Vientiane

An elegant French Colonial building - the Governor's office

4th March

Upon arrival in Vientiane I was half expecting to be met by the hotel I’d booked into but there was no indication of their presence so I headed for the taxi counter. As in Chiang Rai, there is a well-organised system with published fixed prices to different destinations and I pay for my taxi fare before leaving the airport. I rather like this system, it takes out the uncertainty and the need to negotiate with drivers who may or may not be being honest with new arrivals to the city.

Pha That Luang

The driver helpfully stowed my bags then was puzzled by my attempt to get into the left hand front seat – I did need to explain that where I come from cars are right hand drive, although I am not certain he really understood. 

I was reminded of Linda Silverman staying with me during the last TAG conference a couple of years before and repeatedly trying to get into the driver’s seat in my car!  The driver identified himself as “Mr Air” (because his taxi has air conditioning) and gave me his card, offering a half day tour.

The hotel was quite nice, but the kettle did not work and the sink tap leaked. The staff changed my room and the sink drain leaked a little if I opened plug too much. I did not worry about it too much, just put the towelling mat under it. There was a good balcony with comfy chairs overlooking the third floor swimming pool and the laneway with local houses opposite.

Hibiscus, one of my favourite flowers, came in so many colours

Having learned my lesson in Luang Prabang, I checked the paper map provided by the hotel before relying on Maps on my phone to navigate my way around the city. My first destination was the tourist information centre, and I got there just before it closed. A very helpful young man gave me a larger map and identified key attractions – the list of which was very similar to lonely planet’s list. He also identified, at my request, good local street food area. 

The traffic is a little bit hectic, which made crossing roads a little bit of a challenge; there were pedestrian lights, which appeared not to work. I tended to join with groups of other people to cross some of the busier roads. 

Wat That Phoon

I purchased a couple of items in small shops – including a tiny unscented deodorant in a plastic bottle; the assistant indicated it was the same as those with English labels labelled, which was useful given the total lack of anything I could interpret on the label. There was a man with a food cart selling steamed pork buns, and this provided a tasty snack while I decided what to do next.

Vangthong night market was identified on the map I obtained from hotel reception, and being close to the hotel, I headed for there. It was clearly not for tourist: full of cheap and nasty goods and some funfair type activities for small children.

Stunning murals at the Pha That Luang complex

I continued on to Phai Nam Road, the authentic street food area identified by the helpful man in the tourist information centre. The young man in the Tourist Information Centre was certainly right about authentic street food. My first identification was the barbecued chicken feet, shortly followed by barbequed intestines and liver. Roasted grubs of a couple of varieties were on offer and there was probably a lot that I missed.

I walked on towards the night market near the riverfront, with a diversion to buy and eat a delicious banana roti.

Lovely stupas at Pha That Luang

At the edge of the market I was engaged in a conversation by a local lady who called herself "Kim". She asked the usual questions – where was I from etc and seemed very friendly and said she was a kindergarten teacher but was going to Australia shortly for an occupation therapy placement in Melbourne. As the following day was a weekend, she said she would show me around some of the tourist attractions and we could have lunch cooked by her auntie.

After a bit, I excused myself as tired and she walked part of the way with me back to the hotel, pointing out the areas to buy silk on the way.

Lao Tipitaka Translation and Research Centre
(translating sacred Buddhist texts to Lao)

I agreed to meet the following day at one of the attractions, but upon reflection decided there seemed something a bit odd about the situation – she’d had a very brief phone call at one stage and then said that she had told her auntie that I would be coming for lunch the next day – thinking about it, there seemed to scarcely be time to advise that she had met an overseas visitor and invited that person to lunch. I googled “scams in Vientiane” and came up with similar scenarios which had resulted in the person finding themselves in a situation where they were being pressured to gamble (and lose money). I decided not to keep the meeting appointment.

On my walk home, close to the hotel, I scored my record for motorbike spotting:  5 on a motorbike! With no babies included.

5th March

Bougainvillea also comes in many colours

I walked to Pha That Luang with its beautiful golden stupa and lovely grounds and visited some of the religious places in that complex, including the place where the sacred Buddhist texts are being translated into the dominant Lao language.

I tried some of the little rice/coconut flour cakes with vegetables, which were being cooked on one of the food stalls, and very lovely they were!

From there I walked to the Paxutai monument and climbed the stairs to the top, avoiding assorted souvenir shops on the way.

My impressions of Vientiane were consolidated by this view. The city is very flat and is a real mixture architecturally. There are the temples, with their beautiful traditional lines, the French colonial buildings, very elegant, then there is the modern uninteresting box like buildings and in between the small homes and businesses of Lao families.

My next destination is the COPE visitors' centre.  This not for profit organisation does some wonderful work helping people to deal with the issues caused by the enormous amount of unexploded ordinance  (UXO) that still litters the countryside.  

Laos, during the "secret war" was bombed more heavily per capita than any other country on earth, and the legacy of this action is ongoing.  Children, living in poverty, can receive payment for scrap metal - but much of what they find is not safe to handle. I watched a documentary about the training of locals in dealing with UXO as well as watching most of a short video of a couple talking about the incidents leading up to the death of their son as a result of UXO exploding.  It was a very sobering couple of hours.  Cluster bombs were (and still are - not all countries have signed up to ban them) a particularly nasty piece of artillery and one display illustrated how many smaller bombs might be contained within one of these.

Modelling a cluster bomb

Despite the traffic, the lack of footpaths that are available for pedestrian traffic, and the heat, waking has some real benefits. It gives me the opportunity to pause and identify interesting buildings; it presents me with opportunities that travelling from point A to point B by tuk tuk would not, such as pausing to admire a flower, to purchase the odd tasty snack from a street food vendor, to observe people going about their daily business in the open fronts of buildings and on the footpath, and to look more closely at what the street vendors have for sale.

Patuxay Monument

I walked along one street section that was the choice of the vendors selling products for traditional medicine, and observed on their small cloths spread on the ground, assorted roots, wood, bark and animal products. Lack of a common language limited conversation about where some of these animal parts came from but I was concerned about horn, attached to part of the scalp of an animal. The horn was no more than 15cm long, with a second horn bud not far behind it. I thought young rhinoceros, but the horn looked more bone like than fibrous, so I am totally unsure. However, the 2 girls on reception were absolutely sure the next morning. So much for reducing and policing the trade in protected species. There were also teeth, which I suspect may have been tiger, bits of skin with fur.... all the ingredients for a real witch's brew.

From Patuxay Monument

The lady with the horns for sale indicated to me that they are horns, and pointed out medicines for stomach upsets and medicines for encouraging breast milk production, communication all carried out non verbally but very successfully.

Late afternoon I returned to the hotel and enjoyed the cool delights of the swimming pool. I decide that I do not have the inclination or the energy to go out looking for dinner so consume the pineapple I had purchased earlier and some forgettable packaged snack food.

Traditional medicine ingredients - Rhino horn?

6th March

It did not occur to me that Sunday would have such a significant impact on business in Vientiane. I started by inquiring about a couple of places out of town, for which I would hire a bicycle, and they were closed, which did not really surprise me. So I decided I would see the sights that were in the old town area. Since all the sights are relatively close, I decided that a bicycle would be more of a liability than an asset so set off on foot to look at That Dum Stupa. This stupa is set in a tiny neat park in the middle of a side street (literally the middle, it forms a traffic roundabout) and is a little bit decrepit. The stories tell that it was once covered by gold but this was carried off by the Siamese in their general pillaging of the country in 1828.

That Dum Stupa - once covered with gold?

I should mention here the significant difference in traffic on this Sunday - roads were easy and safe to cross, many pavements could actually be walked upon.

As I continued to my next destination, I passed the shop "Kanchana" which sported the subtitle "the beauty of Lao silk". It was open so how could I walk past? This is a branch of the business "Lao Textiles" and has some gorgeous silks but with pretty hefty price tags. My subsequent reading of Lonely Planet confirms that this is the most upscale collection of silks in town. For this I was glad. Deciding that I did not want to pay $US1,500 plus for a length of silk, no matter how gorgeous, I thanked the sales lady and headed on my way, but not before ascertaining the location of the Lao Textile Museum for the following day.

My travels took me past the impressive presidential palace, with its locked gates, which was built to house the French Colonial governor.

The palace of the colonial governor

I continued to Vat Sisaket which is supposed to be Vientiane's oldest intact temple and has thousands of Buddha statues, some very tiny and some in quite a state of disrepair. It is a museum, rather than a temple that houses monks (I believe), but the main temple room still looks and feels like a temple, and would have felt more so if the Chinese tour guide had not been loudly talking to his group about it.

There are wedding photos in progress and both bride and groom looked gorgeous in their formal attire.

Stupas at Vat Sisaket

I explore around the outer buildings and am rewarded with some beautiful stupa. While the original purpose of stupa was to contain religiously significant relics, they are now constructed as funerary monuments, a bit like elaborate gravestones.

I crossed the road to Hor Pha Kaow, built as a royal temple to house the emerald Buddha, (yes, the one now in Wat Phra Kaow in Bangkok) but is now the national museum for religious objects. However, it is closed for renovations, so I avoided the tuk tuk drivers and headed to my next destination, Namphu fountain. While lonely planet is not hugely ecstatic about the fountain, the reality on that particular day was even less. There is no water in the fountains and all the cafes and restaurants are closed. Ok, so I head to Carol Cassidy's Lao Textiles. What I have read of her prices suggests that this is a “look only” excursion, but this is also closed.

Lao National Culture Hall

I am approached again by a lady "where are you from?" It's "Kim" again. I lie and tell her I failed to meet her yesterday because I did not feel well and I am now on my way to meet a friend for lunch. Her response and lack of interest, although she is still friendly, reinforces my concerns of yesterday. I think I made the right choice. She heads off, presumably to find someone else to befriend.

I wander up past the National Cultural Hall to the museum, which is closed for lunch. Given that I promised myself I would eat lunch at a sensible time, I head for one of lonely planet’s recommendations. It's also closed. On the way I have passed another of lonely planet's recommendations, the shop, T'Shop Lai Gallery. It has some nice things but room and weight in my suitcase were becoming a problem.

Small shrine at Wat In Paeng

There is not a lot open for lunch (at least, not a lot that I want to eat at) and I settle for Indian food - a paneer dish. I've had better. Sangay at the guest house at Gyelposhing cooked a divine version of this.

Since I am close to the 4 temples I wanted to look at, I head for those. Vat In Paeng is first with some fabulous murals and it has one quiet little temple that is unlocked and which I can visit. Wat Ong Teu is next with its particularly large and lovely Buddha statue. Wat Hai Sok has a rather interesting animal cage tucked in the back and a tree that intrigues me. The flowers look like a colourful version of my tulip tree in Launceston only they have a centre that looks positively carnivorous. I've never seen anything quite like these. Wat Mixai is the last of the temples for now and I head off to the museum.

The national museum starts off being quite interesting, but the later displays tend to be based around fading photographs from which one needs to piece together the events.

A gate at Wat Inthrathira

The photo subtitles for the "secret war" era are none to subtle "the imperialist forces and their puppet soldiers", referring to the U.S. and their use of the Hmong hill tribes to fight against the communist insurgents. Fair enough.

The French occupation was not exactly described in loving terms either.

I'm not sure if I was not paying enough attention, but I do not recall much about Laos under the royal family.... Perhaps it was just my oversight....

There were some interesting exhibits about prehistoric Laos, including one excavated skeleton of a man 1.7m tall, carbon dated well before the current era. That is remarkably tall for a human of those times.

The archaeological programs got a mention. I must confess that I'd rather not be participating in an archaeological program in a country that is scattered so liberally with UXO. Perhaps I just lack enough of a sense of adventure. 

Howdah at the national museum

After the museum I go to look at a massage place that the girls on hotel reception recommended and check their prices. Double what I have seen in other places and I realise that my supply of kip is getting low and I don't really want to withdraw any more as ATM fees make small amounts expensive to withdraw.

It's hot, I am positively melting, and the hotel swimming pool calls me yet again.

7th March

I asked the hotel reception staff for help in writing, in Lao, the name of a village I wanted to visit. Hilariously, there was no one in the hotel who spoke Lao, all the staff were Vietnamese.

I organised to hire one of the hotel’s bicycles and chose the best bike .. the one with a couple of working brakes and tyres that had tread.

Cannonball Tree (Couroupita guianensis) in a temple grounds

I checked the paper map, estimated the location of my destination and headed off; I kept going and going and going, twice as far as I thought. 7+ km

The receptionist at the vocational education centre for women assumed I would do a course, so I did. Especially since it involved doing supplementary weft weaving - a quite complex technique.

The loom was already set up with rods to separate the strings that control the pattern, and I was weaving with much finer silk for the weft (one spool only). Of course my plans did not fit with the time available and I could not even plan to return the following day as it was a public holiday, so what was intended as a silk scarf is an asymmetrically pattered table runner.

Details of my supplementary weft silk weaving

However, I was very happy, it looks very pretty.

I got many interesting looks as I cycled back. It was not as scary as I thought it might be; the cars generally anticipate my needs (ie, I will need to move out to pass a parked car) and give me plenty of space. The vehicles driving the wrong way on the side of the road are an interesting challenge and at least one young woman reacted with humour to my facial expression.

The swimming pool again provided a welcome diversion when I got back.

The Golden Sun Hotel - my home in Vientiane for a few days

I finally decided I really should explore the big night market, and found it very disappointing; the quality of silks, when I found them, was largely not good and the market was full of cheap copies of all sorts of things.

I had street food for dinner and could have chosen from the full range of chicken feet, intestines and liver from the braziers but chose vegetable and chicken kebabs instead.

8th March

The temperature forecast for the day was 39 degrees and it was a public holiday for international women's day., however the receptionist said that the shops would be open.

Lovely use of English Language

I confirmed that I had late checkout and airport transfers were organised and then headed towards the Tao Salat shopping mall (the air conditioning was appealing) and market. I browsed the market, including the textiles, for some time but was a little reluctant to handle the textiles much as I was absolutely dripping wet in the heat. I wiped my hands on my cotton dress each time I wanted to touch the textiles. 

I am sure that much of what I see is not the quality of that I saw in Luang probing, but perhaps I am getting more discerning. Many of the vendors seem quite disinterested, with a few exceptions.

Monk painting friezes at Pha That Luang

A small group of ladies who are being shown textiles, a particularly beautiful purple, encourage me to look closer and tell me that it's easy to sew a skirt, and describe making the fold and an elasticised waist band. I tell them that my choice would be to tailor it and so we discuss a little more but I decide to resist this piece. I am concerned about those which have "lining". Self-adhesive stuff is on the back of many of these. It is probably to give some body to relatively lightweight textiles but I'm not that keen on it. Some of the textiles are clearly synthetic and machine made.

I wander into the air-conditioned section and look a bit at the jewellery stalls. Much looks quite gaudy and I suspect it's gold/silver claims. I do not know enough about precious stones to risk buying any of the pretty sparkling things so head to find some lunch.

Reclining Buddha at Pha That Luang

The cafe produces my stir fried mushrooms on their second try....the first time they just bought me vegetables. Healthy and ok, but not the delicious flavours I have experienced elsewhere. I guess that's my own fault for going for something in a shopping mall rather than a backstreet cafe or a food vendor's cart.

Lunch over, I step out into what is now searing heat. My phone says it's 35oC and that would be in the shade. It is seriously mad dogs and Englishman weather and I am glad that it was not quite this hot on my previous days here. I beat an ignomious retreat to the hotel swimming pool, the one on the shady side of the hotel. It is still ridiculously hot sitting by the pool, but the water is considerably cooler.