We arrived in Vientiane after a 4 hour bus ride from Vang Vieng. After the very bumpy and winding roads of our journey from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng we specifically bought a ticket for a VIP bus (a bigger bus, goes a bit slower and a bit more comfortable). When we were picked up from our hotel 30 minutes late we knew something wasn’t right and our gut turned out to be correct. I don’t think we’ll ever know what happened, but I’m assuming that we missed our VIP bus as they failed to collect us on time. We were then put on a small minivan bus again and told that we would be changing to the VIP bus… guess what… that never happened. Regardless, we made it to Vientiane in one piece. The drive was far more comfortable than the last one and we didn’t really mind. We paid the same price for the ticket anyway.

We have heard a lot about Vientiane, mainly bad things. We’ve heard it’s a dump and to only use it as a base to move on to somewhere else. As we drove into Vientiane I was surprised by how much road work and pavement repair was going on. To me, it looked like a city in a eager state of repair and improvement. Not a bad thing at all. We saw quite a lot of quite grand buildings and were quite impressed by the feel of the place. Simon’s phone hasn’t been charging so we went for a wander to try and find a wireless charger to see if that would work. After speaking to 3 very helpful people, we learnt that it wasn’t going to work, but again were surprised by how kind and friendly everyone was being. Not at all like what we’d heard previously.

That night we found the BEST food for dinner. I had a philly cheese steak and Simon had a chorizo burger. WOW! It was sooooo good and super cheap. We were both very happy afterwards.

The next morning we got up and headed out to the Buddha Park. We had seen signs around offering you transport to the Buddha Park for around £7. We decided to be brave and went for the public bus which was comfy and just as fast. We paid £1.20 each. Bargain! We got to the Buddha Park, paid our entrance. It was just what I was expecting.. weird! The park was built by a monk in 1958 who studied both Hinduism and Buddhism. You could definitely see the different styles of statues present in the park. The park has no religious affiliations and no real order to it, but it was interesting and some of the statues were really interesting. We explored the large pumpkin statue to start, climbing all the way to the top, we tried different things out with our camera as it was a photographers paradise and stopped for some lunch overlooking the Mekong river and Thailand. We were so close to Thailand again at this point that my phone switched back to a Thai service provider. 2 cats decided to join us for lunch. As we were outside, I let them. Deciding, I probably wasn’t going to die from allergies. I would say that the park is worth a visit in a capital city that doesn’t have a huge amount of attractions.

Some excellent more ‘modern’ statues at the Buddha Park.

We got back to the city and headed to ‘Cope’. The Cope visitor centre is a charity that provides rehabilitation and prosthetic support to the people of Lao. Many of the people who benefit from the work of Cope have been affected by accidents caused by UXOS (see previous post about Luang Prabang). The centre was interesting. We watched a documentary, saw how prosthetics are made and read stories about how people benefit from them and the rehabilitation program. It was a lovely place to visit and I’m really glad we went. We bought a canvas bag to help support the charity and also the crafts of the local people.

A coffee stop.

Our last stop of the day was to the Patuxai war memorial. It was built as a memorial to the people who died fighting for independence from France. It looks a lot like the Arc de Triomphe, but has very Laotian designs all over it. We sat at the water fountain for a while and enjoyed the colour of the sky as the sun began to set.

We had a late flight from Vientiane to Hanoi in Vietnam the next day so stored our baggage at our hotel and headed out for a little more exploration. We looked around a lot of stores at local Laotian arts and crafts, sat and enjoyed some really good baguettes, visited a temple, Vat Sisaket and went to the National Museum.

Here are some photos from Vat Sisaket. It was a very simple temple, but had an impressive display of Buddha statues.

The National Museum was so unbelievable and not in a good way. I still to this day CAN NOT believe that this was their National Museum. There was plenty of information about the regions of Lao as well as it’s archeological history. There was also information about the many wars that Lao have been involved in, but the place is absolutely falling apart. We spent about an hour reading some of the information, but this place is in serious need of an influx of cash and love.

After our day we headed to the airport not quite ready to leave Laos. The people are so friendly here and the place was far quieter and not as touristy as Northern Thailand which I liked. I would love to come back at some point and explore the 4000 islands in the South, but for now Vietnam is calling.

Good to know that this school in Vientiane is drug free. Are others not?