this is our first day in Vientiane which is the capital of Lao we arrived here on the high-speed train from luang Prabang that
saved us about eight hours trip really because it would have been a terrible bus ride all the
way down but that was a brand new train super fast super luxurious as well Luang prabang
used to be the Royal Capital but now it's Dan Tien and Vientiane used to be called vieng Chan
before the French changed it I don't know why they did that they also changed the name from
Lao to Laos as well confusing everyone but here we are added a cheeky little s we've been staying
at this hotel here called the urbanite and it's really nice actually it's one of the best that we
could find for the budget and we got upgraded to an absolutely massive room with balcony but it's
a little bit out of town I think from looking at Google Maps anyway but it's really really close
to the first place that we're gonna go today which is one of the main attractions here in
Vientiane and you can see it on the way into Vientiane it's a huge Monument right in the
center of the main road looks really cool yeah I think you can go up there as well but there's no
Crossing and there's like four lanes of traffic so no are we looking at it go like it like it like it
okay I made it this thing right here is. That's a tree. okay hold on move it move a little bit further this
Monument right here is called Patuxai I'm probably not saying that right never know
what to say with the X's anyway so it's called Patuxai in Lao which basically means Victory
gate or gate of Triumph and it is dedicated to those who fought for the independence from
France people have already been telling us on our Instagram which by the way if you don't follow
us on Instagram make sure to pop over there and follow us there also because we also post loads
of stories and fun content there too anyway people have been telling us that you can actually go up
it it doesn't look like there's anyone really here apparently it opens at eight and it's now 9 30 ish
so we're here at the right time we found the other tourists they're all under the gate because it's
super hot today the sun is already beaming down and the shade under the gates the roof of this
place is decorated really nicely wow how do we get up then this is way up there it's closed can we go up
oh what closed for two years oh whoa come on guys you've been lying to us you can't
go up there it's been closed for two years whoever's getting this information probably
was here just over two years ago so we can't go after today but we can see it from below
and I think there is a really nice park just on the side here so let's stroll this way and
see what it looks like from there because we're too close to see it it's always better to look
at a landmark from afar than actually in it yeah and I got my glasses well you know I'm gonna be
able to see it these look really cool from here yeah and it is really big loads of people that
we spoke to in Laos said that they were skipping Vientiane but we skipped vang vieng and came straight
to Vientiane on the train ive been to vang vieng before I didn't want to go
back there again because it's too much of a party scene there but we came to Vientiane with the the
mind that we're gonna just explore it we're not gonna stay here forever stay for a few days and
see what it's like but there's one other reason that we decided to come to Vientiane now you may
have seen in our last video oh two videos ago that we rented a electric vehicle in Luang Prabang Mikey
the macaron yeah now we enjoyed renting a car so much we've decided to rent a car here in Vientiane
we haven't got it yet we're picking it up tomorrow yeah then we're gonna drive all the way down to 4
000 Islands so the south of Lao and we're gonna do it over a long period of time so
maybe a week yeah so we're gonna be stopping along the way as well seeing all these small
towns and Villages as well so for anyone that's saying don't rush through Laos or we're definitely
not rushing we did skip a little bit on the way down here to Vientiane but on the way
down further south we're going to be doing it justice anyway shall we go and get some breakfast yes
down one of these alleys yeah
so looking for a breakfast place that is down one of these alleys but not this one
it's here you never know what this place is going to look like I've Googled here
looks like we're walking into someone's Garden Back Garden yeah well it says it's right here
but it's not here I think that's it you think about sit down there yeah
same place
so that tuk-tuk ride was 60 000 Kip luckily we still remember well luckily Dylan
knows all of the numbers in Thai and they pretty much are very similar slash the same here in Lao
so anyway the reason we haven't got a bike or anything here is there's a lot apparently
according to you guys and according to the internet there's a lot of motorbike scams going
around so we decided not to get a bike this time around with the tuk-tuk being only 60 000 the bike
we had in Luang Prabang was 150 000 so we could literally get another tuk tuk ride for 90 000 and still be
in the green so we'll just do tuk-tuks for now I think because we don't want to be scammed we
heard that people get their scoots is rented and then an hour later they've been stolen so
I don't know if that's like an old scam or it's still going but it's better not to risk it can we
please have two Lao coffee with milk hot and also a sticky rice pancake with mango and fried banana
okay the coffees are quite similar to sort of the roadside coffees that we were getting in Thailand
which I think is just condensed milk and then some powdered milk and sweetener also in there
with the coffee which makes it like thick and sweet oh my God those look epic this actually
looks perfect too most of the breakfasts here in Laos seem to be Savory there's a lot of Meatball
soups a lot of broths going around in general but you know us we love sweet food so here we
have some grilled bananas with coffee I don't actually know if you're supposed to dip them
in a coffee probably or if the coffee is just like sipped on the side and then we also have
pancake but it's like a sticky rice pancake with mango inside I don't know if this is Lao
breakfasts or if this is just something that is delicious that they don't tend to really
eat here but it looks really good all right let's try this boy I think it's going to be
strong oh not that strong that's very good coffee it's very very good so I have here
some fried deep fried bananas look at that listen to the crisp on this come a bit closer
super soft obviously it's banana lets dip. I don't know if you're meant to let's see it looks
more like hot chocolate that kind of coffee really thick the banana is super sweet mmm nice delicious
very very good obviously I'm going to be putting the syrup on
pretty good yeah that's really good really delicious really delicious we really want
to try the banana oh yeah you guys will have to say in the comments whether we're actually meant
to dip it in this coffee or whether that's like drank on the side or whether you've never seen
this dish before it looks like we're meant to do that that's good the banana is so sweet yeah
this is a good breakfast this is delicious and if you're in Vientiane this place is called kung's
Cafe Lao so come here yeah please tell me that this is classic Lao breakfast and I can find
this everywhere I'd be happy that was a really really nice breakfast perfect way to start the day
still getting used to this cash stuff but the cash situation here in Lao has been really sort
of difficult our cards aren't working in the ATMs and then when one of the cars is working
we're getting charged like 10% in exchange fees and then a transaction fee on top of that so if
you come here make sure you either have loads of US Dollars loads of Thai baht or just bring
loads of Lao Kip if you have Lao Kip for any random reason so that breakfast was only 70000 kip
Extremely affordable
wait three coffees because we had that tiny one oh yeah I don't know if that was a dip or if that was
to drink it was it was tasty as a dip but if you're gonna go there you do have to walk down
a little alley so don't get scared to turn back yeah all the way down it's at the end of the alley
and see if we can find another tuk-tuk yes they're everywhere when you don't need them and when you
need them they're nowhere to be found walk to the main road we don't know the going sort of rates
for took took you know distances and things but we usually try to have a price in our mind before
we ask the Tuk Tuk driver what's reasonable the last one was 60 000 which is about three pounds
though three and a half dollars I think that's quite all right for what like a 10 minute drive
it's something that we're definitely happy to pay and we're enjoying the ride so if that's a major
rip-off it's not a huge rip-off in our books and it's like it's all part of the fun as well and
you don't have to like deal with parking and all of that kind of stuff yeah hello we just stepped
out of the alleyway that we were just in I came across this really colorful beautiful building
we just looked it up on Google it's called Wat si muang one so we might see if we can check it out I don't
know if we're allowed in here so colorful yeah that's what took my attention to be honest when
we're crossing the road I've never seen a and pull this color before inside this Temple We're
not gonna go in there because there are monks in there and there are people giving offerings
and praying but there's a huge gong here someone's consistently banging maybe you can hear if you've
got some good speakers but it sounds really loud here but the temple on the inside it looks really
golden and kind of similar to the outside it looks really really nice smells amazing the incense are
literally filling the air we are outside and it still smells really really nice look at that
building that one there's a lot of really colorful and beautiful buildings in this area very nice
place to come across to be honest yeah yeah it was a very happy accident a very lucky accident
so is she letting or burnt out I think the girl that was trying to take the photo of the
um the birds flying out the cage was so slow the birds have just gone and she missed them
there's a guy here cutting hair on the side of the road I've been thinking of cutting my hair
quite recently maybe in I don't know a few months of thinking of getting rid of this uh long hair
what I'm what I'm trying to say and what I'm getting to is do you think I should cut it and if
you do do you think I should get a fun haircut on the way to cutting it short because I've got long
hair already um leave in the comments what do you think all right let's find the tuk-tuk and Seasons
let's try for 80 000. okay which is a eighty hello okay
80, okay. I think we paid way above the odds of that because
I said 80 and he was like okay straight away but it's fine 80000. as we said earlier we
have 90 thousand left from what we would have spent on the motorbike anyway so
yeah but we still need to get back oh yeah well the bike was after I was also okay petrol so
right to the entrance
nice 80 000 that was even like twice as long the distance of the other trip so that's a good
value I think everyone's gonna say that that we got totally ripped off I know it always happens
but as long as we know that we got a good deal right and we make that guy happy so parked up
literally right next to it online everyone gets the information from online these days
but I think it said that this place was built in the third Century yeah I was amazed by the
buildings in Chiang Mai that were built in the 14th century this is built in the third
it is actually supposedly also according to online covered in real gold I don't is that true yeah yes
shall we yes let's do it for Lao National it is 5 000 for foreigners thirty thousand they're a
bit of a markup but if you're local you probably come here more than once don't you thank you it is extra
beautiful the fact that it's such a beautiful sunny day blue skies so all you can see when you
actually look at the stupa is blue skies and then this golden reflecting beautiful Ambiance in front
of yourself I don't even know how to formulate this somebody just shot off like a firework
like a firework oh that's so fun seeing the monks like
lighting them and then running away laughing oh that's made my day that is so good you can let us
know what the justification of doing fireworks in a stupa is that'd be quite interesting
more fireworks oh I think that one didn't pop oh
we're now in the Town Center of Vientiane or what looks like the Town Center we're just
going to look for somewhere to maybe grab a drink and maybe some nibbles as well quite
hungry after all those temples and stuff yeah it looks lovely yeah let's do it
we're currently sat in a place called kop chai deu I'm not sure what the dough part means because
I think kop chai is thank you in Laos anyway loads of little places scattered along this
road very nice Vibe they're playing some music a lot of people sat outside drinking I've got a
nice lemongrass drink Dylan of course has a beer now you can't really come here and not
have that some spiced peanuts sausages that smell fantastic that aren't for me obviously
because I don't eat sausage and also some chips not just any chips not just any chips
salt and pepper yeah chili chili spiced chips if it's not spicy we basically don't want it
we're just gonna drink these now do some people watching relax we've had a really
really nice day definitely don't skip the Vientiane if you ever do come to Lao very beautiful city
probably the capital for a reason and next time you see us we've got a vehicle that we're gonna
take down towards the south of Lao that will tell you all about that in the next video