Vang Vieng to Vientiane

Homework and School Dinners

We used our last day in Vang Vieng to catch up on bookings. We had left the time up to the end of June when we meet James and El free for Laos and Cambodia. However, we've decided to reduce this to 4 rather 6 weeks so that we can have 2 weeks in Sri Lanka. Were enjoying Laos but had planned some beach time in both countries but should be able have the same in Sri Lanka plus see some of another country. So today has been useful for getting some ideas together and also booking a bit more for Laos and Cambodia, we will leave Sri Lanka planning for another day.

We did fit in time around the pool and a brief walk round the town. It has been another hot and humid day so didn't go too far!

Near our hotel there is a catering school, called the Academy, which the students run. We went here for tea (dinner to non Northerners) and had a top meal. It was different to other places in the town as much calmer and smarter. Only us and two other groups in. Sadly one Aussie bloke took their request for feedback too far and went on about how his dessert, of creme brulee, hadn't been properly cooked and explained how to cook it properly.

Vientiane

The next day we caught a minibus to Vientiane.

Ventiane us the capital of Laos of looks like a sprawling city, we are in the touristy area but it isn't very busy at all and luckily the rain has mainly held off.

On our first full day, we took a walk to look at the some of the main sites. The first was That Dam which is a black stupa set on a roundabout near our hotel, legend has it there is a seven headed water dragon, naga, inside who tried to protect Laos from a Siamese Army invasion.

After this we visited the Patuxay which is a victory monument and similar to the Arc De Triomphe. It is impressive and I was able to walk nearly to the top where the views of the city and Karen laying on a bench reading were excellent. The very top of the tower was closed off.

The last stop was Pha That Luang, this is a golden temple with other colourful buildings and really amazing to walk round. Despite having seen a crazy number of temple over the last couple of months they still amaze me with their colours and despite being massive their ornate designs.

Good Luck Birds

One strange good luck custom we didnt take part in is releasing birds from small cages. The locals catch small birds in these big nets, put them in small bamboo cages and then encourage tourists to buy them as setting the birds free brings you good luck!

The walk so far had been about 9km and as we were heading back it started to drizzle, we decided to get a tuktuk back and glad we did as it was a torrential downpour within a couple of minutes. By the time we finished lunch it had ended so have been able to swim and laze by the pool this afternoon. So maybe we didn't need the caged bird for good luck.