Vientiane

The bus ride from Hanoi to Vientiane was anything but enjoyable; however, I feel that it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. The trip started by boarding a bus with three other tourists and finding the bus over three quarters full of cargo (not entirely sure what). It still didn't seem too bad at the start as there was still plenty of room on the bus for us four tourists and the 10 or so locals.

Before leaving Vietnam though the bus stopped a few more times to pick up even more cargo and a few more passengers. By the time we got to the boarder the bus was absolutely jam packed with cargo inside and out. The top of the bus had things tied to it about 5 feet high and it was almost impossible to move inside the bus. The rest of the journey wasn't as bad as the Vietnam side as the bus didn't stop to pick up any more cargo along the way. But the journey from Hanoi to Vientiane took just over 26 hours, far more than the 16-20 that we had all been told before leaving Hanoi.

So for anyone else thinking of doing the journey I would recommend spending the extra money to fly.

The city of Vientiane very different than anything in Vietnam. Everything here is so quiet and almost slow, the locals are definitely very laid back. However, in the capital city itself there is very little to see: a few Wats and the vertical runway (something similar to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris it was built with concrete purchased from the US that was supposed to be used to construct a runway at the airport).

Additionally the entire country has a curfew of midnight so in the evenings everything shuts down. Wandering around outside after dinner makes the city seem dead as there is almost no one else on the streets. All of this together means that Vientiane has to be the quietest capital city in the world.

With the fact that the city is pretty dead and not too much here to do I only stayed for a day and a half before leaving for Vang Vieng. Additionally it was in this city that my memory card stopped working properly so I can't post pictures for this post yet but the next one will definitely have some.