Vientiane, the capitol of Laos……….. a curious place. The guide book said it was ‘languid to say the least’….? A friend told us that we really only needed to stay there for one night, but we had already booked for three. So we stayed for three nights and calmly looked for places of interest to visit. The weather was more oppressive than up in Luang Prabang and the temperatures hovered in the mid-thirties, but we still used our feet and wandered the city looking around every corner. We really didn’t need three nights, but we filled every day with something and now feel like we don’t really need to go back anytime soon.
On our first night, we discovered a very extensive night market, full of fascinating people and some free for all Zumba classes on the riverfront. Rodney wouldn’t join in, but there were a few tourists who did. The next morning, we walked away from the riverfront to find That Dum Stupa, what a great name from a westerner’s point of view, though it actually translates as the Black Stupa. It wasn’t in the guide book, and it wasn’t that impressive, although the Laotians believe that it is inhabited by a seven headed Nāga (cobra). Thankfully we didn’t meet the beast and moved on. We cooled off briefly in an air-conditioned shopping centre and then hit the road again.
Just up the road was Patuxai, the Victory Monument; this unfinished structure was one of only four places mentioned in the guide book and one of them sounded like a rather uninspiring museum and the other two were temples; we’ve already seen an awful lot of those. Despite getting an entry in the guide book, it is curiously described as ‘an incongruous sight’. On reaching what is considered as Vientiane’s ‘Arc de Triomphe’, we read a plaque on the wall and it cheerfully describes it thus: “From a closer distance it appears even less impressive, like a monster of concrete”; how very candid!!! Nevertheless, we had to agree with both of these descriptions.
The concrete needed to create Patuxai was donated in 1969 by the USA and was intended to build a new airport, so some of the locals refer to it as the ‘vertical runway’; that also gave us a giggle.
There are a lot of steps inside one of the corners and a break is provided on three levels, each of which is filled with market stalls, all selling some of the worst souvenirs we’ve ever come across. The top level is open to the sky and did afford panoramic views across the city, but there’s really not much of interest to see. We did enjoy watching a large school group noisily surge up through the building; they seemed far more interested in looking at the souvenirs than the arch itself. It was fun watching the vendors desperately trying to watch the hands of every child hovering over their goods and then quite a laugh seeing three engrossed little shoppers get left behind and rush outside to a rather annoyed looking teacher. As it was darn hot up there, we didn’t stay long and headed back to our hotel for much needed cold drinks and a cold shower. That evening a massive storm wiped out any chance of the night market getting underway and from our hotel balcony, we watched all the stall holders traipsing back home with their barrows and scooters overloaded with goods in the depressing pouring rain.
