Four hours later we arrived in Vientiane which was a dusty place, not as colonial as I was led to believe and smaller than I imagined.

The minivan coincidentally stopped outside a couple of guesthouses we wanted to look at. Their prices were a big surprise to us. We knew that it's a capital city and our book was a little out of date but the disparity between the prices in print and those quoted was disappointingly large. We tried a few other hostels and the strange thing was they all had laminate pricing guides, all quoting near-identical pricing structures, leaving no room for negotiation. Not at all like the rest of South East Asia. Some sort of unofficial cartel perhaps?

We walked around for a considerable time in the heat and with our big packs trying to find something cheaper. In the end it became an act in trying to prove a point. Unfortunately we couldn't so settled for something near to where we started. A very relaxed hour followed in the room and Kirsty had her now customary nap.

We went back out to have a look down at the Mekong River (can't see much!) but did visit an interesting bookshop where, with our thoughts on the rest of our trip, we got our hands on a second-hand India guidebook, which will help with the planning for that part of the trip.

Although it was early we hadn't really eaten all day so after sitting down for a drink at a bar/restaurant we ordered some food which when it arrived (Laos is not good on service…) was delicious!

After returning to the hostel we popped out to the night market for a look around before going back.

We spent the next day doing a walking tour of the city. Starting from our guesthouse we wandered along the main street past the underwhelming fountain, Nam Phu, which marks the centre of Vientiane. In keeping with the rest of the city this fountain was undergoing some serious redevelopment.

Further along the road we saw the Presidential Palace which is an impressive building, only in part-time use since the Royal seat is now in Luang Prabang. We also saw Wat Si Suket, built in 1818, the oldest Wat in Vientiane.

We continued along the route past the Catholic Church and attempted to deviate to a recommended establishment for some breakfast. It took a little effort to find and when we did, it didn't seem to sell any food anymore. Disappointed and hungry we plodded on through a couple of local markets towards the main sight in the city, Patuxai. The markets sold everything you could ever need from hardware through textiles to the usual smelly meat and fish section at the end. They were certainly just for locals and we got a few stares as we wandered through.

Patuxai, translated means Gate of Triumph or Victory and it is a loose replica of Paris's Arc de Triomphe. Next to it is a small garden with a fountain donated to Vientiane by China. China loves their water features!

We paid a small fee to climb the tower (which has four arches compared with two for its French counterpart) and encountered souvenir stalls on each level. At the tip the view was a little disappointing to be honest as all of Vientiane is quite flat and industrial. After spending a little time at the bottom in the shade, we went onwards, making a quick detour to the nearby shopping centre. Again, even here, everything looked half shut and in the process of refurbishment.

We followed a couple of backstreets before arriving on a busy main road and stopped off at a fruit shake café. Here we each had a baguette for brunch and I also had a delicious banana yoghurt shake.

We pushed on roughly following the route of the tour past Lao National Culture Hall and Lao National Museum. At this point it was the middle of the day and the heat was intense. There was also a scarcity of shade which made the whole thing an endurance challenge more than anything else.

We abandoned the rest of the tour and, instead, headed down to the riverfront which, for some reason, we were unable to get up close to. The riverfront, which in our opinion is the one area Vientiane should be building up and marketing to draw in the crowds, has been rather neglected and across the road that runs parallel to the river are steps and a large lifeless expanse of concrete and not much else. Disappointed and in a desperate bid to cool down we headed inside for the remainder of the afternoon.

Once the sun had gone down, we returned to the night market and night fayre to have a nose around before wandering around looking for somewhere reasonably local to eat. As neither of us was particularly hungry, we were both uninspired and, instead settled on a chilled out open-air bar down a side street. After a drink we chose some snacks off the bar menu and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere for the evening.

Unimpressed with what Vientiane has to offer together with the intense heat, sensing we both needed a boost and remembering that we're on honeymoon, we decided to have a pool day the following day. After an iffy night's sleep we arose, put our swimming gear on and after first having another delicious baguette, we entered a posh hotel around the corner from our guesthouse.

It was a lovely relaxing time, albeit in direct sunlight. We shared the very reasonably-sized outdoor pool with only one other couple. The day rolled by in a mixture of reading, sitting in the whirlpool, swimming and sunbathing before at just after 4 we decided enough was enough and returned to our room.

With our flight booked to Thailand set for tomorrow we had read that Lao Kip are impossible to exchange outside the country. With this as our excuse (!) and very much continuing the treat theme of the day, we went out to a chain restaurant very similar to Pizza Hut. It was full of local families - it's interesting to note there seem to be a lot of wealthy locals here. No real surprise I guess as it's the capital city but still these seem to be wealthy by Western standards, not only Asian standards.

After filling our boots and having had a very satisfying day, we waddled home to pack and get ourselves organised for our departure from the country.

Yet another sweaty night followed this time punctuated intermittently by Kirsty wanting a drink from the water bottle on my side of the bed. We packed up and got ourselves checked out before wandering down the road to a bakery for breakfast.

Returning to the hotel we waited around before heading to the airport in our own air-conditioned bus in good time for our flight. The airport, like the rest of Vientiane, was underwhelming however at the allotted time we boarded the plane for our first experience of Thai Airways.

We were impressed, boarding was quick, the safety briefing was almost too much effort and take-off happened so quickly that it seemed to catch the stewardesses off-guard and sent them scurrying to their seats.

Despite an initial bout of turbulence we were immediately served lunch (a very nice surprise) even as we were still climbing. Fifty minutes later and a whole world away we descended into Bangkok.