A Weekend in Vientiane (300th Post!)

If you are still here, 300 posts and five years since I first started this blog, thank you for your continued support and love! Three years ago, when I hit my first 100 posts, I wrote about my first trip to Cambodia. Today, for my 300th, I get to talk about the weekend I just spent in Laos, Thailand's neighbor to the north!

Patuxai, the Laotian Arch de Triomphe

I've wanted to visit Laos for a while. The first time I planned the trip was for New Year's 2014, but I waited too long to book; the flights were too expensive and the trains all full.

The second time was in October last year, but again, I waited too late, and couldn't justify spending a few hundred dollars just for a 50-minute flight north! Instead, we went to Burma.

When I was visiting home in April, my grandparents, on the suggestion of a friend, recommended that I visit Laos, and finally, over the long Mother's Day weekend (August 12-14) in Thailand, I got my chance.

On Friday, my short, fairly comfortable Air Asia flight touched down in the sleepy capital city, Vientiane, which sits on the Mekong River, right against the Thai border. I was given a 28-day visa on arrival, and soon, I was in the country.

Laos was described to me as Thailand fifty years ago. It's by far the least developed country in Southeast Asia, as it is landlocked and very difficult to travel around. Vientiane is far and away the most developed and largest city in the country, with a population just under 200,000.

At first, it didn't feel very different. The Lao language is very similar to a northern dialect of Thai, and the alphabet is so similar that I can even read it! My girlfriend had no trouble communicating in Thai to the Laotian people we met, who answered her back in Lao.

Lao PDR is also one of the world's five remaining communist countries, and has a reputation of being the friendliest and most laid back (a joke amongst travelers is that "PDR" in its name doesn't stand for "People's Democratic Republic", but "Please Don't Rush").

Vientiane feels similar to some small rural towns in Thailand

Beer Lao Factory

The first stop after landing was the Beer Lao Factory. It's a bit out of town, but doesn't take too long to get to. We took a taxi directly from the airport, because it was one of the top sites we wanted to visit, and it wouldn't be open on the weekend. At the factory, you get to look around the brewery museum, pick up some merchandise, and visit the tasting room! I got a tacky touristy t-shirt (but not so bad since I actually got it from the brewery... right?) and a bright yellow Beer Lao hat, which I've gotten quite attached to.

Three flavors of Beer Lao!

Even though you can get it in Bangkok, I had never tried Beer Lao before. It has a reputation as the best beer in Southeast Asia (most Southeast Asian beer is OK at best, with a few exceptions), and in my opinion, deservedly so! There are three main flavors: lager, dark lager, and Gold. Gold is only available in Laos and is marketed as a bit "exclusive". With the slogan "Brewed with Precious", Beer Lao Gold is is very light and a bit more expensive than the others. My favorite was the dark lager.

Buddha Park

The next morning, bright and early, we found ourselves on a surprisingly new, comfortable, Japanese-built bus heading again out of town, past the brewery, to Buddha Park. 

The Reclining Buddha at Buddha Park

Buddha Park is a strange sort of attraction. It wasn't quite what I expected, but the whole experience was so odd that I wasn't disappointed! Set out in a meadow on the outskirts of Vientiane, past the Friendship Bridge to Thailand, are hundreds of concrete statues of Hindu-Buddhist deities, built by a local artist and holy man half a century ago. 

Buddha Park

There was seemingly nor order nor organization to the park. All of the statues seemed just to be placed... wherever. We spent some time wandering amongst the statues. It felt very bizarre, but really kind of cool. I've never seen anything like this, and I still don't know if it felt very special and peaceful, or weird and tacky. Maybe somewhere in between.

monks at Buddha Park

Patuxai

Back in town, we walked from the bus station, past rows of baguette sellers and tuk-tuk drivers, down Lang Xang Avenue, which stretches from the Presidential Palace down to Patuxai, the "Victory Gate". Laos certainly feels the most "French" of the three former French-Indochinese colonies (the others being Cambodia and Vietnam). Many streets have retained their French names, and the cuisine and architecture still shows a distinct Gallic influence. Nowhere, though, felt more obviously French than here: Lang Xang was modeled after Champs-Elysees, and Patuxai is the Laotian Arc de Triomphe. 

Lang Xang Avenue, Vientiane's Champs-Elysees

Patuxai was constructed in the 1950's and 60's, in the turbulent final years of the Kingdom of Laos before the kingdom's fall to communism at the end of the Second Indochinese (AKA Vietnam) War. It stands as a monument to those Laotians who died fighting in the Second World War, and in the First Indochinese War (the war for independence from France).

my favorite new yellow hat!

It's also somewhat sarcastically nicknamed the "Vertical Runway", as it was built using thousands of tons of concrete and funds donated by the US government for the construction of a new airport. For me, Patuxai was the most impressive site in the city, and the only one that I really knew about before I visited Vientiane.

the view from the top of Patuxai

We climbed up the inside to the top deck, where you could look out at a nice view of the surrounding area. Inside the monument there were a number of souvenir shops selling postcards, Laos travel guides, old coins, and t-shirts. Of course, there were no hats for sale like mine. My yellow hat is special!

That Luang

Leaving Patuxai, we followed a sign further along Lang Xang Avenue towards Pha That Luang, the "Great Stupa" of Laos. "300m" said the sign, but that couldn't have been right... It took us nearly an half an hour, so it had to be more like 3km. By the time we got to the shining golden stupa, the most important Buddhist monument in Laos, I was feeling pretty exhausted and my feet were aching. I wanted nothing more than a croissant and a hot cup of famous Laotian coffee. But there was no time to stop yet! It was already afternoon on our only full day in the country.

Pha That Luang, the "Great Stupa"

Pha That Luang is the national symbol of Laos. The site was established as a Hindu temple in the 3rd Century. It was converted to a Buddhist site later and is regarded as the holiest site for Laotian Buddhists today.

Wat Si Saket and Haw Phra Kaew

There was still no time for coffee. We hailed a tuk-tuk back towards the city center to Wat Si Saket, the oldest original temple building in Vientiane. It was nice, but I was more interested in another part of the temple complex across the street.

Wat Sri Saket

Haw Phra Kaew, a former temple, once housed the famous Emerald Buddha, which now resides in Bangkok's Wat Phra Kaew at the Grand Palace. Haw (meaning "residence") Phra Kaew is now empty except for a small museum inside telling the history of the old temple. The Emerald Buddha has changed hands back and forth between Laos and Siam (Thailand) multiple times throughout its history.

Haw Phra Kaew

My Cup of Coffee!

Finally, I got my coffee. Dusty, sweaty, and with tired feet, we walked from Wat Si Saket past the Presidential Palace to the charming main road of Vientiane, brimming with shops and cafes. There, at Joma Bakery Cafe, I finally got to sit down and enjoy my croissant and hot cup of coffee. I was happy!

a Vientiane snack!

The next day, there wasn't time to do much except visit the cafes again and wait for the early afternoon flight. After a tiring Saturday, I was fine with an easy Sunday morning before heading back to Bangkok and back to work on Monday. After I had one last Beer Lao Gold at the airport, we were soon back on Thai soil.

I enjoyed Laos. I am really curious what the rest of the country is like. Laos doesn't seem as if it's changed much in the last fifty years. It seems less proudly communist and more defiantly French than does Vietnam. Vientiane was a very small town, quiet and still undeveloped, but still the biggest city in the country. The rest of the country is almost entirely rural. Even though it's difficult to travel around Laos, I want to try. 

at a cafe in the morning before my flight back to Bangkok

For those of you who still check my blog from time to time, even after three hundred posts, thank you. It means a lot to know that there are people back home who are interested in my life abroad and the things I'm up to over here in Thailand.