Going south through Laos, all buses pass through Vientiane. We were told by a few other travelers not to bother with the tiny capital, so were pleased when Jess received an invite to stay with a local family and avoid the sleazy city centre.

On a whim, Jess contacted her long lost former boss from the bakery in Parkes. Connie was almost like an auntie to Jess, and originally from Laos, so Jess thought it would be nice to let her know where we were. She was delighted and insisted that we stay with her sister's family in Vientiane!

Rolling into Vientiane, we were excited but nervous. Connie's family, however, took us in like one of their own. Her nephew, Toi, is the same age as us and gave up helping in the family hardware shop for a couple of days to show us around. When we arrived, Connie's sister (Toi's mother) cooked us up an amazing welcome feast of laap (minced meat with herbs and spices) - the traditional welcoming dish for new visitors!

Toi took us to all the major tourist sites and was a very enthusiastic and proud guide. We visited the monuments of the very first and last kings, still standing strong over the now communist country. Laos is definitely the least communist communist country we've visited. Although the monarchy no longer exists, Buddhism and capitalism are still are big part of the Laos culture.

Although it was pouring with rain, one of our first stops was the impressive Xieng Khuan, known amongst foreigners as Buddha Park. The park was designed and built by an eccentric architect, and contains hundreds of big, beautiful stone statutes of various Buddhist and Hindu deities. In the centre was a huge concrete dome. The dome had a small entrance on one side so we ducked in for a look. Inside, a network of spooky passages led to three levels. The decaying statues and intricacies represented hell, earth and heaven. Eventually one of the passages opened up to the sky and a great view of the whole park. This place is so impressive that Thailand, just across the Mekong, have actually built another bigger, more expensive Buddha Park, just for themselves.

To really exemplify the strong historical French influence, we visited the Patuxai. Reminiscent of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the brilliantly oversized archway was built from US-funded concrete in the 1960s. The funny part is that the concrete was supposed to be used for a new airport!

Being a Buddhist himself, Toi also respectfully took us to some of the major temples. Despite visiting countless Buddhist temples over the past six months, there is always something intriguing to see, with influences from various individuals, empires and wars.

The first that we visited, and the biggest, was Pha That Luang. This temple complex includes a 45m high gold stupa and is just as impressive close up as it is from a distance. The monument itself has been rebuilt twice, after being severely bombed during the Vietnamese war and earlier, ransacked and dismantled by treasure seekers from Siam (now Thailand) during an invasion. Now, the walkways are lined with recovere Buddha statues, all sorrowfully wearing bomb scars

The last, and most interesting temple we visited was Wat Si Saket. Built in the early 1800s, this is supposedly Vientiane's oldest surviving temple, and the only one spared by the invading Siamese. Throughout the complex, thousands of little coves have been dug out of the walls, each containing a couple of tiny Buddha statutes. In total, the temple is said to have held 6400 Buddhas! As most of them were within hands reach and uncased, we asked Toi if anyone had ever tried to steal one. He said some had tried, but always brought them back quickly to shake off the sudden curses they had brought on themselves.

After all the important sites were out of the way, Toi decided to show us modern-day Vientiane. We played a few rounds of Petang that evening with one of his good friends, and won (although we're sure they went easy on us!) The night continued on to the 'Wind West' bar, where another of their mates was playing the keyboard. The band was refreshingly local. They played a mix of Lao, Thai and English cover songs, although the Lao and Thai songs sounded pretty original to us!

Slightly hungover the next day, Toi drove us out to Connie's old village, an hour from the city. Some of her family still live there, so we were welcomed with another excessive and delicious feast. Connie's father, who spends six months of every year in Australia, was there to greet us. This strong and healthy 94 year old was financing and supervising the construction of a new temple, being built in honour of his recently deceased wife.

Just when we thought we'd seen it all, Toi detoured on the way home to a couple more tourist attractions.

The first was the Nam Nung dam, the first of many, many dams built and planned to be built in Laos. Damming Laos' vast river systems is particularly controversial. Whilst providing oodles of electricity and improving the economy, the negative environmental and social impacts are enormous. The majority of rural villages in Laos, as well as neighboring countries, earn their living off the rivers, and a network of dams could turn their lives upside-down!

Last but not least, we stopped for a brief nosey around Laos' national zoo. A zoo can say a lot about the local culture. Typically Lao, the zoo was small, humble and sparsely populated. The enclosures and surrounding gardens were relatively large with plenty of space, but seemingly unmaintained. The only staff we noticed were those in the ticket booth, and one feeding the hungry crocodiles. We were reminded a little of the outdated restaurant menus and 'about to fall apart' buses that we'd so often come across. The nicest part of the visit for us was the chance to see Gibbons up-close. We'd spent so long searching for them in their natural habitat in Bokeo, with only distant fleeting glimpses, that it was nice to get a proper look at them!

For our last night with the family we went out to a trendy restaurant with a Korean-style BBQ! After one last quick tour of the city lights at night, we thanked Toi and his family for some great Laos hospitality and set our sights for Pakse in the south.