If you are planning to come to Laos, and looking at a stop in Vientiane, stop looking. There is very little to do there. The night market sells more knock off clothing, pjs, watches, etc… than anything else. There was very little food and souvenirs (even t-shirts) compared to other markets. Almost everyone we met there was passing through, using it as an overnight stop on their way north or south. We however were stuck there a few days while we waited on our visas for Vietnam. (In retrospect, we should have stayed in Vang Vieng and done our visas there. Oh well…) But I did enjoy a big bag of milk ice tea!

Our first day we enjoyed a lazy morning and then checked our Laotian cooking class off the list. There were 2 or 3 class options, but one was twice the price of the other and the market tour was an additional cost. So we opted for the cheaper, lesser known one. Luckily, our hostel had a direct line with Madam Phasouk to set get it set up. This one started with a (very brief) market tour before heading back to her home. Since this was a smaller operation, we did not have our own cook stations like in other classes. Instead we prepped all the ingredients as a group, then gathered around one cook station to see how it all came together. It was different than what we were used to, but still very nice. We made Orh (a traditional Lao stew), Tam Mak Hung (papaya salad), and chicken larb. For dessert, we had MORE SWEET PINEAPPLE (yay!) and other fruits. Throughout the class, Brandon seemed to be in charge of the mortar and pestle while I generally ended up finishing the chopping. (I think our knife skills have improved significantly with all our cooking classes.)

The next day we tried to knock out some of the local sites we had heard about. I wanted to go see Buddha Park, but then I learned it was about an hour bus ride away. With all the bus riding we’ve been doing, we decided to opt out of that one. We saw a temple that used to be covered in gold, a structure similar to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and the COPE museum.

If you have any time in Vientiane, we would recommend this to be on your must do list. We’ve already told you about all we learned at the UXO museum in Luang Prabang, but this museum talks about some of the work being done – particularly in the area of prosthetics – to help victims and their families. It was free and very well put together. It told stories of UXO victims and those with non UXO injuries that have been helped. We really enjoyed it. You can donate a prosthetic arm/leg, rehabilitation chair, medical training and more on their website.

That evening, we got our passports back with our visas and were ready to head to Thakhek!