The morning started early with a 8am departure from Vang Vieng and a 2hr coach trip to the capital city of Laos, Vientiane.

After a swift morning check-in at our latest hotel, we went out on a walking tour of the city with a local guide. The French influence is notable, with a number of old colonial buildings interdispersed with more modern ‘communist’ styled offices.

Our first stop was the Wat Srisaket temple, the oldest building in the city, which survived the war between Laos and Thailand in the 1820’s when the rest of the city was burned to the ground.

It’s been a few days since we last saw a Buddha and today we were treated to the sight of several hundred surrounding the ancient temple. Historically it was painted in vivid colours, however a flood in the 1960’s removed the paint on all low lying temple buildings.

After obtaining some funding, the temple area has been partially repaired and repainted, however this covers only a partial section of one of the wings.

The main temple is used by local people making offerings, but sadly under invested with much of the mosaics either faded or had disappeared altogether.

The tour around the temple grounds meant dipping into a heat of 36c, making shade a big attraction.

One of the outer buildings comprised seven gold Buddhas, representing the seven days of the week and the ‘circle of life’.

Our next stop was a visit to the Victory Gate with its multiple themes, a building styled on the Arc de triomphe in Paris, with an Indian styled roof structure, all funded by the Americans.

The Arc sat at the end of a huge boulevard, making for a very French feel.

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Our last visit on the tour was to COPE Center (Cooperative Orthotic & Prosthetic Enterprise) which assists victims of land mines across Laos as a result of the Vietnam/American War.

The statistics of the American bombing of Laos are incredible, with an average of one bombing raid for every 8 minute over an 8yr period. Sadly 30% of the bombs failed to explode and many remain across the countryside in fields. As a result there has been 25,000 deaths, mainly of children, since the war ended.

The bombs that were dropped had a scatter effect and comprised up to 600 smaller incendiary devices. The coverage was huge and has left the country comprised in many of the rural areas.

It’s a story seldom told in the west and makes the Vietnam war even more horrific, particularly as Laos was neutral and not involved in the conflict.

It was a sobering end to our tour, but one we are glad to have witnessed.

This afternoon we had a more leisurely time, with a visit to a French bakery and then a wander around the city to see some of the other temples and monuments.

Tonight we said goodbye to our two Oz girls from Western Australia, they depart to Singapore tomorrow whilst the rest of the group move on to Hanoi. We went out to dinner to celebrate and on the way past the keep-fit class dancing in the park. From there we saw the bars on the Mekong River, before heading to a bar nearby for some drinks & Laos cuisine.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to Laos and also our guide, Ning and pick up a flight to Hanoi, before meeting our new travellers for the next stage of our South East Asia adventure.