Mekong Riverfront

An iconic Vientiane experience

What we say:

If you haven't drunk a Beerlao on the bank of the Mekong, you have not been to Vientiane. In a city of few must-see attractions, a leisurely evening of food and drink by the river has become the iconic Vientiane experience.

Though there are always a couple simple restaurants open along the river, the area really comes alive after sunset with food vendors, souvenir booths, and hundreds of diners, both tourists and locals. The food is tasty, cheap, and local — skewers of meat, sticky rice, papaya salad, laarb — and eaten at plastic tables or on woven mats laid out on the ground.

A massive riverbank reconstruction project is currently underway but should be completed by the end of 2010. Though the piles of sand and bulldozers certainly detract from the Mekong atmosphere, they have not stopped the nightly orgy of food and beer on the riverbank. The construction plans are to convert the area into a park to stop erosion, and will likely mean a new and improved Mekong River experience with more permanent eateries.

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2nd May, 2011

Yea, they redone the riverfront with help from the Koreans. It's a park with garbage and no shade during the day. No restaurants that face the river. Is not the same in my opinion.

I was Lao in Dec 2008 through Feb 2009 had the most incredible experience of my life. People were amazingly friendly.

I am here now May 1, 2011 and after 5 days of this I am going back to Thailand. Prostitution is a huge problem. If your into that this is the place for you. The people are rude and greedy. I will never be back. I think the ASEAN Games went to their heads. China is building a high speed train and bought a lot of land. Hopefully the price of OIL will go to 150 to 200 and that should slow things down.

Don't stay at the Avalon Hotel people working the front desk are rude and unresponsive! It's like they went for hospitality training in Vietnam. Laugh

Mekong Riverfront reviewed by dmcrory (1)
Written on 2nd May, 2011, rated 1 out of 5. Visited here in May, 2011

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