Vientiane probably isn’t as popular as some of the more tourist-orientated destinations in Laos. But a visit to a capital city is often a good introduction to a country. And Vientiane is much smaller and less hectic than many South East Asia capitals, so it’s an easygoing place to spend a couple of days.
In Vientiane, there are plenty of hotels, but we chose the Lao Poet as our base. It’s perfectly positioned to explore the city on foot and has friendly and helpful staff. It also has a nice rooftop pool with a bar which was a great place to have a late dinner and our first taste of Laos food after checking in. The fried river weed from the Mekong was particularly tasty!
Here’s how my friend and I spent the next two days in Vientiane.
Exploring the wats
While Vientiane doesn’t have the quantity of temples that Luang Prabang does, there are some beautiful and important ones. Our first morning was spent exploring them, starting with Wat Haisok which was right behind our hotel. Then Wat Inpeng which is painted a gorgeous green.
A short walk away, Wat Chan is a beautiful wat down near the Mekong riverfront while a couple of blocks behind it, Wat Ong Tu is one of the most important in Laos. Originally built in the 16th century it was destroyed by war (as were many temples in Laos) and rebuilt in the 20th century. It’s easy to spot as has large elephants flanking the entrance. It was also the first temple we could go inside (the temple opening hours seemed pretty flexible in Vientiane!) and of course, the centrepiece was a huge Buddha.
Our favourite temple was Wat Sisaket, one of the bigger temples in Vientiane and set in lovely gardens. It’s also believed to be the city’s oldest surviving wat. The sim (ordination hall) has a five-tiered roof and a collonaded terrace. Inside are a large Buddha and hundreds of Buddha niches which you’ll also see in the cloister outside. In the gardens are cute watermelon-shaped seats where you can take a rest and there’s a lovely old library building. Plus throughout the temple, there are helpful signs in English to explain the different parts of the temple.
Another 10-minute walk along the main road from here is the Vientiane City Pillar which was built to house stone artefacts and soon after that is Wat Si Muang. As we approached the brightly-coloured wat we passed stalls selling a variety of flower offerings and when we went inside we realised why. It was by far the busiest temple we’d been in. Some people were sitting on the floor receiving a blessing from a monk. Others were practicing a ritual that involved picking up a small, melted-looking Buddha and raising it over their head three times. Lao people believe the Buddha can grant wishes and answer troubling questions if they ask them while performing the ritual.
The temple is also home to a copy of the Emerald Buddha and the city pillar stone which houses the guardian spirit of Vientiane. The pillar is kept in a hall at the back of the temple wrapped in a sacred cloth and surrounded by Buddha statues. It’s believed to date from the Khmer period so a religious temple of some sort is likely to have been on the site for 1,000 years.
Learning about Laos’s war legacy
Not far from Wat Si Muang is the COPE Visitor Centre. This is where you can learn about the ongoing impact of war on Laos which is the most bombed country on earth. And even though the US air bombardment of Laos ended in the early 1970s, unexploded ordnance (UXO) continues to kill or maim people. So COPE provides artificial limbs, wheelchairs and other walking aids.
The visitor centre is at COPE’s National Rehabilitation Centre, so many exhibits are about prosthetics. They are also used in some interesting artworks! But the most interesting part for me was watching a film about the impact of UXO on people living in rural Laos. A variety of films are shown in the media room but the one we saw was ‘Alexandra’s One Day at a Time’ and it was both educational and poignant.
Vientiane’s Victory Monument
Another very different US legacy is Patuxai, a war monument and Vientiane‘s very own version of the Arc de Triomphe. Somewhat ironic as it is dedicated to those who fought for Laos’s independence from France. The US connection is that they donated the cement intending it for a new airport but the Laotians thought differently! The monument is in the city’s commercial district which houses Government buildings including the pristine looking Prime Minister’s Office, as well as a range of embassies and businesses.
Getting a taste of Lao cuisine
The monument was also a brief sunset stop on our Tuk Tuk Safari food tour. As we hadn’t visited Laos before we decided to get a guided taste of different foods that we could look out for again during our trip. As the name implies the one we chose is by Tuk Tuk and the guide Ere took us to some great spots in his very colourful vehicle.
Our first stop was That Luan Food Market which is a little out of town and more frequented by locals than tourists. We don’t eat meat but Ere was great at finding or adapting dishes for us. We started with deep-fried enoki mushrooms on sticks, then Mieng which is sticky rice wrapped in lettuce with optional chilli. Sticky rice is a staple in Laos and we were shown the right way to eat it – with your hands!
Other dishes at the market included very spicy bamboo shoots wrapped in banana leaves, stir-fried vegetables and some delicious stir-fried mushrooms. Next was steamed wing beans and pumpkin that we chose from a super fresh pile of veg and dipped in a babaghanoush dip. Everything was really good and Ere explained that many people including students live in accommodation with no cooking facilities, so the market is their daily dinner stop.
After the market we made a stop at Vientiane’s best coconut ice cream shop before popping into the Vientiane Night Food Market in the city centre to try a barbecued aubergine dish. The market is a lively spot so we stayed a while to wash it down with our first taste of Beerlao, the number one beer in Laos.
Our final two stops were to try delicious sweet sticky red rice in bamboo. You peel it like a banana! Then the big finish was a roti. Many flavours were on offer but chocolate was my choice and it was so good we had it a couple of days later at the Luang Prabang night market.
Exploring outside Vientiane
On our second day, we decided to venture out to Xieng Khuan, also known as Buddha Park, about 25km outside Vientiane. As Laos was a pretty cheap destination we chose to book a taxi through our hotel for ease, but you can also get a bus there. It’s a quirky place with huge Buddhist and Hindu statues as it was built by Luang Pu who merged the mythology, iconography and philosophies of the two religions. I’ve seen quite a lot of Buddha and Hindu statues on my travels but never together, so this was something quite unique and well worth seeing.
On the way back to the city we went to Pha That Luang which is about 4km from the centre. It’s the most important national monument in Laos and is a beautiful place with a 45m high golden stupa at its centre. Surrounding it is a cloister with tiny windows overlooking the gardens and various Buddha images. Nearby are temple buildings and Ho Thammasapha, a gorgeous Buddhist Conference Hall.
Eating and drinking in Vientiane
As well as the food tour we also found a few good spots to eat and drink in Vientiane. Cafe Vanille is a great place for lunch and we had good cheap Thai food in Phu Khao Lau’s pretty courtyard garden. The cocktails at Cocoon which is in a side alley near the Lao Poet were great. But our favourite was the Tipsy Elephant, a rooftop bar with great views and equally good drinks.
One thing I wouldn’t recommend in Vientiane is the night market that runs alongside the Mekong River. Unless of course, you’re in the market for fake branded clothes! Luang Prabang is a much better place for night market shopping. And it’s also better for sitting by the Mekong. Although Vientiane is on the river, its banks are quite a way from the road. But I’ll be writing about travellers’ favourite Luang Prabang in another post. So for now I’ll finish by saying that before you venture to Laos’s more popular destinations, Vientiane is a capital city that I think is well worth spending a couple of days in.
To read more about my trip to Laos and other Asian countries, visit the Asia section of my blog.