Exploring the City of Vientiane

I'm a little delayed getting this blog up. Last night I was exhausted and the internet wasn't exactly agreeing with me. So I decided to wait until this morning (it's morning here) to get this post written. And then the power went out, LOL. It's back on now though.

Anyways, we had a fun day exploring the city yesterday. First we grabbed some lunch at an Italian restaurant right by our hotel. I know, I know. We should be eating the local food and enjoying the tastes and aromas of Lao cuisine. But honestly, we needed a little break from all the sticky rice. And a 3-course Italian meal did the trick!

Yep, it was as good as it looked. Especially for two hungry travelers who have had pretty much nothing but rice for the last two weeks.

Patouxay: Arc de Triomphe of Vientiane

Next we walked about a mile and a half to Patouxay which is a war monument dedicated to those who fought for their freedom from France. There's a funny story behind this monument, but I wasn't able to confirm the validity of it. They say that France provided Laos with a bunch of concrete to improve their airport runways and this is what they used it for. I've also heard versions of the same story saying that the U.S. donated the concrete. Either way, they used it for a war monument instead of runway repairs. I can dig it!

It really did remind us of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. And it was a lot bigger and more detailed than we expected. Hard to tell from the photo, but up close it was pretty impressive.

Pha That Luang: A Buddhist Wonderland

We continued our journey to Pha That Luang which is a total 2.5 miles from our hotel. It felt good to get out and burn off some of that Italian 3-course lunch, lol. We were really only expecting to see the famous golden stupa here (which is said to house the collar bone of Buddha), but we saw so much more!..

This really is a giant Buddhist Wonderland. We spent a couple of hours here admiring the intricate, detailed work of the architecture and the many pieces of art that were sprawled across the area. We had to laugh when we got to the giant reclining golden Buddha because there were monks working on a pagoda next to it listening to Ariana Grande (Side to Side) and smoking cigarettes while they painted and cut lumber. Hey, whatever works right?

Tuk Tuk Back to the Hotel

After several hours on our feet we decided to head back to the hotel. But instead of walking another hour or so, we just grabbed a tuk tuk, which were a little different in Laos. They're more like covered wagons on the backs of bikes here.

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They're pretty comfortable though and MUCH cheaper than the taxis.

Heading to Thailand Next

So.. we're still figuring out Kristen's whole passport situation. We're traveling to Bangkok next (a day early) so that Kristen can submit her paperwork for a passport renewal. Then we're off to Myanmar for a couple of days before heading back to Bangkok. Then we'll be in Thailand for 5 or 6 days exploring the country while we wait on her passport.

It takes ten working days (including weekends) to receive the passport back from the U.S. mainland, so we're hoping that we've timed all of this just right so that we can continue on to Indonesia in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, Indonesia is strict with their passport requirements and won't allow her entry with her emergency passport. I guess we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed! :)

Thanks for following along with our journey. We'll be traveling around SouthEast Asia for the next few weeks so be sure to follow my blog at @brandonfrye for more travel pics and adventures!

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