. I exchanged about $300 US into Kip, the local currency. I got 6.4 million Kip! I knew then that managing the money would not be easy and I had to familiarize myself with the notes. One extra or less zero could mean a costly mistake!
The taxi to the center where our hotel was cost 130,000 Kip – about $6 US. It was quite cheap. We would soon find out that most things in Laos cost half as much as the US, if not cheaper. The US dollar goes a long way here.
We checked out the cafe at the Crowne Plaza while our room was being readied for early check in and at about noon we got to our room. Tarli and I got massages at the SPA. My deep tissue massage cost $30 US and Tarli’s Lao massage cost $20 US.
We went for a short walk around the hotel to find a lunch spot and most things seemed to be closed and we were not sure if the restaurants that were open would be good. It was quite different from Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng where we found lots of places to eat easily. So as much as I don’t want to admit it, our first meal in Laos was tacos and empanadas. We found a Chilean café called Bacán close to our hotel and the food was quite good. I talked to the chef and owner who was from Chile. He was married to a Laotian and now lives in Laos.
After lunch we decided to check out the pool at the Crowne Plaza. It’s an outdoor pool with a nice view of the city and a bar right there. It was very hot and humid and it was nice to be able to take refuge in the pool.
In the evening we decided to try the Three Merchants Restaurant in the hotel as Paul, the hotel manager had told us it was the top restaurant in Vientiane. He was not lying. The food, ambience and service were impeccable. We had our first of many Laotian dishes here, among which was Larb with beef. It was one of the tastiest meals on the trip.
Larb is very common here and it is basically ground meet seasoned with various spices and usually comes with a salad and sticky rice. As I mentioned earlier, the language varies from North To South, so when we went north to Luang Prabang we found Lap on the menu, which was the same as Larb.
We both went to bed early after a long travel day and a very satisfying meal. We were ready to explore Vientiane the next day.
Day 2
We were picked up from our hotel at 9:00 am by our guide Souk. Souk had initially studied to be a monk and he was in a monastery for several years. But he later decided to study History and became a History teacher. However teacher salaries in Laos are pitiful and Souk told us that he sometimes wouldn’t get paid, even though he taught at a government school. I think he said his salary was about $100 US per month. That’s not even enough to rent an apartment. So he went to tourism school and passed an exam and now is a guide.
Our first stop was on this tour was Buddha Park. It was a park with hundreds of statues of Buddha as well as Hindu deities such as Krishna, Shiva and others. Stories from the Ramayan were depicted in the sculptures there. The biggest buddha there was a reclining buddha. The statues in this park were not ancient. A lot of them were made after 1960 and some much more recently. Nevertheless it was a nice park. There were so many butterflies there and they were quite big.
This is also the first time we learnt about the floods in the rainy season. A lot of the sculptures get inundated during the rains. Furthermore the drainage system is not good there and it’s worsened by so much construction. Souk said cement often clogs up the sewer and drainage system in the city and it takes a long time to clean up.
Images of the next stop Wat Si Muaang below.
The Wat Si Muang is a very large temple complex. Here we got familiar with the structure of these temples. Usually there is a main temple and the monk house, that houses the monks. It was nice to see people worshipping and one could tell that people here were somewhat religious and that they were there to show respect and also to ask for blessings, good luck or prosperity in different forms. We also happened to be there the day before Laotian Lent, a three month period where devoted people give up alcohol for three months. It also involves refraining from certain foods. A lot of devotees were in traditional clothes for the beginning of this special austere period of three months.
Next we took a break for lunch at Laokham Coffee near the Night Market and after that we headed to Patuxai or Victory Monument. There’a a bit of irony involved here. This monument is in the French style and looks a bit like the Champs Élysées. But when the Laotians gained independence by kicking the French out, they declared this as the Victory Monument. To their credit, they did add some Hindu and Buddhist art, mainly in the form of frescos on the ceiling. We walked up to the top and got a nice view of the “boulevards” and Souk reminded us that all this is prone to flooding during the rainy season.
Our very last stop was Sisaket temple. This temple was not as big and elaborate as the Wat Si Muang, but it was very busy with people. They were all celebrating, praying and performing rituals. It was interesting to see.
It seemed more akin to an ordinary temple, rather than the elaborate touristic Wat Si Muang. I wonder how many temples of this nature exist in Laos. I also noticed there were a lot of expensive cars parked there, perhaps indicating that we were in an affluent part of the capital.
Tarli and I repeated our activities from yesterday – pool relaxation and visit to Three Merchants. This time we ordered the Larb with duck. It was really good as well. Tarli found it a bit gamy, but still enjoyed it.
The next day we were headed to Vang Vieng. More excitement awaited us in a new place .. more to come …
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