Vientiane @ Loas

Everything you need to know about Vientine in Loas

Vientiane shares little in the way of common ground with its neighbouring capitals such as Hanor or Bangkok. Gleaming skycrapers, droves of riskshaws and legions of street vendors are few and far between in " Southeast Asia's biggest village".

With a population of just over half a million, Vientiane is the centres of Loas culture, commerce and administration and is considered as being mad busy in comparison with the other Loatian urgan conglomerations. Locatd on the banks of the Mekong River, Vientiane, like many Southeast Asian cities, is a place of contrast.

The central boulevard is reminiscent of the Champ Elysees, another telling sign of the city's French heritage. Vientiane is relatively small so moving around can be done with ease. Accesssing signts such as Wat Sisket, That Luang and Buddha Park, can be done by hiring a song teow, a pushbike or even going on foot. As for dinning out, fringing the Mekong river there ar an abundance of inexpensive food choices with everything from Thai, French and Mediterranean readily available.

When in Loas, do as the Loas do and the slow the pace right down. A common joke is that acronym PDF(People Democratic Republic) actually stands for " Please Slow Down". A word of warning to the annally punctual, the country is decidedly laid back and saome visitors may mistake this for a lack of ambition or impolitesse but regardless, it's best not to expect things to run like clockwork.