Vientiane (Laos)

...between its peaks and troughs. Vientiane is one of those kinds of places.


UPDATE 16-10-2002
Seeing as I've just made a return trip to the place, now would be a good time to update this opinion, when it's still fresh in my mind... and boy, does it need updating!

Please refer to the end of the original piece (I quite like it and I don't want to break it up!) for more current information on Vientiane.
...a few days spent in Vientiane (Vieng Chan), the capital city of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, January, 1999. The cast list: self, inevitable travelling companion: Adrian Dowd, additional amigo: "Postie" Colin Smith.
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GEOGRAPHICALLY SPEAKING, Laos (pronounced L'au as opposed to Lay-oss) is a curiously shaped country sandwiched in-between Thailand to the West and Vietnam ... more

WHEREVER YOU WALK, history leaves the biggest footprint. Not just in books and museums; In the faces you see, the food you eat, the places you go to, the atmosphere that surrounds you when you walk down the street. Some places are immutably changed, uplifted and transformed, evolved and progressed by the passage of history. Elsewhere, there are places that seem glad simply to seek some sort of equilibrium between its peaks and troughs. Vientiane is one of those kinds of places.

UPDATE 16-10-2002
Seeing as I've just made a return trip to the place, now would be a good time to update this opinion, when it's still fresh in my mind... and boy, does it need updating!

Please refer to the end of the original piece (I quite like it and I don't want to break it up!) for more current information on Vientiane.

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For a change, the Scruffy Shoe Diaries leaves the comfort of the bosom of Mother Europe and heads East. Here are some impressions after a few days spent in Vientiane (Vieng Chan), the capital city of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, January, 1999. The cast list: self, inevitable travelling companion: Adrian Dowd, additional amigo: "Postie" Colin Smith.
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GEOGRAPHICALLY SPEAKING, Laos (pronounced L'au as opposed to Lay-oss) is a curiously shaped country sandwiched in-between Thailand to the West and Vietnam to the East. To the south is Cambodia and to the North, Myanmar (or Burma if you prefer) and the Yunnan province of China. It's capital city, Vientiane, sits on the Eastern bank of the wide and mighty Mekong River. On the opposite shore lies North Eastern Thailand and it is from this direction that most visitors come. The land journey through Thailand brings you via Udon Thani to the border village of Nong Kai, site of the Friendship Bridge (Saphan Mittaphap Thai-Lao), a huge suspension bridge funded by the Australian government and built in 1992.

Hop into a minivan at the Nong Kai bus station and for the princely sum of 20 pence, allow yourself the no-brainer luxury of being herded through the immigration procedure ($35 US for a 28 day Laotian visa - don't forget your passport sized photos. Lots of other random taxes too - don't forget your small change) where the only hassles are bureaucratic. Once deposited on the opposite side, greeting you will be hordes of friendly tuk-tuk drivers eager to take you the forty minute ride into Vientiane for an extortionately high price! Haggle.

THE 20 KM RIDE from the bridge into Vientiane proper is the first opportunity to get a handle on this country. It's a boneshaker of a journey that for the most part follows unsealed dirt track road taking you through what might optimistically be referred to as the suburbs. These are really just a hotch-potch of villages radiating outwards from the capital city, each one little more than a collection of shacks made of wood and corrugated iron half hidden in the lush, pluvial greenery that grows everywhere.

Periodically, our tuk-tuk taxi, which was some sort of converted pick-up equipped with two benches and a rudimentary roof bolted on to the back, stopped to pick up other passengers. At this time of day it was mainly mothers and daughters, dressed in their finery heading for the Morning Market. Round-faced, quietly determined matriarchs and their overly painted daughters were quite happy to have a laugh an a joke at the expense of the funny-looking white boys and the journey was all very congenial. At one point I thought we had Colin married off with one of the almond-eyed young beauties, but having sworn an oath of allegiance to Her Majesty's Postal Service, he explained that it was a match that could never be. Ah well, she'll get over it.

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FROM THE EARLY 1900s, Laos was a low-key French protectorate, known as the land of the lotus-eaters, where an indolent lifestyle prevailed. It was too mountainous for plantations, there was little in the way of mining, and the Mekong was not suitable for commercial navigation. The French built very few roads – the main colonial route constructed was from Luang Prabang through Vientiane to Savannakhet and the Cambodian frontier. Some half-hearted attempts were made to cultivate rubber and coffee, but the main export under the French was opium.

The French granted full sovereignty to Laos in 1953, but the Pathet Lao (a dissident political splinter group) regarded the royalist government as Western-dominated. When in 1954 the French made a last stand at Dien Bien Phu, it ended badly, with a stunning defeat and the weary French started a withdrawal from Indochina. (www.visit-laos.com/sabbaidee/history.htm)
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OUR AFTERNOON ARRIVAL at the Morning market, which doubled as the bus station, was a step back in time in more ways than one. A cluster of wooden shacks were selling fruit and veg., noodle soup, chickens in cages, washing powder and all manner of objects and substances that could only be guessed at. Pointing vigorously and waving some Thai currency brought us three Cokes (welcome relief against the building humidity) and a few bewildered glances, but with the exchange of a few extra shrugs and smiles a friendly rapport was achieved.

I say step back in time because this was like no modern day capital city I'd ever encountered before. It had a "pre-industrial" feeling that was further magnified after leaving the hustle and bustle of the market place/bus station. Once we stepped out into the city, the most remarkable thing was the absence of any activity whatsoever.

Adrian claims he is able to navigate using "the Force", so he picked a direction and we strode forth along the red clay road looking for something that might pass as the city centre, marvelling at the quietude. The sole pedestrian we passed was walking in the other direction appeared to be lost and tried gamely to extract some directions from us in very broken English. At the time I had a sneaking suspicion that he wasn't in the country that he thought he was in. Now I wonder whether he just took one look at the place and hoped he was in the wrong country, so alien was this place when compared to the other megalopolis capitals of the region.

Surprisingly, Adrian's navigation proved to be correct. Even more surprisingly after rounding another corner, BANG! there it was. A city. Well, kinda. How to explain? It was like the place had been abandoned, all the original occupants had left and the infrastructure had gone a bit crumbly. After a short while a bunch of other people moved in and just decided to put up with the falling down buildings and the broken up road, and begun to eke out an existence. Being present in the middle of this second hand city was quite the most bizarre sensation.

Even in what I guess must've been the city centre, traffic was light. The occasional pedestrian would wander by, the odd scooter would rev. past and the overall feeling was indolent and shiftless. Still, like the treacle-thick atmosphere.

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Throughout the sixties, Laos was plagued by civil war, coups, countercoups, and chaos, and was dragged headlong into the Vietnam War, becoming a pawn of the superpowers. During the Vietnam War, Laos was effectively partitioned into four spheres of influence: the Chinese in the north, the Vietnamese along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the east, the Thais in western areas controlled by the US-backed Royal Lao Government, and the Khmer Rouge operating from parts of the south. Because of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Laos was subjected to saturation bombing by aerial raids launched from Thailand and from within Laos itself.

In 1973, as the US began its strategic withdrawal from Vietnam, the Pathet Lao gained the upper hand, controlling most of the country’s provinces. In 1975, with the fall of Saigon and Phnom Penh, opposition to the Pathet Lao crumbled and they took Vientiane without opposition, establishing the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. (www.visit-laos.com/sabbaidee/history.htm)
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THERE WERE TO BE plenty more surprises once we'd established base in a five dollar hotel and obtained some local cash (currency: the kip) from the glass fronted and air-conditioned! Bank and home, incidentally, to the only ATM in the country.

Walking through the settlements along the riverbank was like stepping back into history once again; wooden shacks free of modern conveniences, concrete one-room bungalows that housed untold quantities of wide-eyed kids. Wandering still further and the dirt tracks turned into wide, tarmacked, tree-lined boulevards: the legacy of French occupation carrying the stink of European colonialism and the residue of a lingering bureaucracy. Here were the important buildings. Ministries. Embassies. Departments of lord-knows-what. No curious kids, no washerwomen, no old-timers chain smoking and looking into the middle distance. Just uniforms.

Back for a second turn down the main drag and this time certain elements appeared more recognisable. More recognisably a part of South East Asia. Here, little trucks serving instant stir fry outside restaurants with more geckos on the wall than customers at the table. Here, the corner stands selling everything from Ajax to Zzzzzzzzz er... Z things. Here, the scooters with the hairdryer engines transporting caged livestock and fridges and sofas. Here, the large Soviet building with the de-commissioned tank outside. Hmmm. Maybe this is where the comparison breaks down.

This is Vientiane. Like nowhere you've ever been before.

IT DRAWS YOU IN, spend a couple of days here and it all kinda makes sense. Laos really has seen the peaks and troughs of history -This is a place where momentous and terrible things have happened. It strikes me that the people here are pretty much historied out. But despite that, or perhaps because of these things, real life is going on here - the spirit is indomitable and the people are still smiling.

It's a very good way to explain the quiet, slow pace of life, which is infectious. You just need to take time to come to terms with it and adjust, you may even find it suits you. If you're looking for activity, for nightlife, for a hundred and one things to do, Vientiane isn't for you. If you want something with a definite human interest, perhaps you should drop by and say hi.

And if you need something else to tempt you, just think, we have a wooden shack with a bar by the once infamous Mekong river, we have the long, hot evenings with the chirping insects. We can add to that a cold local beer (which isn't half bad) and best of all we’ve got nothing better to do but sit around in this now peaceful part of the globe and watch the world not go by...

Yeah?

FACTS YOU NEED

Transportation: Land-based transport is cheap and available. But it ain't smooth-riding. Access to Thailand/Vietnam/Cambodia/China/Myanmar is possible from here. There are no direct Intercontinental flights to Laos, but you can fly from Bangkok.

Hotels: There are low cost guest houses and a number of midrange hotels, e.g. Novotel.

Nightlife: Not a right lot.

Food and Beverages: Typical of the region. Lots of flash frying, noodle soup etc. Cheap and easily available. Bottled water (advised) sodas and snackfoods also available. BeerLao.

Things to see: Lots of temples, e.g. Wat Ho Phakeo. If you’re all templed out at this stage (if you’ve been to S.E. Asia before, you'll know what I mean) then I recommend you go hunting for history - lots of colonial buildings and some mean looking Soviet stuff. Check out the Lao Revolutionary museum.

Climate: Hot and humid. Seasonal rains.

Link: www.visit-laos.com

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UPDATE

It's not often you see me slack-jawed with surprise, but this was one of those rare occasions. This sleepy backwater, the arse end of nowhere, ticking away lazy years with only scant recognition of the passage of time has come face to face with DEVELOPMENT.

The riverfront is now awash with lean-to bars where you can sit en-masse and sup a BeerLao or two. The street kitchens are still there selling local and western nosh, but they have been joined by numerous bars and restaurants. You can eat French, Italian, Indian, whatever you fancy.

All the roads in the city are sealed - no dirt tracks now. There are businesses, guesthouses, Internet Cafes a new cultural centre and even a bowling alley! (on the bypass!!) for heavens sake. The ramshackle buildings are slowly being renovated and replaced as the centre takes on a completely different character. There's still only one ATM machine, mind, and you can't use it unless you have a local account, but banks will change Thai Baht and US Dollars, exchange travellers cheques and advance cash on your credit card.

Progress has caught up with Vientiane and the Laotians seem quite keen on it. The atmosphere is still uber-relaxed, the people still friendly and polite and the traffic still ridiculously light for a capital city but things are happening and the city is growing apace.

Access is still easy from around the region, via the airport (e. flights from Bangkok and Hanoi via Bangkok or Thai Airways or Lao Aviation), across the friendship bridge from Nong Khai (where I sit now) as described above or by road from other parts of Laos, eg. hippy Vang Vieng, colonial Luang Prabang or the gateway of Savannakhet.

Expect to pay around US $12 for a double in a good budget guesthouse with air con and bathroom. A 650 ml bottle of BeerLao cost 7000 kip and a main course 15000 - 50000 kip. (currext exchange 16,500 kip = 1GB Pound; 10,500 kip = 1 US Dollar).

Momentous changes have occurred since I was there last, in January 1999. The promotional visit Laos year may have been a catalyst, but there is an obvious enthusiasm for economic progress, which is happening steadily and which is working better here than in some of Laos' SE Asian neighbours.

Much of the outlying parts of this stunningly beautiful country are only just beginning to feel the benefits of this mini-revolution, they at least now have decent roads. It is my fervent hope is that that wont be their first and last experience of the prosperity that will surely come.
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© Paiceyjohn 2002
 

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