2/19–Vientiane afternoon and evening

Wandering out of Day 2 Night, we make our way toward the river, passing by a Wat with tons of elephant statues.  We take the opportunity to visit (even though we have totally become “Wat-ted out” just because its here – and well, what the heck, there are elephants!

Pretty neat – there are elephants everywhere around here, but this is the first Wat I recall with them inside in the courtyard.  So, I’m happy to just wander about, looking at all the Chang statues.

Leaving the Wat, we walk down one of the “restaurant” roads that connects back to the street where our hotel is located, looking at menus and thinking about what we want to eat tonight.  There are tons of options, all sorts of cuisines, and we are still unsure when we finally reach Lani’s House, where we hide from the heat for the rest of the afternoon.  Not on the balcony, unfortunately.  It looks so inviting, doesn’t it?  But not in 95 degree heat and humidity it isn’t!

After our rest, and a refreshing shower, we decide to go to Pimenton, a Spanish Tapas restaurant which gets good reviews. It’s pricey (extremely so for Laos, but not really for US prices) but we’re in the mood for something different, and this fits the bill perfectly.  Turns out to be an excellent choice. The restaurant is truly like something you would see in Barcelona.  The decor, the food, the chalkboard on the wall – it is straight out of Barcelonetta or the Gothic Quarter.

The bread is totally traditional, crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy inside.  We start with goat cheese and honey (no pix, I was too busy eating), the continued on with braised pork belly, Lao sausage and Chorizo. It was all perfectly cooked and perfectly suited to our tastes.  An excellent meal overall.  And the final cost? Including my expensive wine (we could eat so much more cheaply if I didn’t have to have wine at $5 USD a clip!), 201,000 Kip or about $25 USD.  Perfect.

On our way back to the hotel, we noticed the sports bar we had passed earlier, Samlo, was open, so we decided to stop in for a night cap.  We were the first customers, and the girls behind the bar were so excited. They had just reopened from the holiday and were happy to be back at work (because, as the one girl told us, the boss could go away to fun places like the beach for holiday, but they couldn’t afford it.)  Ok!  We sat at the bar, and chatted with the girls while they ate, and handled other customers who eventually came in. This place is the definition of pool hall sports bar. TVs hung around the walls, pool tables in the back, cute bartender and server girls in revealing outfits and ex-pats smoking away while chatting the girls up or playing pool.  Its a destination! The weirdest thing too, is that the “boss” sits behind a glass wall (almost like a bullet proof DJ booth) where he controls the music, the money and the wifi!  When I asked for the wifi password, the bartender took my phone and handed it to the boss through a little window cut in the bullet proof glass. He put the password in, and handed it back. Talk about control freak.  Seriously!

While entertaining, one drink was enough there, and we soon found our way back to the hotel to finish our night caps and end our first whole day in Vientiane.  Tomorrow – we will try to get to the 6th Kilometer to visit the Museum.