Vientiane: hating, then loving, then leaving the Laos capital...all in 48 hours

We arrived in Vientiane with hangovers that had started badly in Thailand and got progressively worse as we hoofed it across the border into Laos. By the time we got to Vientiane we were hot, grumpy and severely dehydrated. Considering we'd drunk the best part of a litre of Sang Som the night before, this wasn't entirely unexpected but we weren't in the mood for self-chastisement and instead turned our fury towards the lazy capital of Laos. 

We hated Vientiane so much on arrival that we planned to leave immediately the next morning. It was only once we'd ingested some much-needed lunch, a much-needed Beer Lao and actually explored the city beyond the stinking bus terminal that we moderated our views and decided that Vientiane was perhaps worth 24 hours of our time before we got all narky. 

By the time evening rolled around, we'd watched the sunset over the mighty Mekong, eaten some seriously awesome barbecued fish and drunk another Beer Lao or two. And we were sold. Suddenly we loved Vientiane. 

As far as south-east Asian capitals go it is laid back to the point of coma (it has a population of just 750,000 versus 7 million in Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh). It's pedestrian and bicycle friendly, and seems to have undergone some fairly intensive beautification projects over the last 5 years, adding heaps of green, public spaces and choice sun-downer spots along the promenade. 

 

Granted, there's not really that much to do. We rented bikes on our second, non-hungover and more open-minded day and basically saw everything we wanted to see in about 3 hours. But that waterfront park is pretty damn nice, so sorry Vientiane, for taking my hideous hangover out on you. 

The Rum Diaries Part XLV

Wow. Fifty-five (sorry, forty-five...still haven't gotten my roman numerals down) bottles of rum. Even without counting all the repeats that's not a bad attempt over the last 20 months. I really didn't expect to be adding any more to this rather impressive list until we hit a duty free shop somewhere on our flight back to Australia...but then we found Sang Som! 

Who knew the Thai's made rum?? Not us, that's for sure. We were skeptical about the use of the word 'rum' (having tried Lao 'whiskey') so we did a bit of googling and found out that it is in fact made from sugarcane and has even won a couple of awards. 

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the last spirits we drank were lao-lao and Mongolian vodka, but Sang Som tasted pretty damn fine. I don't think the Cubans are looking over their shoulders just yet, but I can see many Sang Som coco-locos in our South-East Asian future.

Wat in the World

A wat is a sacred Buddhist precinct encompassing the actual temple and the monks living quarters, usually surrounded by beautifully tended gardens studded with stupa, statues and icons from Buddhist texts. 

 

Between the Laos city of Luang Prabang and Thailand's Chiang Mai, there are more than 400 individual wats. Some of them are magnificently restored, some are crumbling ruins. A few seem completely abandoned but most are active monasteries where saffron-clad monks stroll the grounds between lessons. 

If I was going to suddenly find religion, I think I'd go with Buddhism, simply because of the architectural beauty of their temples. While tourists in Florence or Rome complain of 'not-another-bloody-church' syndrome, I don't think I'll ever get tired of admiring the sumptuous gold-leaf exteriors, tiered rooftops and perfumed gardens of Buddhist wats. 

 

While Luang Prabang had some of the most ornate and exquisite wats I have seen, I think Chiang Mai wins the day for the sheer number of temples contained within the old city. For every main attraction flocked with tourists, there are 10 tiny wats where you can explore at leisure. 

 

And unlike the often gruesome images found inside Catholic churches, Buddhist wats are replete with dragon and elephant motifs, mosaics depicting local life and stenciled figures that would not look out of place on a hip Melbourne laneway. 

 

So while Martijn spends the next few days in Muay Thai training sessions, you can find me in my new favourite wat in Chiang Mai, where they have turtles in their beautifully tended pond, and a tiny cafe serving iced coffee. It's the kind of religious experience I could get used to.