Goodbye Vientiane

After spending only one full day in Vientiane we decided to cross the border back into Thailand and make our way to Nong Khai. But before I get to far ahead of myself I will tell you about our time in Laos' nation capital.

Vientiane

While we were in Vang Vieng we heard rumours that Vientiane could be traveled and enjoyed in a day, two max. We decided to reserve judgment for the city until we actually saw it ourselves. Turns out that the rumours were pretty much true. Although we could have stayed longer we were both itching to get back to Thailand.

Day One

After settling into our guesthouse we decided to walk around the city and familiarize ourselves with the good places to eat, bookstores, Internet cafes etc. The city itself is much larger than either place we had been to in Laos so far (Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng were both pretty small), but thankfully was nothing like Bangkok (Thailand's capital city). After spending a few hours walking around we took a bit of a rest to plan our next day. We decided that we would not leave Vientiane until we had both seen everything that was on our "must do" lists. With our action plan completed we headed out for dinner.

Although we ran into Dara (our Florida friend) on our way to the bus station in Vang Vieng we were separated once we arrived there. We had purchased tickets to Vientiane the day prior and supposed to be on the 10:00 am bus. When Dara showed up at the bus station she was told that the 10:00 was sold out and not wanting to risk being stranded to Vang Vieng for another day she hopped on a mini bus (which left a full hour before our bus did).

Side note: Turns out, of course, that our bus was not sold out and actually left half an hour late because the bus driver sat around waiting (and hoping) that they would sell more tickets for the bus.

We had been in Vientiane most of the day and hadn't run into Dara yet. As we were waiting for our dinner order, none other than Dara (who had our friends from Ottawa - Nashib and Maria in tow) walked by us. Nashib and Maria could stay long - they were headed out on the overnight bus to Paxae (sp??) - but Dara joined us for the evening. Dara was also debating about staying one more day or two. After an ice cream cone (woo hoo for me) we parted ways and agreed to meet up for dinner the next day.

Day Two

We woke up nice and early (for us) and started our wat walking tour. Our Lonely Planet guide book suggested a 2 hour walking tour of the city which stopped at most of the best temples - with a few of our own choices added.

By 11:30 am we had finished up most of our tour and were wandering around city wondering how to spend the next few hours (the other two temples we wanted to see were closed between the hours of 11 am and 1 pm so we had some time to kill). As we were wandering we ran into (none other) than Dara. After chatting we decided to meet up at 2:30 to visit the cities most sacred stupa - That Luang.

We spent the next few hours wandering through Wat Phra Kaew and Wat Sisaket. Both sites were beautiful and both had been converted into museums. Wat Sisaket was lined with alcoved walls - in each alcove was two small Buddha figurines. There must have thousands of them. Wat Phra Kaew used to house the Emerald Buddha (now in Bangkok), but in 1788 the Thais took the Buddha for themselves. We met up with Dara at 2:30 and started the long walk to That Luang. Although the road we also had the pleasure of passing by the Anousavari Monument - Laos own triumphal arch - built in the 1960's for the people of Laos who died in wars defending the country. It was pretty cool to see. We finally made it up to That Luang and it was an impressive site. It was unlike any stupa we have ever seen for two reasons - it was shaped differently and it was completely gold. Most of the temples we have visited used gold leaf - the maintenance must have been horrible because the stuff was always peeling off. They must have used gold paint on this one because it was perfect. We walked back to our guesthouse (after stopping for some margaritas) and had some much needed time off our feet and a shower. We met up with Dara for one last dinner (for sure this time because after she's not going back to Thailand) and had some great red curry and fried tofu (yum yum). We headed out for drinks by the Mekong River after dinner and said our goodbyes.