Vientiane is my favorite SE Asia city to date. The traffic is bearable, the streets are clean, and the people are incredibly friendly. The city’s French influence is unmistakable – wide boulevards with roundabouts, numerous street-side cafes, and colonial architecture everywhere you turn.
We didn’t do much for sightseeing during our 5 day stay. After speeding through southern Laos, it was nice to simply slow down, catch up on our books, and enjoy the city’s energy. Highlights included:
- Yensabi Show – Lao traditional music and dance performance. The bad stage made it feel like a high school talent show, but it was a fun performance nonetheless.
- New Favorite Meal – Do-it-yourself fresh spring rolls. Piles of fresh greens, tasty sausage, rice paper, and dipping sauce. Mmmm! (Except this might have been the meal that made me sick a couple days later.)
- Worst Night of Sleep – We moved to a cheap dormitory for one night only to be awoken by a guy who suffers from night terrors and a belligerent drunk who threatened to kill the kids who ran the guesthouse. His arson threats and voodoo curses also made for fun dreams.
- Pha That Luang – The temple shaped like a golden missile cluster. It’s on all of the money so I forced Sebastian to go check it out.
- Gym Time – We found a nice western-style gym. The $6 day membership included a one hour massage. And it was good!
