25. Stop Vientiane, Laos

For the next day, we had rented a scooter again, as the city center of Vientiane didn't have much to offer. Our destination was the Buddha Park, as the name suggests: a park with many Buddhas. One was depicted in such a way that you could even walk inside him and have a view over the whole park from above. In hindsight, we realized that we could have rented an audio guide, which would have been more informative and would have given us some explanations about some of the statues. So we stood there analyzing why some had three heads or many arms. Here too, we saw the reclining Buddha again - we already knew the meaning, at least.

Since the sun was blazing again and we had to endure the scorching heat, we decided not to explore the park a second time - this time with an audio guide - and instead got back on the scooters and headed back towards the city center.

By the way, apart from the mini vans, the traffic is extremely harmless compared to Vietnam, but of course still not normal compared to Germany. The biggest challenge in traffic is definitely the poor road conditions. On a straight country road, where everyone accelerates and the road looks brand new, there is suddenly a hole in the middle that I could definitely get stuck with one of the scooter's wheels. Depending on the sunlight, you can see the holes a little later and then quickly try to maneuver around them or slow down depending on oncoming traffic. But even here, I have to say: I haven't seen a single accident, they know how to drive, even without rules and laws.

The Patuxai, a 49-meter high triumphal arch in the city, was built in the 1960s as a symbol for those fallen in many wars, as well as for the independence of Laos from France. The latter is also the reason for the design of the monument, which is reminiscent of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Although there is an observation platform at the top, we did not visit it.

In the vicinity of the triumphal arch is a kind of monument whose explanation or meaning is unfortunately difficult to find on the Internet. The fascinating thing about it was that every smallest detail was made of porcelain and assembled.

An impressive temple was right across from our hostel, called Wat Mixai. It caught our attention with its bright yellow color alone. The Buddha inside had a completely different effect than the ones we had seen before, almost a bit intimidating and condescending.

In the evening, we visited the night market. Unfortunately, it was very disappointing, with an abundance of clothing and shoe stalls, and all sorts of fake brands were represented. The market was very big, but there was not a single stall selling souvenirs... that was the moment when I regretted not buying anything in Luang Prabang ;)