Vientiane, Vientiane Prefecture, LaosHi again from Vientiane! We spent the day checking out Laos's capital city, uncovering some of its hidden charms. Like most places that are often written off by the travel community as not worth visiting, I found that Vientiane is actually an interesting city that I'm glad I got a chance to explore.
Ditch the French, keep the baguettes
After breakfast at the hotel, we spent the morning checking out a few of Vientiane's sights. Laos, like Vietnam, spent 60 years as a French "protectorate" between 1893 and 1953 before kicking them out in a struggle for independence that overlapped with the American war. They are not big fans of the French around here, needless to say, but a lot of the remnants from the time period have stuck around. Many signs and companies are still in French; a lot of the wide boulevards and colonial architecture date from that time period. And of course, the food. Like most former French colonies, Laos kicked out the French but chose to keep much of the cuisine. Baguettes, croissants, chocolatines, khao jee pâtés (the local version of Banh Mi), all feature heavily in this cafe culture. If you like French food, you'll surely eat well here.
The other characteristic of Vientiane is that it's a capital city of a Communist country. Which means large, imposing government buildings and ministries dot the city. Throughout the morning, we walked by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Technology and Communications, and of course, the Prime Minister's Office. Laos's single party government system has a President and Secretary General as head of state who is elected by committee, and a Prime Minister as head of government who is appointed by the President. Everywhere you look here, there are large government buildings with big Lao and Communist flags flying.
Laos's answer to the Arc de Triomphe
The first main sight we went to see was Patuxay Monument, Laos's answer to the Arc de Triomphe. It translates as "Victory Gate" and is built in the same style as the one in Paris, but mostly as a giant middle finger to the French, as it's a war memorial designed to commemorate those who died in both World War II and later, in Laos's struggle for independence... from the French. Designed in 1957 and completed in 1968 during Laos's brief period as a constitutional monarchy, it looks like the Arc de Triomphe with added Laotian design elements and Buddhist elements. Fun fact: It was actually built using American funds intended for an airport, so it earned the nickname "vertical runway".
We ran across traffic to view the monument from underneath. It's been closed to climbing since pre-pandemic, but you can still walk through the gate and see the handful of street vendors who've set up stalls in the tunnel. Out front, there are a couple of large fountains, which seemed to be off at the time. And there's a World Peace Gong at the edge of the park that has flags from all major world countries and symbols from the major world religions.
More temples, coffee, and chocolate
From Patuxay, we wandered slowly back, stopping along the way to check out a temple called Wat That Phoun that was quite large and had some impressive buildings in it. Walking around Vientiane is slightly frustrating, as this city was clearly built for cars and motorbikes, not for pedestrians, so there are very few sidewalks and most drivers ignore crosswalks and lights. Nothing is particularly far, but walking around can be a bit challenging here.
We went past the hotel and headed back to the cafe area we walked by last night. At this hour, all the cafes were open, and we stopped at a lovely little espresso shop for some mid-morning coffee and chocolate. I bought another couple of mini chocolate bars by A Chocolate Dream, the bean-to-bar chocolate maker here in Vientiane. I just love the fact that there's someone making craft chocolate here. We both ordered coffees (long black for me, cappuccino for Ryan) and Ryan got some really sinfully rich chocolate cheesecake for us to share, and we spent an hour or so at one of my favourite vacation activities, sitting out front of a cafe and people watching. Just lovely.
A block up the road, we stopped at a second cafe, this time for some lunch of baguette sandwiches. Because, when in Laos and all. All this rich food is probably a bad idea, but we're on vacation and calories don't count, right?
After lunch, we headed back to the hotel for a bit of a midday siesta, enjoying the views from our hotel balcony and hiding out from a bit of the heat.
Golden stupa, reclining Buddha
Venturing back out, we hailed a Loca to take us to another one of Vientiane's best-known tourist attractions, Wat That Luang, a temple with a golden stupa in the centre of town. The stupa initially dates from the 3rd century AD, and is a national symbol of Laos.
The mid-afternoon sun was beating down on us as we walked around the stupa, and then checked out the surrounding temple complex and other structures in the area. I think the better views of Wat That Luang were actually from outside the stupa complex, making the entry fee we paid feel a little pointless. But whatever, it was only a couple of dollars each.
Near the stupa, there was a large open-air temple building with pillars that reminded me a bit of a mosque, a number of structures with elephants and other mythological creatures, and a giant reclining Buddha. We spent an hour or so checking out the different structures.
Craft beer in Laos? Why yes!
At that point, with the heat starting to get to us, we called for another Loca to take us to someplace quite exciting: A craft beer bar. In Laos! Yes, there is actual beer here in Vientiane that isn't Beerlao.
Actually, we visited two different craft beer bars this afternoon. The first one, Le Patitoh, is the first and oldest craft brewery in Laos. It's an outdoor terrasse around a swimming pool, a bit out of the way of the centre of Vientiane, but only a short taxi ride. We ordered pints of the two beers they had on tap, a wheat ale and a pilsner, and then tried a third beer, a mango ale, from a can. None of the beers were all that special by international standards, but just the fact that we were drinking craft beer in Laos made the experience feel pretty awesome.
From there, we hailed another taxi to take us to the other craft beer bar I was able to learn about in Laos, Corebeer. (For all I know, these may be the only two). Once again, it was basically deserted; the whole time we were there we only saw a few other people. We sat outside on the patio and sampled two beer flights of three tasters each. At Corebeer, the beer actually ranged from passable to good. They had a coffee stout made with Laotian coffee that really held its own. If anyone tries to tell you there's no craft beer in Laos, don't believe them. It exists. And I feel like the scene will keep growing as long as people go pay these breweries a visit.
Street food, night two
Feeling a little tipsy and rather happy, we hailed yet another Loca back to the hotel. At that point, we'd had quite a bit of beer, so it was time to get some food. We opted to walk up to the street food area we'd stumbled on last night, only, this time, with the intention of getting some dinner.
The street food on the market was mostly snack food, not really meal food. Nonetheless, Ryan found some seafood balls, and I ordered a cheese and pineapple pizza that rather hit the spot. Okay, so maybe it's wasn't the healthiest meal out there, but it was satisfying.
So, Vientiane turned out to be far more interesting than people give it credit for. Yet another confirmation of my long-standing theory that sometimes, it's best to ignore the backpacker community's advice, and to go check a place out for yourself.
Today was our last day here in Laos and I wish I could've stayed in this fascinating country even longer. But tomorrow, onwards and forwards; We have a new country to explore.
Mom
2022-12-30
You guys look relaxed and relaxed…..Pics are super ! What a honeymoon…..