Vientiane - A Night in the Capital

Approximately 11 hours after boarding the local bus in Luang Prabang, we arrive in the capital Luang Prabang. And I can say: It was once again a celebration...not. The roads in northern Laos are in extremely poor condition, and by that I mean potholes big enough to lie in and entire sections of road where the pavement is completely missing. The worst part is the constant stop and go because the bus driver hits the brakes before every pothole. And yet, 90% of the vehicles have cracked windshields that have been fixed with tape. In addition to the potholes, the winding stretches of road really got to me. We're back in the mountains again. On top of that, we took a local bus and are sitting right over the wheel wells. That means our knees are up against our ears. Normally, Max stretches his legs out into the aisle, but that's not possible on a local bus since there are people sitting or crouching there. Cozy...

When we arrive in Vientiane after what feels like an endless night, I could kiss the ground. It's around 6 o'clock when we reach our hostel, but we still have to wait 6 hours until we can get into our room. So we set off to explore the city. Our hostel is right on the Mekong River, with Thailand on the other side. We stroll around, admire the triumphal arch from the French-influenced past, and enjoy the photo session of the Chinese tourists. Always entertaining. 

When hunger strikes for breakfast, we sit down in a cafe with comfortable armchairs and kill some time there. Unfortunately, our day in Vientiane is once again marked by tiredness. It's actually a shame that we don't get to see or do much in the city, but there's not much to see or do there anyway. In the evening, we indulge in a meal at the Indian restaurant that's opened in an old barn. I looooove Indian food! 

The next day, we're picked up at the hostel at 12 to continue on to Thakhek. This time, we treat ourselves to the tour bus. Since we, or rather our driver, is running late, we don't go to the bus station but instead stop by the side of the road, where the big bus picks us up.