Goodby Vientiane

VIENTIANE: So I guess that's more or less a full recount of my upriver adventures. I think I still have one day in Luang Prabang to recount where we had a particularly interesting discussion with a monk outside a wat but all in all I'm satisfied to say I'm just about up to date. Tonight I leave on a sleeper bus for Pakse in southern Laos. Visit a Khmer-era temple in a day or two and then on to Si Phan Don for some relaxing.

Vientiane has been good. Had a few fruit shakes by the Mekong at sunset. (Off the beer until I get well). It has shady streets, a nice mix of Asian shambles, shady trees, concrete buildings and Communist concrete. It gets hot but then catches some of the most delightful breezes. And it's oddly multicultural with a huge population of expats (mostly NGO's and dipolamatic staff I guess), random Africans and Chinese businessmen. Wont be sad to leave - kind of down the town to death - but it was a nice place to linger.