First day in Laos - Vientiane

We bought air tickets to Laos in September, put it on our calendar, bought Lonely Planet Laos, and did nothing else until last week. Doug booked a few hotels, a stay at an elephant conservation center, and a river cruise. Nothing else. On the plane I sat next to a young woman who was visiting relatives in Vientiane. She asked what we were going to do first, and what we planned to see. She seemed incredulous that one the first day we would wander around and figure things out.

We began to doubt our travel wisdom when two ATMs rejected our debit card. This ATM was more humble and ancient than the picture shows, but it worked. It spit out the card and showed a balance of 0, but money came out before we totally panicked. (We didn't check the networks for the first ATMs! Lesson learned.) At 8000 kip to the US dollar we got a pile of bills.

The ATM was in front of a mini-mart. We made our first purchase - seriously needed water.  As owners of shares of Heinz stock we are always on the look out for Heinz displays. We found 6 products (although beans and such may have been nestled elsewhere). We are sure that one bottle contained chili sauce, but haven't figured out the two other red sauces - surely catsup is in one of them.

We had gotten up at 4:00 a.m. for a 7:30 flight. No time for breakfast. After getting money and buying water we were ready for lunch and a nap. We decided on the Noodle People, which was next to our hotel, Hotel Khamvongsa. It was doing a brisk business with local office workers (a good sign in our eyes). We could choose either rice noodles or egg noodles. Doug chose egg noodles and I had rice noodles. Both of us chose roasted pork. The pieces of pork were tasty. My lime juice was full of lime flavor. A good choice for a satisfying meal in a pleasant place. Besides we like looking around and finding locals, as opposed to ex-pats, enjoying the food.

A mysterious display seen on as we were walking

Chicken, pork, and bowls for noodles

What it looks like behind the counter

Back at the hotel we saw a flier for Lao-Experiences cooking classes. We read the Trip Advisor reviews, got directions to the Full Moon Restaurant where we signed up for a market tour and cooking class. (Doug gets to write that blog post.) We wandered through a Wat - very quiet except for a few tourists wandering around. Monks' robes were hanging out to dry and the temples were locked. Very different from Bhutan.

Doug wanted to look for Green Discovery Tours to book a city tour and to stop at a Scandinavian bakery for a snack. Vientiane a walkable city with well maintained sidewalks and virtually no trash. We easily crossed streets. No worries about avoiding an onslaught of motor cyclists, no cars that speed up as soon as they see a pedestrian, and no fly-overs. All of which are common in KL.

Needs a hair cut?

After getting a picture of the poodle acted on the opportunity for an unplanned snack. The cook put batter on a griddle and let them cook for a few minutes, then put a dab of a cream filling (we chose butterscotch), flipped them over and put them in a box. They were crispy, tasty, and quickly eaten.

Street food - a sweet snack

Swedish Pizza? Note the tangle of wires (similar to Vietnam)

The Swedish Baking House had tempting cakes and muffins, but we opted for "mini" about 4" sandwiches

Did we do more than eat the first day? Yes, we wandered the streets and noted things that reminded us of other places. The organization (or disorganization) of shops reminded us of Bhutan. But even in Bhutan I did not see a shop with piles of men's pants. The layout of the streets reminded us of another French colony, Pondicheri in India. Alternatively, we were unable to recognize distinctive Lao characteristics and some of the older ex-pat men looked like they arrived here decades ago and never left, i.e., they were surprisingly disheveled.

In addition to wandering we made plans and reservations for the next two days, and reminded ourselves in such a hot climate spending mid-day in a cool room is a good plan,