{"id":2787,"date":"2026-03-05T14:53:51","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T14:53:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aerowalsh.com\/cr\/?p=2787"},"modified":"2026-03-05T14:53:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T14:53:56","slug":"thu-5th-mar-luang-prabang-to-vientiane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cr.aerowalsh.com\/?p=2787","title":{"rendered":"Thu 5th Mar – Luang Prabang to Vientiane"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

CR: A day with little to remark upon. We travelled from Luang Prabang to Vientiane with no incident and moderate comfort. The Chinese ‘high speed train’ journey takes two hours, with an additional hour spent transiting to and from the stations at either end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s my last destination in Laos and Declan’s last on his trip. I have two full days here and Declan only one. It’s going to be a lonely blog without him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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DW: Everybody loves the concept of the coconut. We have half a morning to burn, so we go to my favourite caf\u00e9 and then decide to go to a different caf\u00e9 underneath it. I get flustered and order an avocado shake and a coconut for us. Neither were things I really wanted.
CR: DW struggles through both drinks admirably, particularly considering he had a coffee and a pineapple juice half an hour before at the hotel breakfast.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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CR: There’s a strong queue mentality at the train station. We weren’t expecting this given you pre-book your seats. Presumably this is a hangover from its Chinese overlords.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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DW: The train is simple and much more efficient than the roads. To be fair, literally anything is. The deliberately named slow boat is more efficient than the roads. The stations are cavernous behemoths that I imagine much of rural China looks like now.
CR: The door to door trip is around four hours with the train. By car it is eight nail-biting hours of being thwumped around.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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DW: Vientiane is still on the Mekong (I have taken to pronouncing this as Meh-Kong like the locals) and there is about 50m of floodplain in front of the “riverfront” that can’t be built on as it reliably floods every year. It is an eery abandoned dark hole at night.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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DW: There is a perpetual showground running on the waterfront. It has a Ferris wheel that is about 10m tall and looks over the pitch black Mekong. I am worried about ride safety and we only observe the activities.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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CR: If my parents cheaped out and put me on the swing rather than the Dodgem Cars, I’d be cranky too.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n