Vientiane

As said before, we didn't have too much time visiting the capital of Lao PDR since we had a couple of appointments. But, quite frankly, there are more interesting cities in SE Asia. We saw a couple of Wats, the presidential palace and their version of the arc de triumph which they describe themselves on a plate inside as - and I quote - "from distance even less impressive". Besides that, there are tons of embassies, the biggest one being of Brunei, and pompous governmental buildings, as it befits a socialist dictatorship.

However, there are a gazillion nice restaurants with great lunch offers - we had an AYCE buffet for 2,50 EUR each - and bakeries with decent croissants but no cinemas to see the Hobbit. Also, the traffic is nothing compared to other big cities. It is far less and far more orderly than in Phnom Penh or Saigon for example. Nice for a change!

The second night here we went for street food - including a trip to the night market trying different bits here and there. Excellent sausage (on a stick ;) - with an Irish/French couple and we couldn't help but notice how differently you approach people while travelling. They had been at the tourist information the same time than us. Then we saw them again on the bus to Vientiane and that was clearly enough for both couples to strike up a conservation. Imagine that in Germany/Belgium. They would be more like "yeah, I'm gonna sit over there". But while on the road this is necessary of course or you wouldn't meet anybody. And it is quite nice that way!

In other news, it is almost winter here. Being only at 28℃ during the day, temperature drops to like 17 during the night. So COLD!Read more