Vientiane Laos is claimed to be the least happening capital city in the world. I was skeptical about the claim because Laos is right next to Thailand, where I have been living for 5 years. (And it is happening!!) But being in Vientiane for 2 weeks now, I would agree with the claim.
I have been staying in Vientiane to apply for DTV (Destination Thailand Workation Visa) at Embassy of Thailand in Vientiane. The application process is taking longer than before due to the volume of application.
For the past two weeks my husband and I have been exploring the small downtown area of Vientiane, making the most of what they offer. I’d like to share some local businesses we are enjoying in case you are also visiting Vientiane. Because… they are all well HIDDEN…
Please be warned that a lot of Vientiane businesses tends to be closed on Mondays. A lot of them. You should not walk around hungry on Monday because you will be frustrated.
Table of contents
Lunch
Agora
If you are into Japanese food, This place is very nice. They offer Teishoku style lunch, Main dish, side dish, rice and soup on a tray. Not the cheapest option (Compared to where I live in Thailand) for lunch but the quality is great.
Ango
Another Japanese cafe. I am pretty sure this one is owned by a Japanese person. I read some Japanese books while enjoying the very cosy cafe atmosphere. I had Oyakodon twice and I can recommend it highly. They are packed around lunch time. Very popular place. Price range for lunch is around 130 to 200,000 here.
Common Grounds Cafe & Bakery
They have more of western style snack / lunch like wraps or burgers. They also had rice bowls and that is what I enjoyed. The portions are large and very satisfying. Taste great! Around 100 to 150,000 for lunch menu.
Benoni Cafe
Western and Asian lunch. Very spacious cafe. I enjoyed Vietnamese style rice noodle salad with beef. Around 100,000 kip for lunch. I would say better value than the others.
Lamoon Cafe Sythan
This one is little far from town center, but was close to Airbnb I stayed at. The exterior is very attractive. If you are driving, this one have parking space. I had pho for lunch. Reasonable price for the quality. 75,000 kip.
San
This place is relatively easy to find. It’s on one of the most happening streets, in my opinion. You can find Khao Na Ped Duck on rice or Pork on rice kind of lunch / dinner dishes. When other shops are closed, this place might be open!? Open for dinner time too. Reliable food option for us. 60,000 or 70,000 kip for rice plus meat dishes.
Neighborhood local lunch shops
(Names? Who knows… Not in English)
They are local shops selling noodles, stair-fries, kao ka muu (stewed pork legs on rice) etc. depends on the location but Cheapest I found was 35,000 kip for rice and stair-fry combo. Downtown center ones were 50,000 kip.
Dinner
Night Food Market
Not to be confused as “The night market”, which all AI generated contents say it’s the number one thing to do in Vientiane. Night food market is not at the same location as riverside night market.
Night Food market on Rue Hengboun was our go to dinner. I often bought khao nyaos (sticky rice), Steamed fish in banana leaf, steamed mussels, roasted chicken etc. There is no roof here so if it rains, you are screwed. We went to San (from the lunch list) or I cooked something easy at the Airbnb on a rainy evening.
Tomo
I found this Japanese yakiniku bbq place on river side. It is good!!!! We had celebratory yakiniku on the day we got one of our visas! It might be my favorite dinner place!! We enjoyed dinner here twice.
Ma Mason
Ma Mason looks really fancy from the outside, but the menu is very extensive from really affordable to higher end. You could eat Thai / Lao food for less than 200,000 kip for two! Same or cheaper than cafes around. Open for lunch and dinner.
Coffee
Up Coffee
If you just want coffee, This is the best one we tasted. Award winning roster I believe. It is noticeably better. My husband had coconut coffee, their best seller and wow. It is good! This place is well hidden, out of the way. You must go look for it! The coffee was almost gone when I took the photo…
Night out
The Block
My husband and I like to go out dancing, but we hate the Top 40’s. We are subculture people. (Forever Ravers! DnB and Jungle) We found a cool place called The Block. DJ nights on Fridays and Saturdays. We liked it. Fridays are more Techno, Saturdays are Hiphop.
I do not drink alcohol. So I cannot speak for many who are drinkers but I find that the end of Rue Hengboun (Food Night Market street) There are a couple of bars that seems to be very popular. Not my vibe but generic people are digging it. I see lots of beer towers.
Also right around Amari hotel on the riverside, people seems to be enjoying their drinks.
I also saw people going to bars above Starbucks on riveside. The building is very cool so it’s easy to find. This one seems more dressy.
Retail Shops
There are several Lao textile / craft shops in downtown. It is not like you can walk and find many. There might be one shop on a block maybe?
I might have been to every single retail shop lol but I will list the ones I liked and I actually shopped at.
Ock Pop Tok Lifestyle
The most beautiful curation of handmade crafts. Beautifully displayed in a large shop. Second floor is gallery of hangings you can purchase. You know who made the craft because they come with picture and the name of the crafter. If you only have one day, you should aim to come shop here. There are bags, and other smaller things like pouches and charms, as well as home decor bigger items like rugs.
Tai Baan Crafts
Upon checking out many similar craft shops, I landed here and bought a few things. It was easy to look though what they had, There were options of colors to choose from. I like the not trying too hard but nice vibe. I thought the price was not too bad. I bought a hand woven (knotted?) tote bag, hand woven towel and a cat charm.
The first
Cute Lao embroidery pouches in many colors. More options for younger peoples casual outfits in cotton etc. Near the Benoni Cafe and OCK POP TOK.
Maple shop
This is a clothing boutique (very rare, I maybe found 4 of them), main customer base is probably ladies in their 20’s. But I found a local designer clothes that are better quality than what you normally find in SE Asia. Fabric, sewing, design, it was just better. The shop was having 70% off sale so I got an nice outfit for $25!
Naga mall
Not in downtown area, but some what walking distance away, there is a brand new Chinese mall called Naga Mall. Kind of close to Embassy of Thailand. It is noticeably Chinese funded. Lots of Chinese and Thai brand you have never seen before, in a brand new mall format. I am not trying to recommended it, as I am not a mall person and their food court was not up to my standard. But there is a nice supermarket in there that is very over priced. A lot of imports.
For the retail shops especially, don’t get mad for lack of customer service. I think it is just the way it is…. Because I never got one, maybe one shop out of 20 shops. Good way to look at it is they won’t be closing the deal with you. They will just ignore your presence… lol. On the first week I was offended, but It gets funny after a while.
Day Trip to Vang Vieng
We are supposed to stay in Vientiane while the visas are being processed, because we might get an interview. There was a problem with the ATM and we lost confidence in Lao financial system on week 2, so We didn’t want to splurge in Laos… We did however, decide to use our paypal money to book an day tour to the countryside, through Agoda on one of the weekends.
Vang Vieng Tour form Vientiane – Caves, Blue Lagoon, Balloon
So going into it, we knew we are in the rain season. We didn’t think it would be so hard to see though…. But we had lots of fun during the trip.
Trip started strong with our driver and the guide on time at our hotel. We could even see some sun! I payed for a group tour but it was just two of us in a brand new electric SUV. Very private, very nice. The new highway connects Vientiane to Vang Vieng. You don’t need to worry about traffic here. You will be only one on the road!!
The guide is very knowledgeable and tell you everything about Lao history with lots of wars. Historical and recent. 90 min ride went by very quick. Then it starts to rain…. a lot. By the time we are at our first hiking spot, the rain has stopped or it’s like Vancouver mist.
We learn that the 20 min hike is actual hike hike, not leisurely walking up hike. Hike hike as in grab a rope and pull yourself up 70 degrees between muddy and slipply tree roots. If you know Grouse mountain hike in Vancouver, It’s harder than the hardest part of it, but a lot shorter. (because it is a lot more vertically challenging)
If you are doing the hike, definitely bring change or cloths!!!! I saw lots of people covered in mud head to toe. Not what I expected but we like hiking so we enjoyed.
After that we went to a Blue Lagoon 3. Natural pool you can swim at. Remember it has been raining or misting so the temperature was below 30. But since we were there, I swam and did the zip line and all that jazz. It was too cold for my husband so he was just dipping his feet relaxing by the water.
The guide took us to a nice cafe for lunch where we would actually choose to go. Outside of the cafe is beautiful rice field with lime mountains as background. A perfect photo op.
After that was a visit to a cave. The opening of the cave was another 100 steps above ground lol Another unexpected physical challenge. The cave was large and pretty extensive. Vang Vieng folks used the cave as shelter for many different occasions through out the history. There is a different blue lagoon at the foot of the cave, also a cute waterfall. Lagoon was busy with Lao tourists families. My husband dipped in. I was already dry from Lagoon 3 so I passed.
So Balloon is in the name of the tour… The guide told us in the morning that there is no balloon in rain season lol. Glad I didn’t buy a ticket online.
I am glad we joined the tour. I surely didn’t want to figure out how to get around in a countryside with very bad internet and language barrier. Our car was super nice and the guide was great! Coming back was so fast as we fell asleep on the car.
I recommend the tour 100%. Probably better if you go in the dry season!
Why I am writing this blog post:
When I was at Ango, once of the listed lunch places, I was reading a Japanese book ラオスにいったい何があるというんですか? By 村上春樹 Haruki Murakami. I left Japan when I was 16 so I don’t know anything about Japanese book industry but even I know this author’s name. The book is collection of essays on his work trips as a writer. At the epilogue of his book, he mentioned that he wished he wrote more about his different trip that he was too busy to write anything down on. He said he should have wrote something down while the memory was fresh back then, because they are his great memories.
I am not an writer and there is no need for my writing, but I hope somebody benefit from my experience here in Laos. We were in Vientiane for total of 22 days….!!!