laos- vientiane

My entry into laos began with a 6 hr train journey to the Vietnam-Laos border, then a stopover that night at a random border town called Vinh. The hotel was a bit strange- a few stuffed deer & cats in the lobby, and what I assumed to be prostitutes going into the back room with different Vietnamese men. We left very early the next morning, arriving in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, after almost 12hrs on the minibus!! Laos was already so different to the rest of Indochina that I have seen- it is a lot quieter, with no constant horn honking on the roads! It had a really relaxed & chilled atmosphere. Walking through the centre of town on our way to dinner, the streets were almost completely devoid of traffic & people- was bizarre, particularly compared to Hanoi. Our first dinner was an introduction to 'Laos time' as our guide Pauline called it- slow, slow, slow meals! Some people waited well over an hour, to be given the wrong meal in the end (this trend continued for the whole country, with one girl in my group being the last person to eat every night!). Some of the group headed out to the only club open after 12pm, which was within a huge hotel. As we arrived, 2 very drunk, old Laos men were being dragged out the door. Was quite a fun night, although there was a red light section at the back of the bar! The next day, we headed out for the day on a jumbo tuk tuk to see the sights of the city. My favourite was the Buddha Park, which had heaps of huge, unique sculptures & buddhas, in a big green park by the Mekong River. It was really cool. We also saw Phra That Luang (a massive gold temple) and Patuxai (Arc de Triomphe), which had a great view of the city. That afternoon we cooled of in a swimming pool we found at another hotel. Dinner that evening was great, although we didn't leave till after 10pm, by the time they had sorted out the bill for us! The next morning we boarded a public bus for a 6 hr journey through very stunning scenery.
P.S. I broke my camera at Phra That Luang, so I couldn't take any more photos!!! And I am onsessed with photos. So I don not own the copyright to images taken after that point...