I was back to Vientiane after over 7 years when I first came to this Laos capital during the Indochina adventure travelling on the road between Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. It can be described as one of the very memorable road journey to date for me visiting many of the distinctive tourist spots, historical temples, ancient palaces & buildings, beautiful natural landscapes, culture experience, people of colourful backgrounds, local food and many more unforgettable encounters. During the first trip to Vientiane, I landed at the capital's Wattay Airport and I remembered encountering difficulty in getting transport to the city centre, not because of non availability of transport option but more of the issue on the cost of getting there. Yes, the transportation expenses can be very expensive,which has been warned over the information from the web but sometimes, things can be different depending on circumstances, so as I thought. When I arrived at the Wattay airport 7 years ago, there was very little option available. Only private taxi (which I presumed to be operating legally & illegally) was there to have if there was one. Many of the travellers were seen either being picked up on prior arrangement or they have transport from their place of stay that provide such services to the hotels. In the end I was left with no other choice but to board the private taxi which was first being told I had to pay for USD 25 for a less than 3 km journey. After some negotiations with the taxi driver, he agreed to lowered down the fare to THB 200. I was dropped off along the main road of Setthathirath upon arrival at the city. Today, I sighted an airport shuttle bus at the Vientiane Bus Station at Talat Sao Mall. Information made available on the web was it was launched in January 2018 and costing 15,000 kip from the airport to the Vientiane bus station and vice versa. Being very new to Vientiane and without a map on hand during the first visit 7 years ago, I wandered through along the road and found a restaurant operated by a Japanese man,if I remembered correctly. He provided some information on place to stay and I was told about the adjacent Francois Ngin street, which has some budget guest house available along the street suitable for backpackers such as me. As I walked to Francois Ngin, the street looked very much like a backpacker street such as Bangkok's Khao San road or Ho Chi Minh city's Bui Vien, De Tham & Pham Ngu Lao street. I found a good deal in Mixay Paradise Hotel just opposite the temple known as Wat Mixay, which I think must be how the hotel got its name from. For about THB 450 a night, it was considered a valuable stay for a private room facility. During that time of travel, there was a festival, which I think was the Ok Phansa, celebrating the end of Khao Phansa, a culture festival where I wrote before several times being celebrated on a massive way. I recalled there was a huge night market along Fa Ngum road overlooking the Mekong River during the festival celebration. I was not sure if the night market was a permanent one or otherwise at that particular time because during the recent visit the night market seemed to have moved further down to an open space near Chou Anouvong Park, which was yet to be constructed during my first visit at the end of 2010. During the day time, there was a boat racing festival when I was in Vientiane 7 years ago, possibly the highlight of the OK Phansa Festival.
KING CHAO ANUVONG STATUE @ CHOU ANUVONG PARK, VIENTIANE
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PHA THAT LUANG
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PATUXAY
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A HUGE RECLINING BUDDHA SCULPTURE @ XIENG KHUAN BUDDHA PARK
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THE NAMPHOU PARK @ VIENTIANE
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THE VIENTIANE CENTRAL BUS STATION LOCATED ADJACENT TO THE TALAD SAO MALL
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Today, back to Vientiane after 7 years,some changes include the Namphou Park or the Water Fountain Park offering visitors some of the most contemporary dining & unwind experience. Some of the more expensive food joints and beer bars are found here while the surroundings of it also saw few bistro and cafe as well as more luxury hotels were set up to spur up the place for a kind of touristy flavour. Talad Sao Market is also one of the modern mall of Lao standard and offer consumer goods such as handbags, watches, silk clothing, textiles, gold& jewellery as well as money changer service. The best way to explore the sights in Vientiane can be done through either walking or cycling and I opted the former which offer though an exhausted & uncomfortable due to the searing hot weather travel option but nevertheless a good & healthy way to explore the small city on foot. For this trip to Vientiane, the journey on road started in Bangkok by the Nakonchai Air bus before crossing the Friendship Bridge 1 to reached the final destination at the Laos capital.
Chou Anouvong Park
Today, there seemed to have few developments that changed the city landscape of Vientiane most notably at the Mekong RIver area, where Chou Anouvong Park being already constructed,though construction was still on-going on parts of the riverside section. The park was located just behind the Presidential Palace on Setthathirath Road while the park location was on Fa Ngum Road. Chou Anouvong Park was a quite sizeable park built to accommodate the needs of Vientiane residents and travellers on free access to engage in social, leisure and physical activities. People can be seen wandering through each nook & corner of the park, strolling with family members or friends, doing some physical activities such as dancing, jogging brief walk or cycling, enjoying the Mekong river view. There were few fixed gym equipment available too on a section of the park. Since the night market was located within the park, people also converged into the area in the evening to shop at the night market. Adjacent and parallel to Fa Ngum Road was the Don Chan Road, closer towards the Mekong River. This road will be closed to traffic after 5.30 pm for public to walk, jog and cycle along the road freely and safely. Of course Chou Anouvong obtained its name from the last king of the ancient Lao Kingdom, during the Lane Xang (pronounced Lan Chang or million elephants) period. It was built in memory of King Chou Anouvong contribution in defending Laos first from invasion from the Burmese forces (Myanmar) and later the Thai invasion. The Chao Anouvong statue was the most significantly distinctive during night time with bright lighting shining the standing king statue.
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Presidential Palace
As mentioned above, Presidential Palace was located not distance away from Chou Anouvong Park. Quite similar to the Ho Chi Minh City's version of president's palace, the Vientiane Presidential Palace was a smaller version as compared to its counterpart in Vietnam. You will definitely not missed this palatial building which also located very close to 2 other major tourist sights, the Wat Si Saket & Ho Phra Keaw.
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Wat Si Saket
This can be described as one of the very precious and ancient temple still existed for all of us to visit and have very close view. Much of the temple structure has been very much intact and conserved. The main temple structure of the ubosot built in the middle of the wat boundary surrounded by a rectangular shape wall with each section of the wall with multiple built in holes placed with small Buddha sculptures. There were another 2 layer of concrete steps adjoining the walls where larger Buddha effigies were placed on the 2 steps. Those who admire ancient buildings and have great interest in old structural decorations and architectures will definitely do not want to missed Wat Si Saket in having such opportunity to admire those interests before their eyes.
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Ho Phra Keaw
This is yet another ancient temple turned into a museum which had been extensively conserved to maintained the original structure of the temple. Many items associated to the Lao ancient temple were on display and no photographs allowed inside the main museum building. The best thing to do other than viewing the ancient temple collections was to have a close look and admire the temple ancient Lao architecture design on the temple windows, doors,walls and the ceilings as well as the exterior roofs. Ho Phra Keaw was surrounded by a small garden with a spacious walkway leading to the temple building which was built higher from the ground with a staircase leading up to the entrance to the temple.
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Wat Si Muang
Wat Si Muang is one of the more contemporary temple in Vientiane and it serves as one of the most important temple for Vientiane residents and devotees during major religious festival. During my visit people were seen thronging to the temple for "bot" (Thai for making merit & seeking forgiveness). Wat Si Muang was somewhat of distinctive temple where there were 2 sections within the main temple building. The first section upon entrance, there were 3 Buddha structure on sitting position located at the far end of the temple with open spaces in between where devotees sitting on the floor performing prayers in separate groups with each group led by a monk. On the 2nd section, there were multiple Buddha structures in various sizes places on the far end of the temple. Visitors can also perform individual prayers in this section of the temple. The structure of Wat Si Muang can be described as deep in Lao traditional design adapting into the contemporary temple structure of Laos today.
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Patuxay
Patuxay was one of the most outstanding arch structure and you know you are in Vientiane when you see Patuxay. Located in the heart of Vientiane at the end of the Lane Xang intersection road, the arch was surrounded by a sizeable park with access from both end one from Lane Xang Road and the other from Kaysone Avenue. From Kaysone Avenue visitors were greeted with 2 fountain pools the first one before a vehicle parking section and the 2nd after the vehicle parking section. Access to the top level of the arch led to a breathtaking view of Vientiane city and this is a definite must visit when in Vientiane.
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Pha That Luang
Pha That Luang is a very distinguished temple in Vientiane with the shiny golden massive chedi. Just behind Wat Pha That Luang, there was a huge open area similar to the one in Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi with a gigantic flag pole. The Laos national flag was seen flagging proudly on the towering flag pole. The chedi of Pha That Luang was the most significant structure over at this famous temple well known among tourists around the world and locals alike. The chedi structure was awesomely beautiful surrounded by rectangular wall with each section of the wall with covered roof. The walkways in between the chedi and the rectangular walls were landscapes with grass turf. There were 4 Buddha structure on each of the rectangular base of the chedi. The chediof Wat Pha That Luang definitely be tagged as one of the must visit and not to be missed while in Vientiane with the great view of the immense chedi structure. There was a Boddi tree and also a Reclining Buddha sculpture seen within the Wat Pha That Luang area.
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THE BODDHI TREE & THE WIDE OPEN SQUARE @ WAT PHA THAT LUANG
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The Buddha Park
Located nearest to the border between Laos and Thailand, the Buddha Park also known as Xieng Khuan can be easily accessible through the public Green Bus No.14 serving the Vientiane Bus Station at Talad Sao Mall to the Laos border checkpoint at the the Friendship Bridge 1 with overland border crossing to Thailand via Nong Khai province. The bus will stop at the Buddha Park which was the last destination for the No.14 bus. This offers the most convenient and budget way to get to the park from Vientiane capital with just 6,000 kip per way on a comfortable air-conditioned bus sponsored by Japan. The Buddha Park offers the many interesting way to discover the secret and beauty of the many structures and sculptures within the park. The most distinguished discovery in the park would be the gigantic Reclining Buddha structure and the massive pumpkin shape structure with multi-level inside the structure housing various Buddha and other religious sculptures in it. The final access was the top level open area with the middle area stands a triangular tree shape pole. This was my second visit to Buddha Park and I would say this is never a place to be left out while you landed in Vientiane.
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Try out some local food
Laos offer some very savoury food in particular the soup noodle. The Lao people has very deep interests in preparing good bowl soup noodle. Though it may not be as good as the Vietnamese "pho", I think the noodle dish in Laos can be described as delicious and worth the money spend on each of the bowl. One of the new soup noodle dish discovered during this Vientiane trip was the "khao piak". The noodles in "khao piak" are thicker than any other noodle dish and also comes with mixture of add-on such as pork balls, roast pork, beansprouts, cilantro and onions. A generous portions of fresh mix vegetables, leaves, mints & kaffir lime also being given on a plate which was to be all mix into the soup of the noodle or eaten fresh directly. Other than "khao piak" there were many selections of french baguette known as "banh mi" in Vietnam also available in many street stall bazaar around the Vientiane Bus Station."Pho" yet another Vietnamese popular soup noodle was also widely available in Vientiane and worth to try it out.
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This featured blog entry was written by kidd27 from the blog Krabi/Pha Taem/Pakse/Savannakhet.
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