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.
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