Greetings from Vientiane!

We arrived Friday evening in Vientiane after flying 13 + hours Wednesday night to Hong Kong, on which we slept pretty well. Like Cathay Pacific as an Asian airline.  Friday, we had an 8-hour layover in Bangkok so we took a bus downtown and just walked around exploring and had a VERY SPICY chicken curry at a street vendor. People are so friendly for a mega-cosmopolitan city.

Flew Lao Aviation to Vientiane–a two propeller with 30 seats.

Flew fine and was fun to hear the sound of propellers. Arrived about 8pm, got our visas, our guesthouse met us at the airport, we quickly took showers, and passed out. Exhausted. Slept about 10 hours.

The Lani Guesthouse is a lovely colonial mansion with a beautiful garden. They served breakfast with delicious Laos coffee each morning on the veranda.

Have had a fun day yesterday getting to know our way around Vientiane. Happened on to a funeral where we watched the entire ceremony, including the pyre to cremate the body. Wow!

 

 

Then in the late afternoon, we went down to the Mekong River to watch the sunset. Doug had his iced Beerlao and me a fresh pineapple shake. Delicious and relaxing!

Dinner last night was fun as we ate at a restaurant frequented by US expats and had three of them sit down next to us. We loved hearing their stories about their time in Laos during the 60's when the US was heavily bombing Laos in its war against the North Vietnamese. These men were involved in civilian community service projects and were helping the Laos village people to build wells, roads, medical dispensaries of basic needs. They strongly felt their story during this time period had not be told by the media. Fascinating men and great conversation!

Today we continue our exploration of Vientiane, including a few wats

 and getting a Laos massage for $7 for an hour. What an opportunity! We're going to Luang Prabang tomorrow–Monday–morning.

Will again from there.

Happy Trails!

To your Joy with Children,
Connie