The Quiet Capital

We arrived in Vientiane early evening and checked into the Inter-City Hotel, which had some rooms with river views.  Ours didn’t, but the room was pretty nice.  We’d decided to treat ourselves to a decent place after a week or so of roughing it in some fairly unpleasant rooms!

After luxuriating in an almost-hot shower following the hellish bus ride we headed out to explore the city.  Vientiane is, without a doubt, the quietest and smallest capital I’ve ever been to.  Which adds to its’ charm, I think.  It is very attractive; with loads of colonial buildings (some of which are rather dilapidated) and pretty river views.  The capital was also by far the most touristy place we’d been to so far in Laos.  There was even an “English” pub, which we were later to discover served the most disgusting white wine I’ve ever tasted! Click here to read more…