August 27-28, Day 6+7 Vientiane

It is now Day 6 but yesterday, Day 5 and still in Bangkok I had a free morning while Lindsay and the others visited the Prasat Museum and gardens. That afternoon we joined our overnight train to Nong Khai and the Laos border.  Fortunately after our first overnight experience this was an eventless, relatively comfortable, overnight train journey. We arrived in Nong Khai in the morning (Day 6) with a ew hours to kill before we could board a train that would take us into Laos across the mighty Mekong River.  The trip was wonderfully uneventful and the scenery lush.

The coffee addicts stormed this place

It was a slow day for these hopefuls

Our local Vientiane guide met us at the Vientiane station and on our way to our hotel, regaled us with stories about the political and economic state of the country – in a nutshell it has a communist government with a capitalist economy. The city is an interesting mix of Asia with its Buddhist temples, and the French colonial era, with tree-lined boulevards and grand architecture. Unsurprisingly, our sightseeing included more temples – in the rain!  

Pha That Luang - the 'great golden stupa' 

One on our route was Pha That Luang, meaning ‘great golden stupa'. It is a large, gold-covered Buddhist stupa which actually started life in C1 as a Hindu temple. Since then it has undergone a number of reconstructions. It is mighty impressive albeit rather too glitzy to my eyes. A few more temples later and we were at Haw Phra Kaew which was originally built in C16 to house the Emerald Buddha figurine (it is not actually carved from emerald but another non-precious green stone). 

Wat Si Saket built 1818 is perhaps the oldest temple still standing in Vientiane

This cloister wall contains over 2000 ceramic or silver Buddha images donated by devotees

The surraounding courtyard was once used by armies of Siam as headquarters

Private stupa behind the Si Saket temple

Of course, no visit to Vientiane would be complete without a visit to the imposing Patuxai Victory Monument which commemorates independence from France – it is often referred to as the 'Arc de Triomphe' of Vientiane. 

Ho Phrakeo Museum 

 Patuxai Victory Monument - the 'Arc de Triomphe' of Vientiane

After over a week in the orient, I woke very early with 'traveller's belly' so I didn’t go out with the group. Most of my day was spent going .... well you don't need to know that! Late afternoon I took some medication in the hope that I could go out for dinner. It worked! After a  rather horrid day, eventually I was able to venture out and we joined a few others for a simple dinner in a lovely roof top bar a few doors from our hotel. Terrific place more expensive compared to other places but ultimately our meal of Fried Rice, Pad Thai plus drinks cost us only AU$34.

A beautiful balmy evening - and wonderful to be able to eat!