vientiane
19.07.2010 40 °C
mixay wat
when we got to vientiane, it was already night. so we found a place to stay, had dinner at the guest house and called it a day.
the next morning, as soon as i woke up i had this urge to run to the balcony and see what it was like in broad day light. the day light was broad indeed. i had to run back into our room to get my sunnies. i was living right infront of a temple. mixay wat to be precise. inside it, monks moved about as if in peace while people on the street moved by foot, by motor bike and by car as if in slow motion.
vientiane
take away the sky scrapers, big buses and angry traffic, add a lot of trees, french colonial buildings and a whole lot of space, vientiane is just like any other city in the world.
on our last night at vientaine, we had dinner at an indian restaurant. we were the only ones there, hence the long conversation with the bangladeshi owner ali.
we finished our dinner and were waiting for the bill when everything around us began to move and shake and float in air. the wind was strong, so ali asked us to step inside an enclosed area of the restaurant while he and his assistant rushed to rescue their things before the rain came. it did rain hard and soon, ali's kitchen was begining to get flooded and ali's cat was all scared and restless. off went the electricity and we waited for the storm to pass. it went away within thirty minutes of it's arrival. on our walk back home, we found people rescuing there plants and other things on the still wet roads.
arc de triumph
arc de triumph2
things to see in vientiane include the arc de triumph, a smaller replica of the one in france, the twist in this being that it was built with cement donated by us aid to build an airport and the pha that luang, the monumental pride of the nation.
the city is easily walkable. getting lost and asking the lao for directions is an easy and enjoyable task which involves a repetition of hand gestures and words. the lao really does have a way of putting people at ease
pha that luang
