exploring Vientiane

The Pryor family invaded Laos almost two weeks ago and up until now I was feeling so LOST, I'm pretty sure it'll feel that way again Saturday, but yesterday I finally worked up the courage, loaded the kids onto the beast (double stroller) and hit the streets of Vientiane. We'd been exploring a lot before yesterday, but always with company. Mike, his coworker and a very nice Australian couple who took pity on me, but yesterday it was me and 3 kids. This took a lot of patience and keeping my senses open to my surroundings.



The Vientiane sidewalks were not made to walk with stroller, heck they are no longer for people to walk on. More often than not cars are parked on the sidewalks and now that every resident in Vientiane owns a motorbike, they drive on the sidewalks when traffic is just too slow for them.



Anyway, I got the kids out of the house while it was still cool outside and we walked along the Mekong River, I stopped to feed the baby while the older kids were fawned over by some teenage Lao girls.

The kids in front of what sould be the Mekong River, Thialand in the distance.

Next we went to the river park, which I had thought was much farther than it really was. We watched 2 different preschools play at the playground. The kids really enjoyed listening to the Lao children sing songs while they waited for their ride. Finn has enjoyed showing how strong he is by getting on the see-saw while Maggie is on it.

Next along our route was a local grocery market. It's pretty yuppie, but I knew where to find it and needed some bread. We left spending less than 100k Kip(8000Kip to 1 USD), and the most expensive item I picked up was a Lao phrase book.


Since I could read the signs pointing to That Dam, one of the only land marks I know, I knew I was close to the American Embassy too. We stopped to eat a snack at That Dam then popped in to say hello to Mike. By this time we'd been out walking for 4 hours and it was HOT, so we called a taxi and went back home. All in all, I'd say it was a pretty good time and now that I know how to get to places from this side of town, I have to relearn it all from the other side.

The kids in front of That Dam.