13th January: Vientiane, Laos
After yesterday’s breakfast, I just decided to go straight for it today and ordered scrambled egg! I enjoyed it too. I always planned to be less strict with my diet on this trip and it feels liberating to finally allow myself to adapt to situations rather than being all or nothing.
We walked back to the central bus station and took the number 14 out past the Beerlao factory to the Buddha Park. This was a surreal place with scores of concrete Buddhas in various sizes and poses scattered around a garden on the edge of the Mekong. Piped music added to the bizarreness!
We sat in the gardens eating the delicious crispy tofu and avocado baguettes we’d picked up in the morning. Throughout, great bougainvillea of colours ranging through white, red, pink, purple, and orange grew as shrubs, trees, or trailing over walkways. These are now on the dream garden list too! In storage close to the river’s edge was a giant khonsavanh (dragon boat) that can serve 55 sailors. Apparently, the old 37 sailor version was too small to race, so they built a bigger one!
The bus back was painfully slow as we stopped and waited close to the friendship bridge for the bus to be completely full before continuing into the city. The service is supposed to be every 15 minutes, but we were stopped for 40 minutes at this one stop! By the time we hopped off at Vientiane Central Bus Station, time was tight to make it to Pha That Luang. We decided to walk the 3 kilometres, given the unreliability of transport. Doughnuts along the way for 7p each fuelled us on a polluted walk that seemed to drag on. We did pass a few new bus stops under construction which seemed to suggest a new BRT system. Perhaps this will improve the pollution and reliability of transport in Vientiane.
The giant golden stupa was worth the walk. In the late afternoon sun, it positively glowed from all angles. Pha That Luang is seen as the most important symbol of Laos and is 45 metres high. The pinnacle is covered in real gold.
I seem to have traded winter this year for hayfever, as I’ve gradually developed the sniffles as we’ve headed south, although it could also be the pollution of Vientiane. My eyes were streaming, walking back along the polluted road in the heat. We walked back via the arch at Putaxay, so that Kaja could see the monument. We’d somehow spent all of our cash again, despite having thrice thought we’d drawn out enough to last us. Regardless, we were tired from walking and needed a good healthy meal. We shared two tofu and vegetable dishes with plenty of ginger but it was the fried spring rolls with a sweet peanut dip that were my favourite yet.
