I’m sorry to start with this, but Vientiane was the least interesting city I visited. There was not tons to do there in my opinion. Maybe others would have loved it. I think it should be worthwhile to visit in a few decades though. Also, it’s nice to fly into if you’re headed up to Van Vieng to go tubing down the Nam Song River. I didn’t get to visit there and in hindsight, I wish I did. There’s always next time, right?

Anyways, Vientiane is the capital of Laos. During the colonial period, this city was a French trading post, so there’s a lot of French architecture around the city. Let me be honest and say that I don’t actually remember this. All I remember is that the city did have a non-asian feel at times, but I couldn’t really tell if it was French or Australian buildings. If you’re into old French architecture, go visit this city. Or Paris.

My first night in Vientiane was normal as any other city. I checked in, ate, walked around, ate some more, and then went to the local Night Market. I don’t know why, but I always go to Night Markets. Maybe it’s cause there’s not much else to do if you don’t want to go sit in a bar, but also because I feel that I get a better understanding of their culture this way. I’m glad I went cause I saw something that really shocked me. There was this man drinking beer on the street, which is not shocking at all. What got me was when he let his toddler kid drink some beer! What the heck? I’m not looking down on this at all, and if this is fine, that’s fine. But man, that caught me off guard. I had to take a picture.

Also, I got a watermelon smoothie from one of those stands. I love watermelon drinks. This becomes an important fact tomorrow.