Vientiane, 31/03

Second day in Vientiane, Laos' capital. If there are a handful of capital cities in this world that do not have the appearance to be exactly this - political and economical center of a country - then Viantiane definitely belongs to them. With about 200.000 inhabitants (compare this to Bangkok's 6 or 7 million) it's even smaller than the city I was living in for almost 20 years, Kiel. Yet even Kiel has more of "sprawling life" to it. Vientiane reminds me a little bit of Managua, or let's say the Managua I got to know around 1990 ( at least one of the readers of this blog knows what I'm talking about - I got to know him there). A city stretched out, with a very small center that does not ressemble to be a center, 6 or 7 blocks long and maybe 5 blocks deep... some streets are "under construction", which means that they were still dirt roads, being asphalted now. Add to this the complete absence of skyscrapers and the almost complete absence of high-story-buildings...
I didn't venture so far into the more distant parts of the city - it's hot, I'm here to relax (I don't have to "do" something every other minute), and I enjoy strolling around in this small center anyway...



By the way, I don't know whether I will be able to mount some photos. I would have to buy a cheap digital camera, which would screw completely my already screwed budget. But maybe it would be worth it, heaven knows whether there will be "another time"... in the meanwhile, if you would like to see a little bit of the places I mention, you only would have to introduce the corresponding words in your search engine... "Vientiane", "photos", something like that... internet is full of information about everything imaginable, I don't have to tell you...