Vientiane, Laos

From Laos

So, after a two day bus ride (including an overnight stop in Khon Kaen), and several years of meaning to get around to it, I have finally reached Laos. First impressions are that it almost indistinguishable from Isaan (North-East Thailand), as the people all speak the same language, Lao, and look the same. Apparently this is due to the historical fact that Isaan used to be part of a much larger Lao kingdom until it was grabbed by the Thais.
Although I am normally fairly relaxed about making up my travel arrangements as I go along, the very short notice nature of this trip has caused a few logistical problems. Firstly, I had not realized that the Thai New Year is also celebrated in Laos, so every form of transport is either fully booked or the prices are hiked for the few remaining seats. The other unforeseen issue, having not read my guidebooks beforehand, is that the journey from Vientiane to Luang Prabang, although it is only about 300km, takes over 11 hours by bus via the twisty mountain road! You end up losing a day just for this leg of the trip unless you fly, which is of course much quicker but not cheap. My compromise solution is to take an overnight bus on the outbound leg to Luang Prabang , then fly back to Vientiane at the end of the trip. The only drawback of this approach is that I will miss seeing the spectacular mountain scenery on the way there.
Vientiane itself is a quaint mix of French colonial architecture interspersed with Buddhist temples, although it has to be said that it is not nearly as impressive as some of the best that Thailand has to offer. There is only really enough tourist stuff here to fill one day, so my whistle stop schedule is not unrealistic. The weather here is currently too hot to wander around in the middle of the day, so I just did a quick orientation of the city yesterday evening, and will be spending today revisiting the museums, etc, that are only open during the day.