Visiting Vientiane, Laos's capital

Three full days is just enough time in Vientiane, perhaps even a little too long in retrospect but we're looking forward to staying still for a few days after a week full of bus journeys. Vientiane is a sprawling two - three story-high city with a plethora of bakeries and banks and a handful of Buddhist temples.

During our three days we visit two bakeries a total of four times and the bank once. We also visit the Cope Visitor Centre - one of Cope's outlets based in or around hospitals in Laos. Cope's aims include financially supporting those who have been injured as a result of unexploded ordinance which is still being found throughout Laos. We get the chance to watch documentaries and learn some more facts about the impact UXO is having on Lao people, while reading about the work that Cope and other organisations are doing to try and help, it's well worth a visit. 

While in Vientiane we apply to extend our visas by ten days and collect our updated passports within 24 hours, we're pretty sure we were under-charged as it cost just $27 for us both when we were expecting it to be $20 each - hurrah! We also fit in a visit to the post office and the two top temples - Wat Sisaket and Haw Pha Khaew - before walking the 4 kilometres to Pha That Luang, one of Laos's most recognised sites; an enormous bright gold stupa. On our way to this we visit Patuxai, another infamous site but infamous for all the wrong reasons. Even its own sign refers to it as a 'monster of concrete'.

We walk along the South Korea-sponsored promenade and park, sneaking peeks at the Mekong River that runs alongside it and wondering at the lack of activity on this central piece of public space. At night the promenade puts on its party frock though as a large night market pops up and teenagers start skate-boarding and cycling off homemade jumps. One evening we watch this all taking place from a fourth floor bar while watching the sun set, on another we join them and tuck into takeaway noodles and fried rice with Femke and Mark who have caught up with us and with who we will be travelling for the next week or so.

After finishing our dinner we make our way to the Lao Bowling Centre for a night of unadulterated hilarity. Lubricated by Beer Lao we take it in turns to throw strikes and miss the pins completely, it's a brilliant night out, far too well documented by embarrassing photos. When we run out of energy for the game we join a group of Lao youngsters - probably in their 20s - for some enthusiastic but sometimes unintelligible conversation. Femke and I are taught how to dance Lao style and we all learn the Lao for 'cheers' - 'Mot Loi!' - which basically means: 'Down it!'

At night our street becomes occupied by a couple of ladyboys and a very grumpy old shaggy dog who doesn't seem to like them much. In the mornings we're repeatedly forced into eating pancakes for breakfast as we never get up early enough to grab a baguette before they're all gone. We manage to get hopelessly lost for the first time on this trip, walking a few kilometres in completely the wrong direction despite our joint logic that we needed to follow the sun... We find we need the three days to get used to the higher temperature here and are grateful for our air conditioned room, which not only cools us down but dries our smalls in super-fast time.

Our time in Vientiane now complete, on the 15th February we catch an irresponsibly named 'VIP' bus with Femke and Mark further south to Tha Khaek. Cramped, broken seats, multiple flies and a couple of breakdowns aren't what you'd usually expect from a VIP service, but it does have a loo which proves rather handy as a couple of us have dodgy tummies. Our much-anticipated-Lonely-Planet-recommended guest house only has its most expensive rooms available so we march off in search of cheaper beds. Across the road we find ourselves in a rather smart and cheaper hotel called Minde-J whose rooms are huge and actually make Femke jump for joy