We arrived in the capital at around 8pm. Looking for accommodation was a nightmare, most places were either fully booked or cost more than the yearly Laotian salary! In mid-2007 the government put a restriction on the number of new permits for hotels, guesthouses and hostels etc, hoping for quality rather than quantity.
After searching high and low we eventually found a place called 'Lao Silk Hotel'. It was fairly expensive at 160,000 Kip ($20), it was over double what we normally pay a night, but we were running out of options.
Vientiane is missing the hustle and bustle of other South East Asian capitals, and also lacks any major tourist attractions, but makes up for some of this by having quite a relaxing vibe. It's pleasant, but I think it's mainly used as a transit point for travellers wanting to explore the rest of Laos.
We spent the evening looking through the multitude of stands in the night market, before finding a place next to our hotel to grab some food. Amelia had some crispy pork belly and papaya salad, I had a chocolate and banana pancake from down the road, as the sandwich I ate in Vang Vieng was still sat heavily in my stomach. We went back to our hotel for a 'quick' shower and bed. The shower turned out to be one of the best showers we've had in SEA! It's simple things like a hot powerful shower that you take for granted back home, which you then appreciate beyond belief when you go so long with buckets of water or cold trickling 'showers'. I thought Amelia had fallen down the plug hole or something she was in there for so long!

Sausages, bacon, eggs, beans and toast were on the menu for my breakfast, an 'Aussie Breakfast', apparently. For Amelia a 'Tokyo Breakfast' consisting of sausages, bacon and pancakes. Once in a while we have to have a break from the staple noodle soup!
The only attraction for us in Vientiane was just outside the city, a place called 'Buddha Park'. We made our way there using the local bus from the city's morning market, it took about 45 minutes including dropping some passengers off at the 'Friendship Bridge' (a bridge over the Mekong, connecting Laos with Thailand).
The Buddha Park, is just that, a park filled with more than 200 Buddhas - carved out of stone. It was well worth the visit. We spent over an hour there, looking around, taking pictures and climbing through the big three story concrete pumpkin looking sculpture at one end. From the top it overlooked the whole park, including the huge forty metre reclining Buddha. We stopped to share a coconut before returning to Vientiane.
For lunch we ate Vietnamese, it was ok, but definitely not as good as the real deal! We spent the rest of the day exploring the city on foot, including a rest stop at the park. We stopped off at a posh hotel to use their rooftop bar, shared a beer, and soaked up the rays and view out towards Thailand.
Dinner was back at the street food vendor next to our hotel, we shared crispy pork belly, papaya salad, honey glazed bbq chicken and sticky rice.

We didn't need long in Vientiane, especially knowing we are going back, so off we went down south, to Pakse, via 'sleeper' bus...