Vientiane

I Continue From Here - Laos

Backpacking Laos: Day 002 (07-Feb-2020) 

Vientiane

I had an early breakfast and headed to the central bus stand. The bus stand is next to the local market. To reach Buddha Park, you have to look for Bus #14 (Sometimes also written as 144). I waited near the main platform where buses enter and exit the small station. The bus arrived at around 8:30AM. There is a bus every 20 minutes to this area. The ticket price is 8000 KIP one-way. Most hostels charge 70000 KIP for this entire trip. 

Buddha park is basically a small park filled with concrete idols of Gods, Goddesses and demons. To be honest, I wasn’t that impressed as it seemed fairly new and less intricate. The reclining Buddha statue is neat though. I took a walk around the park. There were a bunch of school kids out on an excursion. Their English teacher and I spoke for a while and we clicked a selfie together. 

While exploring the park, I met Dina from Philippines. She lived in Dubai though. We took some Instagram pictures for each other and shared our travel experiences.

Couchsurfing is a good website to meet travellers too. While you are traveling, you can choose to stay with the locals who are willing to host. Though I have never surfed at someone’s place, I have hosted a couple from Canada before. I also use it as a medium to meet other travellers. On my way back to town, I got a message from Mirna, a Croatian solo traveller. We decided to the explore the town together. We planned to meet at the Pha That Luang (Golden stupa). It was quite a walk from he central bus station. Mirna is a friendly person and we bonded over travel stories almost immediately. The Golden stupa is beautiful. 

We stopped for lunch at a local restaurant where I tried to use google translate to communicate my requirement. and got myself an Egg and vegetable dish and some rice. 

We then walked to Patuaxay monument, Vientiane’s replica of Arc de triomphe. We climbed to the top and got some good view of this neat little capital city. Since the heat was unbearable, we decided to head back to our respective hostels and perhaps meet in the evening by the promenade. 

After relaxing at the hostel for a bit, I decided to meet Dina at the promenade. I also directed Mirna to join us. We sat by the promenade watching the sunset and talking about life in general. It was a great evening. Dina decided to go back and meet a group of Filipinos we had met earlier. Mirna and I walked to the restaurant I had been to last evening to catch some dinner. Over dinner, we discussed her interesting travel experience from Magnolia and Kyrgyzstan. After a good conversation and some tasty food, we bid farewell to each other, hoping to meet again, in some other part of the world. She was heading North next morning and me, I would travel south. 

Pumpkin Based Dessert

CONTINUED HERE - EXPLORING VIENTIANE