After a few days rest and work it was time to hit the road again. This time south on road 13 (the by now infamous road 13).

I decided to take a quick detour to see a local lake, about 20km out of Vang Vieng. An easy ride but didn’t really see much. Maybe there is more to see as there are ‘resorts’ to stay at – but I use the term lightly.

The trip south was uneventful but again Google was absolutely determined to send me onto the expressway at every opportunity even though bikes are not allowed AND I had the option for No Tolls turned on. Almost seems like a conspiracy that Google Maps will not permit you to route Road 13, or even Road 10 for that matter. Anyhow other readers beware if travelling between these locations.

I arrived in Vientiane early so took the opportunity to do some touristy sightseeing. Firstly the well known Patuxay Victory Monument which commemorates Laos war dead. Interesting mix of architecture types, mixing Asian, India, and European styling.

Next visit was to the riverside park where the night market sets up. An interesting, but modern, statue to Chao Anouvong King of Vientiane back around 1805 for a short while. Laos had 3 kingdoms at the time (Vientiane, Champasak, and Luang Prabang). All were under Siam control at the time. When Rama III set brutal policies against Lao people such as tattooing them to identify them, the king launched a failed rebellion. Siam destroyed Vientiane and Chao Anouvong was caged on display in Bangkok until he died. He is still considered a founding father of modern Laos.

After the park the heat finally got to me (36deg) and it was time for food and a beer. It was surprisingly hard to find a good eatery as I wanted some western style food after a long day. I settled for some average wings and chips washed down with a cold Beer Lao.

Nighttime consisted of of bar called No Name, which appears to be a common choice in Laos – No Name, No Bar, Nothing Bar, and similar. They had good WiFi so despite the staff trying to chat to me I managed to concentrate on Irish rugby on my phone! Ha ha rude foreigners, but rugby is rugby!

The next day I was to leave Laos for Thailand

Adventurer