Outside of Bangkok, Thailand, Vientiane (Laos) is only the 2nd capital city that I have visited in Southeast Asia.. That being said - the contrast between these two cities are a difference of night and day. While Bangkok is a sprawling cosmopolitan city which throbs with life and activity, Vientiane, with an estimated population of about 500,000 inhabitants, has a small town feeling and is decidedly provincial in flavor. While not quite as laid back as Luang Prabang, the pace here is decidedly slow. While I was only in Vientiane three days, I would hasten to say that every day feels like a lazy Sunday. Unlike Bangkok, which is famous for its traffic jams and air pollution, there is relatively little traffic congestion here and the air is very breathable. Like Bangkok, there are a fair number of people riding motorbikes, but many of the people can be observed riding bicycles as well. In addition, Tuk-tuk drivers will solicit you for their service, but they are not quite as aggressive as their counterparts in Bangkok.

One thing that I love about Vientiane is that while they are many cafes and bakeries, there are no Starbucks on the scene. Of course, as Laos is a former French colony,
one can have some delicious Laotian coffee with fresh baguette and jam almost at any café. Every day is Sunday in Vientiane…it is that slow.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 15th, 2006 at 8:48 am and is filed under laos, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.