Paul's Country Review: Laos

We arrived in the former capital city of Laos, Luang Prabang on a short flight from Siem Reap with two other people - weird. Anyway, we immediately liked Laos, the country is beautiful and the people are so nice. It's very laid back and (for the most part) walk on the sidewalk and drive on the roads - crazy, I know. 

Overlooking Luang Prabang

We walked around, saw the sights and took a tour to some caves of religious significance. Along the way we stopped at a place called Whiskey Town where, strangely enough, they made whiskey. It was 9:30 am so naturally they wanted us to try it. They explained it was 53% alcohol (about 110 proof; what's rubbing alcohol?) and had a giant scorpion in it. Whiskey Town, like Frog Town, is a very strange place and we refused the offer of potent, scorpion whiskey and continued our sight seeing. 

Whiskey Town's finest

This reminded me of the Town of the Crazies in Gymkata

We then took another short flight to the current capital city, Vientiane, where our opinion changed from liking Laos to just liking Luang Prabang. There really is no reason to go to Vientiane unless you are a diplomat and it's in your job responsibilities. It was unnecessarily expensive, there was little to see (we saw the entire city while looking for a health clinic) and nothing to really eat.

I like the way this looked

That's Vientiane down there

We ate at a Swenson's everyday using a little known, extremely effective ice cream diet (who knew!) and counted down the days until we left for Taiwan.

I smell ice cream...they got Swensens!

They got Mississippi Mud

They got Chocolate Eruption and Super Duper Chocolate Eruption

Vientiane

On June 4 we flew to Vientiane and walked around the country's capital in a few hours. Here are some of the highlights from our walk...

We snapped a quick photo in front of the Victory Monument (Paxtuxai)

Presidential Palace - so fancy

"The line must be drawn HERE!" says the King Chao Anouvong statue

Locals walking along the Mekong River

Looking across the Mekong River towards Thailand

We didn't do our research and only realized when we arrived that all the things to do around Vientiane require more travel. So, we explored the city some more and tried to find food that Paul could eat. We liked Luang Prabang a lot more than Vientiane.

In front of That Dam Stupa

I wanted to get better photos of Patuxai so we walked back

The ceiling looked pretty cool

There's a fountain on the other side which made for a nice photo

We also went to the top to check out the views - Paul almost tripped running up the stairs

Here's the view from the top looking Northeast

Looking towards the Presidential Palace (southwest towards the Mekong)

Yup, another one of these shots

Nice blue skies the day we left - this is a shot of the Lao National Culture Hall

Bye bye Laos