We flew from Hanoi to the capital of Laos Vientiane. Compared to the madness of Bangkok and Hanoi this is rather tame for a capital city. It is very clean and rather quiet which enables us to walk round safely and even take a bicycle tour. We only spend one night here but visit local temples and big water fountain on bikes and visit the Laos food festival taking place in the capital, I sample some Laos cuisine papaya salad which was rather spicy and have a pad Thai from a local street vendor, although not strictly Laos cuisine was very nice.