Vientiane, Laos

Spending a week in the lovely city of Vientiane, Laos has been our vacation away from our vacation. Vientiane is regarded as one of the smallest and quietest capital cities in the world, and I cannot argue with that. So far we've been watching movies that we've bought off the street (for less than $.50 a DVD), eating standard Laos foods like noodle soup and fried rice that are incredibly tasty, baking our skin again in the sun after our cold days/nights in Kathmandu, and feeling an overall sense of laziness that is perfect for the end of a 3 month long trip.

Since Vientiane is only 20 km away from the Thailand border, it is no surprise that this city is very similar to other Thai cities with the endless availability of great foods and drink, a plethora of temples, and a poor yet developed culture. One big difference, however, is the people. Perhaps it's because tourism is relatively new here (I think the borders opened in 1989), but the people seem quite shy and reserved, and English is not spoken nearly as well as in Thailand. Regardless, Laos is a pleasant country to travel to with much less pollution and noise than Thailand. If we were not heading back to Thailand in a couple days to wrap things up in Bangkok, we would head north to Luang Prabang, which is a Northern province highly recommended by many friends and travelers.

Today is another lazy day :) We are going to spend some time next to a posh hotel pool adding yet another layer of shade to our Pacific NW skin :)

Much love to all,

Drew

pictures coming soon...