Vientiane - The laid back Capital

Vientiane the Capital of Laos and largest city, lies one side of the Mekong - ah an old friend - with Thailand on the other. I will state straight away that I liked Vientiane. As capital cities go it is so laid back. At its busiest - people and traffic wise - it is like Paris in August.

I should give some facts. Laos is 236,000 km2 with a population of 5.6 million, 300,000 of these in Vientiane. The UK is 245,000 km2 with a population of 61 million.

Spent 3 relaxing days with Madeleine & Ariana, visiting markets, temples and hunting for sticky rice! I visited - with Ariana - the most surreal park on my travels. Buddha Park, 25km outside of Vientiane. The park is full of Buddhist and Hindu statues. It was create by an eccentric man. The place is certainly eccentric

However on arrival I did not think this was going to be the case. For some apparent reason Vientiane was busy - of tourist and backpackers - It is possibly the first place I visited that demand outstrips supply and as a consequence the price was the highest. If we could find any. Thank god I was travelling with others. After we visited a few (full) guest houses. I looked after the backpacks and the other Z hunted for a place. After 30-45 min success. Ironically just next to the place we got dropped off by the bus. This was around 3pm. The rest of the afternoon & evening we kept seeing backpackers roaming the street in search of a bed.

In Vientiane you notice the French influence. Road signs in both Laos and French. French is still officially the second language. However it is in a loosing battle against English. I would say that it has lost. The anglophone influence is not from the US but from Thailand. Thai TV etc - you could say indirectly it is US culture. Is it a loss to Laos? I think only a Laos can answer that.