A day as a pedestrian in Vientiane....

               On average, about 50% of the C grade small hotels and guest houses I honour with my business, offer petit dejeuner inclus. This morning's offering in the lobby of the KP2 hotel was two

No--not a traffic policeman.....

fried eggs, four pieces of toast , tea/coffee and juice. Enough to get life back into the average occidental backpacker types that frequent places like Vientiane. This city, population 236,000, is described in Lonely Planet, as the smallest and most laid-back capital city in SE Asia. From my walk around the city centre 'old quarter' which probably the only area of interest to the typical tourist. The tree lined streets and the old mansions, many of which have been converted into businesses---hotels and restaurants, still provide a sense of the style and feel of the city as it must have been during the French colonial period, 1890-1954.
                 Although a small city, Vientiane is still a national capital with all the trappings that entails----perhaps embassies of over 100 nations, including the fortress like US embassy on one of the central avenues.

Umbrellas   --as in sunshades

The mixture of high-end shops in the central area reflects the spending power of the diplomatic crowd, with prices way beyond the reach of the local Lao, ditto this humble tourist.
              At 10.00 am sharp, I emerged into the hot, steamy streets of Vientiane, photo-copied hotel map and analogue compass in hand, camera hanging from neck, ready to complete the circuit of temples, presidential mansions and rather pretentious public buildings. I headed to the southern border of the downtown area which is the Mekong River. Not easily viewable from the city, as the banks of the river through the city have been raised with concrete structures obviously to obviate a significant flood risk that must have previously existed...Anti flood fortifications a gift from the People's Republic of China. In fact, I observed

Lao president says "Hi".....

the signs of international largesse in quite a few places around Vientiane---buses marked gift from Japan, International language school from Australia, museum renovated courtesy of France etc etc. The Chinese are currently building a railway the length of Laos, connecting it directly to the Chinese network.
                 Everybody friendly and polite, on the streets, in the parks and in the temples, although with very little English spoken, any kind of communication with the locals is a challenge. Noteworthy is that even the monks in the temples and on the street smiled at this tourist. Saffron robed monks can sometimes appear a little hostile to a camera pointed in their direction. In fact, the reverse was true this today when two groups, (not one) actually asked ME to pose with them!