We arrived in Vientiane via minibus from Vang Vieng. The 4 hour ride felt long as it was our 4th minivan ride of this length within 2 weeks in Laos. As far as ways to get around in Laos, we would recommend the minivans. The upside is you get places faster than the old school charter buses, and they make stops if you need to use the restroom. The only downside is they pack all 12-13 seats and riding in the very back on the pothole filled highways makes for a long ride. Right up until you enter Vientiane, the area is very rural with the highway being the only paved road. Entering Vientiane, there is a sudden upgrade in infrastructure and buildings. While Vientiane is the capital city, it is better described as a large town, and you can tell that much of the construction is relatively new. As we learned from reading, the city of Vientiane historically has been subjected to many political changes. In the early 1990s when economic restrictions were relaxed after the collapse of the Soviet Union, foreign investment flooded in, materializing high-rises and shopping malls. Vientiane is now a thriving tourist destination, yet retains a humble Laotian feel.
We spent quite a bit of time wandering the city streets and soaking the city in. While there are a handful of gems around town, the true points of interest are spread out pretty far. We navigated through the onslaught of tuk tuk drivers pawning rides, to find the local Bus 14 that takes you outside of town to Buddha Park for less than one dollar. The park is a big meadow filled with over 200 quirky Buddhist and Hindu statues. Despite having a weathered, historic look like much of the statues in Laos, the ones in Buddha Park are actually from the late 1950s, and are the work of a self-styled holy man, Luang Pou Bounleua Soulilat. Depending on who you ask, Buddha park is either described as a silly tourist trap or one of the more interesting sites in Vientiane. We related to the latter and though it was worth the bus ride to see.
On another outing, we walked 2 km to That Luang, which is considered to be the most significant religious building in Laos, and the country’s national symbol. It is a small campus of interesting structures. The most eye catching being the giant golden stupa and spire that reach up 45 meters tall.
Another very important stop we made was at the Lao National Museum. It was very interesting yet sobering to learn about Lao’s troubled history dating back hundreds of years. Admittedly, Monica and I were unclear on the details of Laos and US relations from the 1970s to present. We got a taste of it while in other areas of Laos, such as in Nong Khiaw seeing the caves where locals sought shelter for a decade during the Second Indochina War. Googling about the war almost brought up more questions than answers. But either way, from touring the Museum (which had rooms dedicated to the war), you could tell by the photos and memorabilia that there is a lot of historical resentment towards the US, which is totally justified. As I describe in the first paragraph of our post on Luang Prabang, between 1964 and 1973, the US conducted 580,000 bombing missions on Laos. This equates to one mission every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 9 years, making Laos the most heavily bombed country per capita, in history. Touring the Museum made us very grateful the Lao people had been so welcoming to us the whole trip, even when we let them know we were American.
There are enough highlights to keep you busy for a couple days, but after that it’s a little hard to fill your time other than eating/drinking. Which isn’t too bad considering the food is so delicious and cheap. We even found a bottle shop called The Beer House with an impressive selection of microbrews from all over the world. After 2 weeks of drinking Beer Lao, it was quite the treat. The night market in Vientiane is filled with cheap Chinese knock-off gadgets and definitely doesn’t have the charm of the Luang Prabang night market. Although at night, the Fa Ngum road which borders the night market / river, shuts down to vehicles and becomes a pedestrian boardwalk. It seems to be where the locals hang out and walking the road is a pleasant way burn off some calories while escaping traffic.
Vientiane is a great place to spend a couple days as you can fly in/out of it and it’s a perfect jumping off point to the surrounding areas.