Vientiane is the capital of Laos. It has a reputation for being a rather sleepy capital with not much to offer tourists. We had originally planned to stay in Vientiane for just two days during which we would be occupied with site visits and meetings. However, we were unable to get train or plane tickets on the desired day so we flew from Luang Prabang to Vientiane a day earlier than planned. We thus had an entire day to explore the city. The temperature was noticeably warmer in Vientiane than it had been in northern Thailand and Laos, so I decided to do a short walking tour of Vientiane in the morning, followed by an afternoon relaxing by the hotel pool. It was a great way to spend the day.
Our hotel in Vietiane was even nicer than the one in Luang Prabang. We stayed at the Souphattra Hotel Vientiane which was a step-up from the very nice Victoria Xiengthong Palace in Luang Prabang. The rooms were large and modern with a separate sitting area, work desk, and large bathroom. There were complimentary snacks and the minibar contained complementary drinks. The coffee was very good. The complementary breakfasts offered extensive choices, and the turn-down service each night included a small plate of desserts. I felt it was an amazing value at a little less than $100 a day.
The only downside to our hotel was that the location was a little removed from the main hotel and restaurant area near the river. It was, however, close to the Patuxai monument which Laos compares to the Arch de Triumph. The Patuxai monument is dedicated to those who fought for independence from France and is used to extoll the virtues of communist victory over western influences. I was the first one to arrive at the monument stairways when they opened and enjoyed climbing the stairs, reading the exhibits, and enjoying the views in solitude.
The morning walk down to the Mekong river and back took me by some interesting sites. I needed to get some more cash so was also on the look out for an atm. There are a lot of banks and atms in Vientiane, but not all of them like foreign cards. The first one I tried didn’t recognize my card, the second one ate my card for several minutes until the session timed out and my card returned (a little disconcerting), but the third atm dispensed a couple million kip without issue.
