Vientiane is definitely the most modest and laid back capital city in SEA. Traffic is orderly, streets are clean, sidewalks exist. It is also impressively quiet. There isn't too much to do though besides seeing some temples.
Strangely enough on this trip we've been following around the different sites that the Emerald Buddha has been kept. First in Bangkok, now in Vientiane, there is the temple where the Emerald Buddha used to be housed. Soon we'll arrive in Chiang Rai, another place where the little green figure was displayed. Other notable sights include the Asian version of the Arc d'Triumph and Laos' national symbol and pride, That Luang. This is a distinctive temple with golden stupas and spires.
The temple that used to house the Emerald Buddha
Laos' National Symbol That Luang
Vientiane's Arc d'Triumph?
After a day of biking around sight-seeing we relaxed with a meal by the Mekong. The river resembles a very creamy chocolate milk, maybe like what can be found in Willy Wonkas factory. The dinner was a traditional Laos dinner, complete with sitcky rice served in a bamboo basket (eaten with the hands), a barbecued fish stuffed with lemongrass, and a papaya salad.
Our whirlwind journey through Laos continued in Vang Vieng, a natural amusement park with limestone cliffs full of caves to explore bisected by the Nam Ou River. Vang Vieng is an incredibly touristy location that reminded us of Thailand's Ko Pha-Ngan. Each restaurant had multiple TVs playing episodes of Friends, Family Guy, or in one case Seinfeld. The main attraction here is tubing on the river. This has become such a huge industry that they even have shirts that say "In the tubing Vang Vieng," which is wrong on many levels. Tourists all over Thailand, Vietnam, and of course Laos have these shirts proclaiming that yes, indeed, they have been here and done that.
Before sampling what tubing had to offer, we rented some mountain bikes and rode out on the rocky and muddy "tractor roads" to explore some of the caves. The roads are called tractor roads as it is the local form of AWD off road vehicle. It involves a large wooden cart with a small engine tractor attached at the front pulling it all. Locals use this as a pickup truck, carrying people and supplies at a very slow pace. We explored a few caves but since our flashlight was weak when we got it in Malaysia and on its last legs, we didn't make it very far inside.
That afternoon, we rented a tube, piled into a tuk-tuk with other foreigners talking about how wasted they were last night and headed to the put in about 4 km up river. As the tuk-tuk pulls in we are greeted by two different bamboo bars setup by the riverside blasting reggae and pop songs and fueling tourists for their ride. It was a truly surreal experience, to be on the river, floating by majestic and overgrown cliffs, while passing bamboo huts filled with shrieking Europeans dancing and swinging themselves into the river. Did I mention the swings? In order to attract tourists to their particular bar, the bamboo huts each have setup a playground composed of zip lines, high rope swings and even a water slide! For no cost or just for buying a beer you get to go up and throw yourself into the water in many different ways. These are quite professional setups with supporting points and anchor lines so you can step off a platform 10 meters from the water and swing around before dropping into the river. It was definitely a lot of fun. After a leisurely float down the river you arrive back in Vang Vieng, where many tourists then hop back in a tuk-tuk to start the fun over again.
Catching air in Vang Vieng
Rashmi breaking the sound barrier on a water slide
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