Vientiane was my first destination on my south-east Asian trip in 2023. My thinking in deciding to go was that by landing there after a long trip, it would be small and relaxing, with not as much pressure to see as many things, and I could recover after the long flights and adjust to the time difference. This mostly worked out, Vientiane was small and what it lacks in major attractions, it makes up for in unpredictable and frequently incomprehensible oddities. I almost never found Vientiane pretty - their parks were mostly uncared for, the official neo-Buddhist architectural style did not interest at all, and the city was littered with construction projects all over the place (but no construction). However, the people were lovely, I had some magnificent food, and I was glad I visited.
Photo List - (Total 398 Photos) Click bolded headers below to view, or click "just the best" for quick tour
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Central Vientiane (109 photos) - The central city is host to many hotels, restaurants and stores, and is sprinkled through with Buddhist temples. Wires for electricity distribution tangle the downtown like seaweed on the ocean shore. Nothing is ever exactly clean or new, but it has a grimy charm to it.
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Mekong Waterfront (41 photos) - Vientiane is on the Mekong River, well, sort of. You can't actually see the waters of the river almost anywhere, as there is a large floodplain and so what you see from the walkways closest to the water is really just bush, more or less. There is a large park along the river, though, and a night market, and an amusement park. This gallery shows several visits to the waterfront at different times of day, from the early morning hazy sun to a night market.
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East Side (88 photos) - The east side of the central city has many of the city's visitable attractions. This gallery starts with the two Buddhist temple complexes that have been made into cultural attractions: the Sisaket Museum and the Ho Phrakeo Museum. This includes the COPE Visitor Centre, which is a museum dedicated to the provision of prosthetic limbs, and the clearing of unexploded ordinance from Laos. Wat There is an area along Khouvieng Road where the city appears to be building a collection of malls and condos.
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Patuxay (60 photos) - Vientiane has a monumental wide street, Avenue Lane Xang, which runs from the Presidential Palace to the Patuxay Monument. In the area around the monument are many official buildings, and the Wat That Phoun. Further along, there is another park, Nong Sa Phang Lenh Park, and nearby to that is the National Assembly of Laos. This gallery captures a walk up the avenue, the monument and the area around it, and around the National Assembly. I found the cutest cafe in the middle of nowhere, then I took a tuk tuk home.
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Long Northern Walk (94 photos) - I took a longer than normal walk towards the north end of the city. I had two destinations in mind, one was the Lao Textile Museum, and the other was the Museum of Contemporary Art. The walk took me through many areas of the city that would not normally be visited by tourists, indeed, by pedestrians at all. My walking presence on the street engendered some double-takes from people passing by. I very much enjoyed seeing this side of Vientiane, though there was little on the streets that was pretty or graceful. The Museum of Contemporary Art was particularly strange. It was not at all contemporary, rather it is a privately-owned gallery devoted to highly polished, carved wood. Lots of Buddhas, but lots of everything, in room after room after room. I had a guide with me the whole time, and the experience of so much of the same kinds of carved wood objects was a little phantasmagoric. I took the bus home, it was really hot and I didn't think I'd make it by walking.
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Other (6 photos) - Photos taken in Incheon, Korea, during my transfer there on the way to Vientiane, and a few of Vientiane's Wattay airport.
