Drinking and Chilling in Vientiane

Monks crossing the sand bar in the Mekong River.  Thailand in the distance

We were lucky that after our first couple days on the Stray Asia bus, we got to jump off for 4 days in Vientiane.

The Presidential Palace

This means we did a whole lot of drinking (BeerLao, of course), eating great food, getting massages and staring at the fabulous Mekong River view.  Seriously, there really wasn't too much to do in Vientiane except for these things.

Eating a super spicy, very yummy, Tom Yam Gai soup

What was really neat, though, was seeing directly across the Mekong River into Thailand.  Looking across the water, the two countries seem so very close together.  In fact, there a few "friendship bridges" that combine the two countries together, for a fee of course.  These bridges were only constructed in the past few years as relations between the countries has always been a bit shaky.  We were told that the relationship between the two is now, finally, not as bad as it had been.

Allan and his ice cream

Vientiane, though, nice, was not a city Allan nor I could see ourselves wanting to visit again.  It's your typical city really: Pollution, noise, traffic, and people.  It was nice to get off the bus for a few days BUT the city itself was like any other.

Sunset over the Mekong River

Rooftop bars are the best

We did, though, have a nice time, as always.