LAOS!Welcome to Laos! I arrived in the capital of Vientiane yesterday evening after a harrowing 24 hour bus journey from Hanoi, Vietnam. I spent the day wondering the streets of Vientiane and thoroughly enjoying how extremely relaxing this place is. After being dropped off at the central bus station, I caught a tuk-tuk into the city center with the other foreigners who were on the ridiculously long 24 bus journey with me. The first thing I noticed was the complete and utter lack of horns!! In a SE Asian capital!! No horns?!!? Amazing, really, if you ask me. Vientiane is stationed right on the Mekong river and directly on the other side of the river is Thailand. I ate breakfast at a street vendor (actually more like river side vendor) and gazed about the Mekong and looking at Thailand.
A few stats, for the interested:
Money: kip 9000 or so kip = $1
Religion: Mostly Buddhist, Theraveda to be exact
Mode of transport around town: tuk-tuk
Delicious foods I have tried so far: fruit shakes! I had a delicious coconut shake at lunch. The food here so far seems very similar to Thai food. I still have much culinary exploration to do though.
Room: staying at a place I stumbled upon called Mixxay Guesthouse.
Price of room: $3
General atmosphere of Vientiane: extremely laid back, people are incredibly friendly and have a great sense of humor. It is easy to walk down the street and not get accosted by touts, drivers, beggars, etc... Comparing Laos capital Vientiane to Vietnam's capital Hanoi is like comparing night and day. One is black, the other is white. Only 200,000 people live in Vientiane.
Laos is famous amoung travellers for: Beer. Beerlao to be exact. Tested a Beerlao last night, and it was quite good (although I am not sure I would call myself a beer conneiseiur or anything. Still good.)
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