Hello from a very rainy Vientiane! We've had quite a chilled out few days here. Considering it's the capital of Laos, there's not a lot to do or see and little nightlife. It's safe to say we're a little disappointed but there are lots of exquisite French coffee shops everywhere, a popular pass time.

Yesterday we headed out to explore the town. We walked to the Mekong river - a distant sight with all the 'riverfront' restaurants and hotels set back behind a road. Feeling peckish, we stumbled upon a famous bakery called La Banneton where we enjoyed croissants, hot chocolate and coffee.

Walking for 10-15 minutes to the other side of town, we found Talat Sao Shopping Mall to mooch around.

In Hanoi we were recommended Lao Kitchen for dinner, and fortunately, our hostel happened to be on the same road as the restaurant. Dinner decisions made! We opted to order a traditional Lao meal which includes rice, a soup or curry, a meat dish, a vegetable dish and a dipping paste. We had Khong Island Style Sour Soup (with fish), vegetable stir-fry, Duck Laab Xong Kheuang and Jeow Bang. Very different flavours to what we have experienced so far but incredibly tasty and quite spicy. We are pros at using chopsticks!

Today we intended on renting bicycles and riding around to see the few temples. However we awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of heavy rain - pretty impressive considering our room has no windows and isn't on he edge of the building! The rain continued until lunchtime so we had a lazy start. That was our bicycle plans out the window.

We've just got back from dinner, which was out of this world! We ate at Sputnik Burger, a cool tiny restaurant that only serves 8 different types of burgers with hand cut fries. Outside the restaurant, you can dine in a Volkswagen Beetle but we opted to avoid the cold.

Steph had a Sputnik burger and Max had a Black Mamba. Max's burger was pretty special as the burger bun was completely black in colour and loaded inside with a huge beef patty and loads of blue cheese. The burgers and chips came in a tall box, and when you pulled the lid off the top, the box fell open. Steph was especially happy as they had Heinz ketchup!

We will be saying goodbye to Vientiane (and hopefully the cold weather) in the morning.

Steph and Max x