Sabai Dee – Charmed by Vientianne
November 20, 2009
Vientianne is one of the most charming cities I have ever come across in a long while. Great food, reasonable prices, lovely people. If it stays the way it is for the next 50 years, I will consider retiring here. But of cour not. It the last innocent trapped by neighbours hungry to be the first to exploit it for profit. By 2010, 200,000 mainland Chinese are scheduled to relocate here - an agreement made by the Lao government to mainland China in exchange for the SEA Games stadium, apparently. Hopefully, plans would have changed by now. Meanwhile, Malaysian giants are here building dams and bleeding the country resources, as are giants from Italy, Japan, you name it.
But that one particular week when I was there; that week, I wandered the streets of Vientianne, drinking and eating original Laotian and authentic French food in turn, the latter being a remnant of the French colonials of pre-1970s. There are Scandinavian bakeries and italian bistros too.
I was ther for work, but never had my work trips been so much pleasure as it was there in the Land of A Million Elephants, the Paris of the East. What absolute charm. What absolute blessing too, to have a job that takes me to places like this.
Local people spoke to me in Lao, not being able to differentiate my looks from theirs (I was surprised my size and height didn’t let on), but are nonetheless very gracious when my ignorance of Lao came shining through.
The massage places there were heavenly, and the city is a haven for fairtrade outlets. Across the Mekong, in full view, was Bangkok. But I was not interested in anything non-Lao that week. I spent what free time I had wandering the streets, eating French bread sandwiches from street vendors. I was fascinated by these. Imagine a street kolo mee vendor, but selling French bread sandwiches instead.
I need another trip there. Who wants to come?
Sabai dee.
Photo: the Scandinavian bakery a stone’s throw from my hotel. There is also much remnant French architecture in Vientianne.
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it wasN”T bangkok across the mekong. it is Nong Kai
Ah, bad information given to me then. Thanks for the clarification.