Vientiane, Laos' Capitol City

In our Lonely Planet guide "Southeast Asia on a Shoestring," the introduction to Laos starts: "Travellers utter a distinct 'ahhh' when they arrive in Laos, like kicking back in a hammock after a long hot day. No teeming, smoggy metropolis, no aggressive entrepreneurialism, this is SE Asia's most relaxing country to travel in." I hate to admit it, but Joey and I emitted a very similar sound when we got to Vientiane.

Vientiane is not like any capitol city I have ever seen. Some 600,000 people live in Vientiane yet it seems like a small town -- a friendly, small town -- a friendly, dusty, small town. We saw the most of the sights but enjoyed sitting in sidewalk cafes and watching the town more.

Laos was a French colony and retains some of the colonial flavor, particularly with regard to food. Our first stop in Vientiane, basically stumbling distance from the bus (those seats get hard after a fourteen hour journey!), was the Scandinavian Bakery. Not french, but it had the best chocolate croissant I have had in months. Okay, it was the only chocolate croissant I have had in months but it would have tasted good even if it had been only a day. We sampled numerous bakeries in our three days in Vientiane. Almost all had delicious bread, pastries, and coffee and are frequented by tourists, ex-pats, and locals. Good food and good people watching, there is little more that we look for in our travels.
Okay, temples. We look at lots and lots of temples. This temple, which now houses a museum, held the Emerald Buddha during its stay in Laos. Interestingly, the sign does not mention the rather shady circumstances by which it ended up in Laos nor the war through which the Thai's took it back. The temple was a lovely place, but nothing like the Emerald Buddha's digs in Bangkok.