Vientiane sights

Yesterday when out looking for a place to park my bike for a week while in Vietnam I also went to Patuxai and Pha That Luang, the two main things to see in Vientiane that I didn't look at last time I was here (because I knew I'd be back).

For future reference, Wattay airport does not have overnight parking. Although the guy at the motorbike parking section said I could keep it there for 20000kip a night, but he was unsure about a week. Maybe he just wanted me to leave it there so he could steal it...


Patuxai

It's like disney land!

Patuxai is on Lane Xang avenue in the middle of Vientiane, which is oddly enough where you find the worst traffic in Laos.

The other side.

These people hang around the bottom, taking photos for tourists and then printing them out on the printers they carry over their shoulders. There are LOTS of them. They didn't bother me though, mostly going after the Chinese and Thai tourists.

There are staircases inside so you can get to the top, for 3000kip (oh and parking was 3000kip). Oddly around the base of it there weren't as many people trying to sell you things as I thought there would be.

Latest in the series of bad HDRs. 

Oh right, this is where all the souvenir shops are hiding, inside the tower... 

Oh, and there's a second floor of it too...

View from the top.

Some people spotted me at the top and took my photo! I have fans!

Well umm, OK. I don't think I've been passing a grass, but now I'm not sure.

Pha That Luang

This is it! The national symbol of Laos.

Pha That Luang is just near Patuxai. Each level is a slightly different rectangle, not sure why...

Some statues along one of the walls.

Shiney little serpent.

Very empty in this part.

Panorama time!

Another very bad HDR.

And of course, market stalls.

And then it was time for new years eve. I went to a beer garden near where I'm staying and since it's run by a German and some German expats were there, they played Dinner for One, and thanks to QI I knew what it was! Then after I had 4 beers, I decided not to drink more and went back to the hotel to wait out midnight and then go down the road and look at what was going on there. But I fell asleep (4 beers) and woke up to very loud bad Lao music in 2012. Then I woke up again to some more very bad lao music. And again... Horrible, bad, lao music...