Vientiane and back to Thailand

It is said that Vientiane could be the sleepiest capital city in the world and from what we saw this is no understatement. After a visit to the market of Talat Sao and a walk back to the centre of the ‘city’ via a couple of wats it appeared we’d done most of it!

The next day we took a ‘jumbo’ (not as I first thought an elephant, but a slightly larger than usual tuk-tuk) to the sacred monument of Pha That Luang. This stupa is the most important monument in Laos and represents both the Buddhist religion and the people’s national sovereignty. It is a very impressive structure and certainly no expense was spared on the amount of gold paint used!

After a final splurge on soon to be unattainable treats such as red wine, salad, French bread, Beer Lao and Lao coffee (amazing stuff!) we departed the next day to Thailand via the ‘Friendship Bridge’ (!) and on the overnight train down to Bangkok saying goodbye to the fascinating country of Laos.