Vientiane: A Visitor’s Guide
Gateway to the Land of a Million Elephants
The Great Stupa of Vientiane
Cross the bridge into Laos at Nong Khai and you step back thirty years. The modern two-lane highway with giant billboards selling fast food and instant beauty stops at the Thai end of the Friendship bridge—to be replaced on the Lao side with a pot-holed, ill-defined, dusty road lined with concrete warehouses and dingy, crowded, wooden markets. Instead of brand-new pick-ups and SUVs there are ancient jeeps, belching buses and swarming motorcycles. The Lao women and girls seen shopping in the markets are wearing starched blouses and the pa-sin, a traditional long wrap worn like a skirt, rather than jeans and t-shirts.
Vientiane lacks the charm of Luang Prabang but it is great for a couple of days strolling around; getting a feel for the laid back pace of Laos.
Traffic is light compared to other SE Asian cities and so bicycling is a good way to get around and the city is easy to learn. It is laid out in a grid along the Mekong, with the historical centre a fairly compact area about a kilometre square in an area known as Chanthaboury District. There are plenty of pleasant shady tree-lined streets dotted with temples and French colonial buildings interspersed with traditional shop houses and more modern hotels.
