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The Lao capital of Vientiane sits on the northern bank of the Mekong River facing across to the even sleepier Thai town of Sri Chiang Mai. For many visitors, Vientiane provides the first taste of Lao food, culture and hospitality, and it does not disappoint on any count.
Actually pronounced Wiang Jan and translated as City of Sandalwood, the modern name of Vientiane comes courtesy of a bastardised French transliteration. Wiang actually means "fort" (City of Sandalwood sounds better than Fort... ) but by all accounts it mustn't have been much of a stronghold, as the original city was overrun on a number of occasions by the Burmese and Chinese, and absolutely flattened by the Siamese (Thais) in 1828, after which the city was abandoned and left to the jungle.
This is one reason why many of the wats in the city are of a relatively young age, and if the road layout strikes you as an inspired affair, thank the French for it -- they laid the whole place out when they oversaw the rebuilding of the city from the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries.
Like many French colonial cities, Vientiane is characterised by broad, often leafy boulevards and rundown, creaking colonial mansions. Dotted with rustic wats surrounded by coconut palms and a generally sedentary pace of life as well and the allure of the place can be well understood.
Indeed it's only since the early 1990s that the city has really started to develop. While it's a shame that the first waves of (largely Thai) investors that hit landlocked Laos brought with them the concrete egg-carton style architecture that litters so much of Thailand, at least the riverfront, with its sleepy wats and broken pavements, didn't bear the brunt of it.
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Lao Heritage HotelHere are some discussions off the Travelfish forum, perhaps related to Vientiane. You can find the full forum here.
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