Laos: Part 1

After a few days in Phnom Penh we were off to Laos. We flew North to the sleepy capital Vientiane. Make that sleepy with a capital S. It seems that Laos is far behind its sister nations in waking up from wasted years of communism, general political ineptitude or both. Bottom line, there's just not much to Vientiane. A few main streets, some hotels, some restaurants and a lot of quiet mixed with dust along the street.

Scenes:

We have a hard time remembering what we did in Vientiane. There's some small tourism in the city to see in its tiny revolutionary museum (funny political propaganda and some facts) and perhaps textiles in the making. There are a few cute hotels. And some grizzly looking guest houses. The Mekong River flows through so there's some night time activity by the river. Two days in the city is enough if you're there (as we were) as a stop-over to continue planning the rest of your trip and, really, just to “see” the city. That's about it :-)

Sticky rice at dinner:

Making textiles:

Earlier comment about not settling for your hotel (See Cambodia, Phnom Penh) is very true here as well. Our original hotel was described as having pleasant rooms and a pretty garden. Sure. If you consider old, withered plants pretty.