Vientienne, Laos
2/4/2006
Sabaidee! That's Lao for hello......Today I am in Vientienne, Laos. Arrived here yesterday afternoon after a 2 hour flight from Siem Reap. Got a room in a little guesthouse for $12. This is a funky little place in town in an old French colonial style building, with shuttered windows and a nice balcony to hang out and just watch the world go by on the street below.
As I am sitting here on the balcony, I can hear an old pickup truck with a very loose fanbelt down the street. There is a man just below me selling what appears to be chicken (although I may be wrong) from his little stand. On the other side of me is a little woman with a noodle shop doing a pretty brisk business with the locals. The old pickup just went past and I can still hear it as it makes it's way across town. He won't be getting too much further with that fan belt.
Vientienne is part of what used to be French Indochina and you can see the French influence everywhere you go. There are a lot of good restaurants here, and a lot of bakeries with croissants, baguettes and all kinds of pastries. Just another thing they inherited from the French.
For a city - in fact I'm pretty sure it's the largest in Laos - this place is has a pretty relaxed atmosphere. Nobody is in any kind of hurry here. None of the crazy, hectic scenes like you see in Bangkok or Hong Kong. A nice place to kick back and relax.
There's not a whole lot to see here so I won't be spending too much time here.
Tomorrow I'll be moving on again.......