After a quick, easy & relaxing flight we landed in Vientiane, Laos. We had already pre-booked our accommodation for 2 nights so headed straight there in a taxi. When we were given our key and headed up to our room we soon discovered this was not the nicest place we have stayed.....in reflection the worst!!

The room was basic and dated, which is what we expected for the money, however the mould and damp inside the bedroom was a added extra we could have done without. We did the same as Phnom Penh and told ourselves it was only for 2 nights. We then discovered the bathroom, the bedroom was 5* luxury compared to this delight. More mould and damp, along with water stained walls and possibly the best bit - a tree making its way in through one of the walls and into the bathroom.

If you are reading this you may wonder how much we paid for this taste of luxury, the answer, 5 English pounds (pernight). You are now probably thinking "what did you expect?" but we have stayed in places alot nicer for less. Any way, in this case we really did get what we paid for and quickly headed out for something to eat.

Dinner was much more successful and enjoyed a tasty meal and some cheap Beer Lao. After we headed back and attempted to shower and then get some sleep. Easier said than done and come morning we had both had minimal sleep, when I woke up Belle had a miniture breakdown and we both decided we wouldn't stay another night.

Not wanting to loose the whopping £5 already paid for our second night we enquired about swapping rooms. The receptionist gave us a key for a room opposite the one we were in. This was not much better, although to it's credit it did have less mould, however it did have a stronger smell of sh....raw sewage. This really did put the nail in this particular guesthouses coffin. With backpacks on we headed out to find new accomodation, which we found only 2 doors down. A lovely little hotel - about 3 times as expensive but well worth the price. Our room was clean, bright, with aircon, a huge shower and best of all, mould free!

The weather on the second day was fairly bright but very wet at the same time. We used this time mainly to stuff our faces with various types of food at 2 different cafes. Sufficiently full Belle decided to make full use of the room and went and caught up on some sleep.

I on the other hand decided to go and see what Vientiane had to offer, we had been told "not much." This advice was fairly accurate. For a capital city there wasn't much here, although that's not to say it wasn't nice. I went for a stroll around town and ended on the bank of the Mekong River, which was very nice. The city had obviously spent alot of money regenerating the river front and was still a work in progress, with shiny new lamposts, man made river banks and freshly tarmaced roads.

For dinner that night we opted for a Turkish place we had found (it was just next to the Hare & Hound pub I had found earlier) and enjoyed some nice Turkish cuisine. As I mentioned earlier the weather was pretty damp and this theme continued into the night. As we went to pay Belle realised she did not have the purse, neither did I. This meant one of us (me) had to run back to the hotel in order to pay. I jogged back, full of Turkish food and a Beer Lao in the a mild downpour. I collected the money, a waterproof and set off on my return leg. To my delight the rain had turned from mild to heavy and realising I hadn't bought anything waterproof for Belle, had to make a pit stop at a shop to buy a massive poncho for her. I arrived back at the restaurant wet through, where we enjoyed a drink and some free pop corn the owner gave us.

When the rain had stopped we headed back to the hotel for a undisturbed nights sleep, awoke to a free breakfast (included in the price) and then caught the bus to Vang Vieng.

Vientiane; a nice little stop over for a night, if you have a nice room. Or good for 2 nights if you have a 'hole' on the first night.