We took yet another plane to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. I have never been to Laos either so a new experience for me, my family and our first view of the Mekong river.

We stayed in Villa Manoly. It was an authentic kind of villa with plants growing up the walls, cracks spiralling down the old buildings. The pool outside surrounded by plants was a good place for Jed to play and the gardens had lots of lovely greenery we didn’t get to see in Cambodia much. We spent 4 nights here.

One thing we noticed was the change in temperature. A lot cooler here than anywhere in Cambodia. This was where Jed also decided to start hugging lampposts and eating flowers, an odd combination. The city was nothing like Phnom Penh. The streets had French buildings with bakeries and café’s. The people here also spoke French which was great so I could practice my second language. The words easily rolled off my tongue and filled a part of my heart.

The family staying next door were French with a 4 year old daughter who came to me and told me everything about her life which I found entertaining. After that I would talk to her everyday and play with her along with Jed. They couldn’t communicate between themselves but played nicely.

The first errand in the city was to go to the embassy of Myanmar for a visa. We heard that it was cheaper than from a travel agent. They said we needed to show plane tickets (which we didn’t have) to get the visa so we ended up saying that we were taking the bus from Thailand like the Israeli people next to us since we didn’t need to show tickets to cross overland. It was all a weird set up but we got our visas in 3 days time (saved 120 dollars in fees) and will be entering Myanmar in roughly 1 months time either by bus or plane.

Pha That Luang – Buddhist Stupa in the centre of Vientiane was all in all beautifully designed. Apparently it’s the largest Stupa in Laos. I wouldn’t say it was the best stupa I’ve been to or my favourite site but I admit we have been spoilt with the different forms of architectural beauty all around the world. The sleeping Buddha here was worth the visit on its own.

On one of the busy main streets we found an Indian restaurant run by kind people from Bangladesh who fell in love with Jed who didn’t cooperate. We miss the spicy food, chapatis, curry and even lassi. Most nights we ate here with great relish.