In Vientiane

I guess I had expected Laos to be very different from Cambodia, and at least on that first day, the difference was not obvious to me. Same dusty red streets, golden wats (pagodas) with naga (mythical snakes) on the roof, children running around, backpackers dragging their sandals around, and heat. Heat, humidity, sweat, rain, less heat, more heat, more sweat again, and still humid. The tropics - how quickly one forgets...



Big novelty though compared to Phnom Penh: no motodop here (the moto taxi), but real tuk-tuk, or jumbo as they call them here, more thai style.


Vientiane is small and very quiet though, especially after that nightmarish ride into Bangkok the day before. Makes me worried a little bit about how I will fare a whole sumer in such a polluted and noisy city. But anyway, Vientiane, that way, is fairly enjoyable. We took a walk around the city center, strolled in the market for hours. I love these markets where they sell everything from fresh -or not so fresh- chickens to washing machines, tourist paraphernalia, and gorgeous fabrics. Oh, and food too, rambutan, mangusteen, longan, durian, dragon fruits and all kind of exotic fruits.

We also stopped by the National Victory Gate, inspired from the French Arc de Triomphe (really??), where we took what has to be the first of a long series of cheesy pictures. As official sign itself quite accurately describes: "from a closer distance it appears even less impressive, like a moster of concrete"

We met up with a friend of Brian from Berkeley (yes, another ergie!) for a fruit cocktail in a tiny bar where apparently the whole expat community gathers. Not so different fronm Phonm Penh again - actually to a point that I run into a guy I knew from there. Small world...


We tried our first, real lao food that night, following the expert advice of Brian's friend, Mike. The local specialty is the laap, sort of salad with all kinds of good herbs, mint, lemongrass, cilantro mixed with meet or fish, that you eat with sticky rice. It's instantaneously become a favorite, which is probably a good think because it looks like we're going to eat a lot of it.