The road to Vientiane (2023)

[kerouac2]

Okay I chose the title just to indicate how old I am even though the Bob Hope/Bing Crosby "road" movies were made long before I was born.  But they must have been on television quite a lot, because I remember quite a bit about them.

Anyway, Vientiane was not at all on my wish list, but once I had decided that I had to go to Hanoi to get to Luang Prabang, it was obvious that I should continue from there to Vientiane.  The main thing that had gobsmacked me about Vientiane the last time I was there was that it was the capital city of a country, but most of the streets were not even paved.  It was an amazing abandoned place that all the rest of the world had forgotten since Laos is of no importance and is such a poor country.  It was even lower on the list than Cambodia which boasts the incredible Angkor Wat.

I knew that things would have changed a lot, but first I had to get there.  The new Chinese train was impressive.

not particularly luxurious but perfectly fine

I had a window seat and loved seeing all of the places where I had suffered on the endless bus years ago.

My companion in the next seat (sitting on his father's lap) was also occasionally fascinated.

I am a hopeless train nerd.

After hurtling along at 147 km/h, we had just about arrived in Vientiane.

[kerouac2]

The Vientiane train station reminded me of the one in Luang Prabang, only bigger.

The ride into the city was long and adventurous. The taxi driver did not speak a word of English or have any idea where he was going. We played with his phone a bit to no avail, and later he stopped to ask someone who spoke English where I wanted to go. That got him into the correct area, but he was still completely lost. All of a sudden, I finally spotted my hotel and told him to stop. This is the sort of time when you are happy to be paying a flat rate because at least two thirds of the trip was wasted by being lost.

I was amused to pass the Ibis which I had briefly considered with its hammer-and-sickle flag.



I had upgraded my room at the V Hotel to a "Mekong view" which meant the difference between about 23 euros and 26 euros, and I was satisfied by the view.



Soon I went out to explore a bit but not too much on this first day. A night market was beginning to set up just across from the hotel.



But I needed to walk to the Mekong again.





This was my hotel. Believe me, the exterior was much nicer than the actual rooms.



I watched the sun set over the Mekong before going out for dinner.

[htmb]

It’s very nice to be able to follow your journey and see all these places through your eyes. Your photos have all been wonderful and reports are super interesting.

[bixaorellana]

Looking forward to more!

I totally agree about train journeys and riding that "magic carpet made of steel". That shot of the person standing in a green field and staring at you hurtling past is wonderful.

And absolutely get & approve of river worship. Your first shot of the mighty river sums that up.

[kerouac2]

This is the sort of cheap southeast Asian restaurant that I like. You don't have to agree.



The cook was very busy and the waitresses were extremely unsmiling and sullen. Dinner cost about 3 euros.





After dinner, it was now dark and it seemed like a good time to visit the night market.



House slippers are a very important item. You never wear your outside shoes inside an Asian residence.



There are so many elegant models from which to shoose.



And then there is the delightful clothing.





I escaped to the riverside expressway, which is closed at night.



I wondered if the Thai side of the river looked any different. Can't tell from here.



There were some night bars down by the water, but nobody was there yet.





back for another bit of the night market







And then back to the hotel after this long day. The premises of "Sputnik Burger" became the breakfast room in the morning.

[kerouac2]

The next morning, I wanted to see the Black Stupa (That Dam), which had fascinated me on my first trip. I had stayed in a hotel almost next door, and the sight of it at night in dark Vientiane, which had very few street lights and unpaved streets, seemed very strange and mysterious. Nobody seems to know how old it is because there were so many stupas hundreds of years ago, but it helped to protect Vientiane in 1827 when the Siamese invaded and destroyed the city.

We're not there yet.



too early in the day to accept Tintin's suggestion



Here it is. It has been renovated since I last saw it, not as black and not as crumbling.



I thought the plaque at the base would contain some historical information, but no.



Next door is the U.S. Embassy, and the guard absolutely did not want me to take any pictures.



This might be the last time I ever see the Black Stupa.



The economy is not doing great. Most of these shops had clearly never been rented since construction.



Very little urban planning seems to have taken place although the city has grown considerably.



This bank looked like fun.



I confirm that the postcards that I mailed in these boxes finally reached their destinations.



An attempt was being made to fight the huge tree roots.



Just out of spite, I took a picture of the U.S. Embassy transmission tower. What are they trying to hide?



This is Vientiane's version of a shopping mall.





Plenty of commercial space is still available upstairs.



lots of unfinished concrete shells

[kerouac2]

Vientiane has strayed away from French much more than Luang Prabang, but its street signs are still in French. This is the grand avenue of the city.











This is an extremely important installation in developing countries.

Vientiane does not have a surfeit of notable monuments, but here at last is Patuxai. It was built from 1957 to 1968 to honour Laotian soldiers who died in WW2, but considering how long the construction took, they thought a little more and added the defeat of the French during the war of independence in 1949. It was built with American money and cement that had been sent to build a new airport. The Patuxai name came about after the communist Pathet Lao overthrew the monarchy in 1975 and decided that it would honour their victory, even though the North Vietnamese army did almost all of the work.

It provided some welcome shade on this boiling hot day.





The rage in Chinese tourist selfies is to put the phone on the ground and have the group gather around in a circle.

[bixaorellana]

Was Vientiane a bit of a comedown after Luang Prabang? From your introduction here, it seems you were maybe expecting that it might have picked up a bit after your last visit. And from your comment about maybe seeing the Black Stupa for the last time, it sounds as though you're not planning to go back.

The night market reminds me of a couple of markets I saw in Amsterdam: "Oooo, look ~ a market!" followed by a flatline response.

The Black Stupa is a wonder simply by dint of having survived so much history. It's also serene and beautiful wreathed in its tropical foliage -- foliage that is helping destroy it.

Your cheap restaurant reminds me of Mexico, as do the purple flowers, unsurprisingly.

Thanks for including the history of the rather ungainly and top heavy Patuxai. It is bearing the weight of a varied history plus corruption.

Were most of the tourists Chinese? There were glamor travelers amongst them.

[kerouac2]

Vientiane was exactly how I expected it to be. It had a certain charm when it was completely off the world map and the streets were empty of cars, but there was no way that that would last, especially surrounded by countries developing at breakneck speed like Thailand and Vietnam. Even Phnom Penh, to which I have not yet returned, is growing by leaps and bound according to a few movies that I have seen. It would have been nice if it could have developed in a civilised way like Luang Prabang, but it was alreay too big and unwieldy so chaos ensued. However, I did see signs that it is slowly pulling together, but I have no idea how long it will take.

[kerouac2]

This is next to the Patuxai, and Google tells me that it is the Prime Minister's office.



I briefly wondered why the Arc de Triomphe in Paris did not install snack bars in its pillars.



Then I struck out in the searing heat to go back to the centre of town.



I admit that I was puzzled by who would bring a Fiat 500 to a place like this.



It was so hot that I quickly ducked into a fruit juice place for some nice iced passion fruit drink.



Frankly, downtown Vientiane is nothing about which to write home.



Starbucks, really?  Is this necessary right now?



If this place is real, it certainly took courage to open an establishment here.



All through a lot of Asia (as Mark knows), the electrical wiring leaves a lot to be desired.

[htmb]

I start to perspire every time I read your reports from SE Asia and look at the photos. It must have been so hot and humid. Maybe no worse than here in Florida, but in summer we tend to stay inside in aircon during the middle of the day.

[cheerypeabrain]

Glorious medear, Jeff (ex-overhead linesman) blanched when he saw the wiring It looks very warm there, the Black Stupa is fascinating! Thank you x

[htmb]

The Prime Minister’s office certainly looks grand, and either fairly new, or recently spruced up.

[kerouac2]

These gentlemen on the left were Americans.  There were a surprising number of black Americans in the city.











I escaped to a fancy outdoor bar.





Meetings of this group are sure to be interesting.



But it was already time for my swan song.



The airport has definitely improved. It used to look like a bus station.

I was happy to have seen Vientiane again, but I was also happy to leave it behind.

[kerouac2]

If ever I return to Vientiane, I will make a point of visiting this museum: UXO Laos Visitors Centre

[onlyMark]

I enjoy all the street scenes. And the wiring. Brings the place to life rather than just seeing monuments and temples etc.
I'm still waiting to see if Mrs M would be posted in this area of the world but it looks like I'll have to do a solo visit sometime before that ever happens.

[bixaorellana]

That picture of the woman and the girl with umbrellas in front of Patuxai fairly shimmers with heat!

Of all the shocking pictures I've seen of jumbled excess wiring in Asia, I think yours take the cake!

I take it all the pictures of the elaborate arches, the pagoda, the elephant, etc. are from a temple complex?

Interesting that you ducked into an outdoor bar rather than one with air conditioning. From the looks of things, the physical shock of AC might have killed you.

Maybe Vientiane is not anything to write home about, but this was sure a good armchair visit.

[kerouac2]

This is a bit silly, but I found it amusing.

If I am not mistaken, the country with the shortest women is Guatemala.