Vientiane Laos

We travelled to Vientiane from Hanoi by Sleeper Bus. You know we had never thought that we were too old to travel by sleeper bus until a family in Hanoi said 'aren't you older than all the others on the bus' and you know, we were, except for one other 'oldie' like us. It was us and the 'kids' all in their 20s and younger and from all over the world. When we arrived in Vientiane we did the rounds of the backpackers and hostels dropping them off and then we got dropped off at our 'plush' hotel, and it is nice too.

The bus was a bit of an experience, same as last year when we did the Thailand to Cambodia border crossing. We always seem to get charged too much on the border but then the kids were too and there wasn't much you can do about it. You either want to cross or you dont, and it's a long way back. 24 hours in a bus is a long ride, even though it's a sleeper. We were packed in like sardines with many pick ups along the way. Oh well. Adds to the experience.

Vientiane is so different from Hanoi. Firstly it is much hotter which isn't quite so good. But it's so clean, the streets are clean, the roads are wide, the people are very friendly and the stall holders dont hassle. They offer but when you say no, that's it.


One day we hired bikes to go further afield and here we are outside the hotel. Our room is the window/door just above the parked van. It was very hot so bike riding was a little challenge but well worth the effort.




One of the highlights for us was visiting Buddha Park. We caught the local bus which took about 1 hour each way. The bus stopped at the Friendship Bridge which is where you cross the border into Thailand. Many locals seemed to be going over the bridge and coming back with bags and bags of shopping, food and items.

Buddha Park is a collection of Buddhist and Hindu concrete statues built in 1958 situated in a lovely garden about 24km from the city.

Here we are in the entrance to one of the structures. You enter through the mouth and can go right to the top (that's Patricia there sitting on the top right). It has 3 levels which represent Hell (the bottom one of course), earth and then heaven. Very strange and a bit daunting, especially the hell section. But we did it and climbed to the top.














Patricia in the local bus to Buddha Park. This was before we picked up everyone from Friendship Bridge. Then it was packed all the way back to the city. Fun!!!!









This is named Patuxai, a local rendition of Paris' Arc de Triomphe. Quite imposing.






We have spent 4 days here and leave tomorrow for Luang Prabang in the north. A 10 hour bus trip. We have done all the highlights of Vientiane.