Welcome to Laos

Aaahhhh... Laos!!! Our first stop in Laos is their capital, Vientiane!

We could feel the difference between Laos and Vietnam immediately! There is no honking, less traffic and... Friendly people!!!!!!!!

Everybody here greets you by saying "sabaidee" (hello) and give you a smile... Such a difference! I even brought up what Rajani commented on one of my postings about Vietnamese people's historical trauma caused by foreigner. There must be something related to that because the difference is huge! Here people are genuinely interested in people and to be honest they seem happier! And they like to party!

We arrived late afternoon and we had time to go on a short walk and then dinner. After dinner we stopped at one of the many "paratha" carts on the street (some people call them roti, pancakes, or crepes). I really don't understand how Laotian people are not bouncing on the streets! Those paratha had so much fat in them! They made each one with at least 2 tablespoons of oil and added another 2 tablespoons of butter and then added the chocolate and banana... And finished it off with a whole lot of condensed milk on top!!! Anyway, it was delicious :-)

We kept walking (hoping that we could burn at least 10% of the calories in that paratha) and we ended up in a huge party on a street! They had a band singing songs in English, lots of food, and booze. It's December 30th so we believe it was New Years pre party! They had big lit up banners with "happy new year" and "2014"... It really seems like Laotians know how to party!!!