Wated Out?

Our second day in Vientiane was just as busy as day one, starting with a trip to Le Banneton, the famous French bakery in the center of town.  Sipping on a hot cappuccino and eating fresh baguette transported me straight to Paris for a couple glorious moments.  Getting back there to try the apple tart is on my bucket list!

We decided to walk along the riverside to both explore the Mekong in the dry season and witness the work being done to transform the area into Vientiane "New World," a multi block development complete with multi millions dollar villas, luxury hotels and non knock off designer shopping complexes.  Since I have arrived a lot has already changed along the waterfront and it will be interesting to see how much will happen along here in 6 months, 5 years, 20...

Trying to stay in the shade, we headed to visit the COPE center which is always a mix of depressing and informative.  From there I decided to give mom and dad the ultimate of developing country experiences with a tour of the food market.  Lets just say they now understand why I don't buy meat from the market and cautiously wash every vegetable that ever enters my mouth.  Getting away from the overwhelming smells, we walked to visit Wat Sisiket, the most famous in Vientiane.  Having been "wat-ed" out already, we sped through to tour Ho Phra Keow temple but it was already closed for lunch.  We spent the hour meandering around the area and enjoying ice coffee at Joma, where Kiki met up with us for the afternoon.  We returned to tour the building, which once housed Thailand's emerald Buddha.  The building is one of a few that Hillary Clinton visited in August, so it certainly had to be part of our brief city tour.

Walking back into town, Kiki and I decided that my parents needed to experience the Istanbul restaurant. This time we opted for the fresh hummus which totally hit the spot.  Needing another nap, we returned to the apartment with the promise of meeting up with Brad (he's leaving while I'm away!) and Kiki before dinner with Mark at the Belgian mussel restaurant. 

At six, mom and I headed out to meet Briki by the fountain, where we found a new mulberry restaurant that was celebrating its opening day with mulberry smoothies and tempura mulberry leaves.  I was skeptical at first, but they were delicious!! I sad my weepy goodbyes to Brad and we headed back to the apartment to pick up dad for dinner.  

The Belgian owner of the restaurant serves mussels on Friday and Saturday that he imports from Thailand.  The huge 1 kilo servings are accompanied by French fries and fresh bread to dip in the variety of mussel sauces.  The place was hopping and we enjoyed a long meal outside, and certainly ate way to many mussels for our own good.  Trying to walk off some of the meal, we went to see Patuxai, which is all lit up at night.  We returned back home, weaving our way through motorbikes, tuk tuks and the crowds of a Saturday night Vientiane street.  

Back to season three of Downton Abbey!