May 2016 in Vientiane, Laos
Three times lucky? The best for last? What are the odds? Next to zero, still, it could happen. But it didn’t.
There are not many places in the world that can top Luang Prabang / Vang Vieng duo and Vientiane is not one of them. Don’t get me wrong. The capital of Laos is a lovely town but no match for the two pearls couple of hundred kilometers higher upstream. To give Vientiane a fair chance it deserves you should visit it first. Iow, you should start your Laotian adventure in Vientiane and travel upstream.
Vientiane, like many other Asian towns I visited, lies on the banks of the Mekong. Typically there is a wide promenade with hotels, restaurants, vendors, benches along the river. Vientiane is not any different. A wide promenade with parks, playgrounds for kids, night market, food stalls that run along the river looks very inviting for night strolls. The problem is there is no river, or rather the river is hardly visible, and not visible at all at night, as a 500-meter wide field of nothing separates it from the promenade and town. To get closer to the river you need to walk a couple of kilometers out of town. I found it to be most frustrating, so I dropped the idea of promenade strolls and turned my interest towards the town itself instead.
The town feels and is small. Rather provincial. At the same time, it feels/is very laid back and charming. There is no shortage of lovely looking small streets and alleys full of flowers, cozy restaurants, and cafes serving good local and Western food. Nightlife, however, is low key. Nothing much to do. Nothing much to see. A perfect place to chill. And chill I did.
Most of my time I spend by the hotel pool socializing with other guests. After three days of chilling, I left Vientiane and Laos and flew to Penang in Malaysia. to chill some more. Was the plan.
Some ‘chilling’ images
