Scout's Foreign Report 2: Vientiane

On arrival, the capital of Laos looks and feels like a total shit hole. Give it a day or two and it emerges as a very interesting and laid back city. There are remnants of the French colonial influences everywhere, mixed in with the decaying communist concrete.

I'm fresh from a canter round the history museum. Turbulent history? I should say so. Everyone and their mates have had a piece of Laos/Vientiane - the Vietnamese, Siamese, Khmer and French have all bullied and looted. Finally Laos was shat on by the U.S., prior to the inevitable Soviet legacy. The museum itself reminded me of the war museum in Havana, where their detailed battle models recreate proud victories over oppressors. The comments book was also interesting, a Greek woman complained that the museum was dirty and dusty. The next comment, by an American, reminded her that the country has seen less than 20 years peace in the last century, and suggested she get over a bit of dust. As a campaigner against the war in the region at the time, he thought that the comment represented the West's lack of understanding of the consequences of war.

That aside, I have been enjoying supping delicious, cold 'Beer Lao' on the Mekong riverside bars, delightful French food (even a Provencal restaurant) and was invited to a party at a palatial Laos house by friends we made at a local club.


Vientiane's own Arc de Triomphe - erected after beating the likes of...er
the French? They used concrete from a U.S aid package given to rebuild airstrips!


'Pha That Luang' the gold monument with the chuffed fella that built it in the 16th Century

My next report will be from Hanoi, prior to heading to the North Vietnamese mountains on the Chinese boarder.


- Scout

Reporting for the Pony Club, Vientiane, Laos, SE Asia