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Our first impressions of Vientiane weren't good. After the beautiful and tranquil Luang Prabang it seemed to have very little to commend it - a ramshackle city without much of a discernible centre or character. Second impressions were a little better but it remains one of our less favourite spots. We spent some time visiting the sights - the Sisaket Wat which is the oldest and only one to survive the Siamese occupation was quite distinctive and lovely: the old royal palace is now a government building and not open to the public but the King's private temple (the Haw Pha Kaew) is now a museum. It used to house the emerald Buddha which the Siamese carried off to Bangkok in 1779 where it remains to this day. The central plaza is very disappointing with a fountain which is only turned on in the evening and instead of the general meeting place it is supposed to be has become little more than a huge restaurant complex. Vientiane sits on the Mekong river but that is also a let-down as the actual river is some distance from the riverside walk due to what we assumed was a flood plain.
We did continue to enjoy the Laotian food however and so decided to do a cookery course which was great. The four of us doing the course were driven slightly out of the centre to a riverside private house where a delightful Laotian lady called Nook demonstrated some local dishes to us and then assisted us to follow suit. We all sat down to lunch together and ate the food which we had cooked. Nook is something of a celebrity as she was on an Aussie foodie show when they did a feature on Laotian food and accompanied the presenter on a tour of the country. Our course was the first to be held in her new house and so we were inspected by a local official who was responsible for deciding whether the business could go ahead. I believe that there was an expectation that some money would change hands to ensure the right outcome but luckily everything seemed to go well. I found some of the food a little too spicy for my taste and spent most of the morning sweating profusely and drinking gallons of water but then I am a bit of a wimp and it was definitely tasty - can't wait to try it out on Sion who has a penchant for chilli!
Can't believe we are so close to the end of our trip - only 2 more days in Bangkok to go. We have enjoyed the last 4 months so much that we can't begin to imagine what life will be like when we are not moving on constantly to the next new place and experience. We don't appear to have got over our travelling bug and I'm sure we will soon be planning the next instalment!
- comments
Catherine How brilliant that you have enjoyed it all so much and don't feel desperate for a sofa, pair of slippers, bottle of vino and good DVD! Maybe you could take up caravanning!!!!! x
Catherine PS.... Looking forward to you coming home! Big sisterly advice bureau been missed!