Vientiane, Laos

Vientianne is the capital of Laos, and just as sleepy as the rest. In the travel guide, we read that if you compare the tuk-tuk drivers from Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos, the Thai driver will try to sell you a tour, the Vietnamese driver will almost run you over, and you'll have to wake up the Laotian driver. :D

We can fully confirm this "stereotype" for all three.

At least you don't have to look for the Laotian driver because he is sleeping in the hammock he set up behind the tuk-tuk.

In Vientiane, we also learned about the dark history of the country. Laos, which many people don't know, is the most heavily bombed country in the world. During the Vietnam War, America dropped over 270 million cluster bombs, 30% of which never exploded. The Laotian population still has to live with the consequences. Every year, many people are killed or injured while working in the forests or fields. Unfortunately, many children are also killed while playing. We can recommend the movie Bomb Harvest, which reports on the extensive cleanup efforts. http://moviesin.co/watch/oxQ32Xdn-bomb-harvest.html

Now onto something more positive...food. :) Nowadays, the search for a restaurant is usually done through TripAdvisor, which actually gives pretty good advice. However, we always try to rely on our intuition. This leads us to great places that can't be found on any portal, and sometimes not even on Google (!!!). One of these great places was a noodle shop in Vientiane. They sold delicious fried noodles, and there were vinegar-pickled chilies on the tables...mmmmhmmmm (although a bit too spicy for Rahel). They also served the best milk iced tea we had on the entire trip. The complete menu cost us a total of 6 francs.

From Vientiane, we decided to take the night train to Bangkok. We had already had great experiences with it when we traveled from Thailand to Malaysia.

Text by Oli

Image processing by Rahel