1.06.10 - The morning was pretty much devoted to seeing the sights in Vientiane, which is the capital of Laos, situated on the Mekkong river. A very small "big city" but a much more leisurely pace of life than in Thailand. A lot less people bothering you to buy stuff and even more happy smiling local people saying hi to you as you pass by.
There are several temples and monuments to see, and I spent about 4 hours walking around the whole town to visit these places. The main sites I saw were Pha That Luang (the national symbol of Laos - big golden thing in pics and on the flag), Wat Si Saket (the oldest standing temple in Vientiane), Patuxai (the "Victory Gate", their cement version of the arc de triumph) and Haw Pha Kaew, the former royal temple.
While I was walking around Pha That Luang a nice Laos man came up to me and started asking me where I was from, why was I traveling alone, etc etc and he started telling me all about the temples and what else I should do in Laos etc. He was super nice and he was offering to take pics of me in front of the temples and what not, and I was thinking to myself how nice this local man was until I remembered another traveler telling me that they were walking around some temple and a local did the same to him, then at the end demanded he pay him money for the "tour" he gave him. A bit annoyed, I started walking around more and talking less, hoping he would leave me alone... but then I felt bad when I was almost at the exit and he asked if I would go dancing at the night market with him that evening... he was super adorable and I felt bad but I was happy that I wasn't being ripped off by another local. As I wandered to the next temple I saw a bunch of monks leaving, and 2 younger boys stayed behind. I went up and started talking to them and one was super nice and the other was very stand off ish to me. They let me take their picture and they proceeded to ask me a million questions again, and as I went to shake their hand when they introduced themselves they said they couldn't shake my hand... I'm not sure why but I thought that was interesting.
self-timer at its best!
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