Vang Vieng to Vientiane

The day before yesterday we went tubing down the Nam Song River. It was 4km and took about 3 hours. It was so relaxing!!! There were lots of little places to stop along the way and the Laos would throw out a stick to pull you to shore. Towards the finish little kids ran out to help us get to the end by using our thongs as paddles.


Yesterday we got a real 'VIP' bus to the captial, Vientiane. The bus had air-conditioning so its top speed was only 30 km per hour but it got us here. We found a nice place to stay and found a really lovely restaurant built in an old French colonial mansion.

Today we rented bicycles and rode out to Patuxai first. It is similar to the Arc de Triomphe but referred to as "a monster of concrete" but it did have nice views from the top. It was built from American cement which was donated for a new airport so the locals call it "the vertical runway".



Next stop was Pha That Luang, the Lao national momument. It was beautiful and completly covered with gilt gold.


Next we went to Wat Si Saket, an amazing temple with 1000 niches containing a 1000 pairs of Buddha images. The inside of the main Wat had painted murals on the walls which were nearly 200 years old. There was a storage area for broken and melted Buddha images from the 1828 war with Thailand.

Finally we went to Wat Si Muang which houses the city pillar and is therefore the home of the City Guardian Spirit. On a little pillow there was a stone Buddha and we watched people lift it off the pillow as they asked it questions.