Situated along the Mekong, Vientiane became the new capital of Lan Xang (the old capital was Luang Prabang) in 1563 due to the fear of a Burmese invasion. Under the French colonial rule followed by the Pathet Lao revolution, the city (a.k.a. Vieng Chan or City of Sandalwood) became the administrative capital and the economic centre of Laos P.D.R.

After spending 4 nights in the south, I felt the difference almost immediately when I first stepped into Vientiane (first impression was like "wow, traffic jams here!"). Tired of walking in the hot sun, I checked in at the second hotel (the first one was full) that I stepped into (Vayakorn Guest House, US$17 per night per single) and felt into a deep deep snooze (after chatting to my colleague on some banal work matters). The air-conditioning was good. Enough said.

Was still feeling dazed after I woke up from the long nap; I never realised my body was so lacking of sleep. Following the advice of my guidebook (labelled as "Our Pick"), I decided to have my dinner at the food stalls along the Mekong Waterfront. While the food was ok, it was probably not the cheapest one could find in the city (I should had knew it when I see various groups of farang enjoying their Beer Lao). There was not much waterfront to see anyway; construction beside the Mekong (maybe they are building a decent boulevard along the river) turned the area ugly (though at night one could not see much).

I spent the next morning visiting 2 temples (Wat Si Saket & Haw Pha Kaeo, 5,000Kip/S$0.83 per each admission) that were located right in the middle of the city. While Wat Si Saket boasts to be the oldest surviving temple in Vientiane (when the Thais ransacked the city in 1827, they spared it because it resemble similar designs of temples found in Bangkok), Haw Pha Kaeo was the home of the all-famous Emerald Buddha which was "carried" to Siam in 1773 and now officially housed in Bangkok's Wat Phra Kaew.