Day 126 - Vientiane, you little beauty

Patuxai, the Lao version of the Arc de Triomphe.

Day 126 - 27th October

So all night my Chinese roommate was on the phone to her boyfriend talking, and I mean ALL NIGHT. When I woke up she was sparko. I thought about banging around but thought pettiness was not the answer. At one point the kisses and love comments were getting so frequent, I was going to tell her to get a room but then I realised she already had - mine!

Can't resist a Museum. I would've taken photos inside but they wanted another 10,000 kip for that privilege.

So instead, I got up and had toast, jam and coffee before heading out to the Laos National Museum for a wander through history. There was some interesting stuff in there dating back to the cretaceous period as well as the usual pottery and clothing.

Not a bad imitation of the ol' Arc.

After an hour or so stint in there I headed towards Patuxai, an Arc de Triomphe replica set in the heart of the city. It was created in 1969 from a mass of concrete that the U.S. had donated for a new airport. Those crafty Laoians. The views were amazing but I did feel a bit dizzy from the heights so had to move on quickly after taking some photos.

Higher than it looks, believe me!

Proud of this one. I had to resist trying to get inside to see if Buddha's breastbone was inside!

I took a good 2km walk to Pha That Luang, a giant golden monument that is an icon of Buddhism. I read that a part of Buddha's breastbone was placed in the centre when it was originally built by the Indians. How true this is I don't know but it was still pretty cool to imagine.

Vientiane's Music Hall.

Another legend comes with That Dam. Apparently, Laoians believe there is a seven headed Naga inside that protected them from the Siamese Army in 1827. Chamber of Secrets before its time?

I weaved in and out of the streets on the way back, dehydrated and hungry. But I still had a mission to complete. I was on my postcard hunt for Nanna and magnet search for Mum. I found the post office after twenty minutes or so. Result.

Ah the bliss after a long hot walk around Vientiane. Not the food, the ice cold water.

Heading back, I stopped in a small cafe for a Laos Chicken and Sausage Roll and water. God, the water has never tasted so good!

What a relaxing combo.

When I reached my street, I found a nice little place to enjoy a beer no a book. Papillon has had me gripped and I was only a couple hundred pages from the finish. So I relaxed and made my way gradually through the book until I'd sunk a couple of big BeerLaos.

Back in my room, I finally managed to speak to the black haired, Russian girl with the tattoos called Stacie. Turns out she was actually Canadian (from Vancouver). We passed an hour or two just talking about travelling, my writing, Shantaram (the second time someone has mentioned this book to me in two days), the volume from our Chinese roommate and our weirdest dreams (I'm surprised she didn't recoil in horror when I told her about my creepy little girl singing slowly in her room with China dolls or my dream of being Peter Pan!)

Another Chinese girl came into our dorm but was really shy so we only gave her a quick hello.

I went back to the place for dinner and had some fantastic stir fried vegetables. Shortly after, I returned to my room and slept, ready for my morning bus to Vang Vieng.